From Kentucky to India, with love

It’s a long journey from a childhood in the Kentucky governor’s mansion to a wedding in India, complete with elephants and a white horse to ride in on.

But that’s the path of sculptor Edward Breathitt III, 48, who last month took an Indian bride in an elaborate Hindu ceremony.

Breathitt, whose late father Edward “Ned” Breathitt Jr. was Kentucky’s governor from 1963-1967, met his wife Prachi, 22, in an art and book store where she worked when he was on vacation last year in New Delhi.

Don Mills of Lexington, who was the governor’s press secretary, was among about 20 family members and friends who came from Kentucky, California and Arizona to attend a week of wedding events that included hundreds of guests.

“I went to represent his father,” said Mills, who has remained close to the Breathitt family. “I’ve been to a lot of weddings, but never one like this.”

Festivities began March 9 with a ceremony where the bride and groom exchanged rings. Breathitt arrived riding a ceremonial elephant. That evening, the bride’s older sister was married. (By tradition, she had to be married before her younger sister, Mills said.)

Breathitt’s wedding ceremony was on March 13 at a hotel in downtown New Delhi. Breathitt rode to the wedding on a white horse. Mills and others in the party rode in on three elephants, although Mills finished the journey on a white horse.

When Breathitt arrived, he was met at the door by his future inlaws and ushered into a room where he was surrounded by a group of men called pundits.

“Edward sat on the floor with them to participate in a prayerful ceremony,” Mills, a former editor of the Lexington Herald, wrote in an email the next day. “First of all, Edward’s feet were washed by his future father-in-law to cleanse sins of the past, as the pundits sat cross-legged, chanting ever-increasing rhythmic hymns. The ceremony covered a number of personal matters related to Breathitt, including his future prosperity, his religious thinking and what he hopes to contribute to the marriage and life in general.”

Breathitt, who was born in Hopkinsville, has lived and worked in Sedona, Ariz., and been an artist in residence at Murray State University. The bride is attending law school after earning an economics degree. The couple will live in New Delhi and a second home Breathitt renovated north of there in the foothills of the Himalayas.

Here are more details Mills sent the day after the wedding:

Prachi, his bride-to-be, entered the ballroom escorted by a number of Indian women, both young and old, including her mother. She joined Breathitt at the well-decorated, flowery stage to participate in the exchange of the garland, wrapping them together with a necklace-like arrangement of flowers. Then, countless photographs were taken of the sitting couple with just about everyone who attended the wedding coming to the stage.

The religious ceremony, including dinner but no liquor, went on for hours with one centered around a burning fire discussing seven vows for a happy marriage. Another one featured a marriage event, which took place in the 1800s between the Cherokee Indians. A special friend of Edward’s — Standing Bear, who knew the Hopkinsville native when he lived in Arizona — conducted the ceremony.

The evening ended with two events, both humorous and meaningful to the wedding. One involved dropping a ring into a bowl of water and flowers with Prachi catching the bouncing ring twice, meaning that she would be dominant in the marriage.

The other was the playful stealing of shoes worn by Edward by some young cousins of the bride. Breathitt’s sister, Linda, had to pay 5,500 rupees ($140) for their return. The wedding, finally, ended at about 2:30 a.m. It was a long and tiring day, which included an elephant ride to top it off.

Edward Breathitt III and his bride, Prachi Pratap, at the ring ceremony. Photo/Don Mills

Breathitt and wife at the wedding. Photo/Don Mills

Don Mills rides an elephant to the wedding. Photo/Albaelena Wejebe