Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas Share Colorful Mehendi Ceremony Photos Following Their Wedding

Priyanka Chopra was glowing Friday as she and Nick Jonas put their own spin on the traditional Hindu Mehendi party in India

By Kelly Connolly

Published on December 1, 2018 11:09 AM

Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas celebrated their first moments of marriage by offering a glimpse at one of their fabulous pre-wedding events.

“One of the most special things our relationship has given us is a merging of families who love and respect each other’s faiths and cultures,” Chopra, 36, and Jonas, 26, both wrote in an Instagram post. “And so planning our wedding with an amalgamation of both was so so amazing. An important part for the girl in an Indian wedding is the Mehendi.”

A Mehendi ceremony is an Indian wedding ritual that typically happens one or two days before the wedding. In a typical Mehendi ceremony, all of the women in the bride and groom’s families, along with close friends, gather together while the bride has elaborate henna designs applied to her hands and feet. Guests will usually get a few designs on their hands as well.

For Jonas and Chopra’s wedding, the joyful event was clearly coed.

“Once again we made it our own and it was an afternoon that kicked off the celebrations in the way we both dreamed,” they said.

Chopra wore a bright, voluminous frock by Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla for the event, and clearly couldn’t stop smiling.

Both she and Jonas, who wore a kurta by the same designer, are seen getting henna tattoos on their hands.

Jonas’ older brother Joe’s fiancée Sophie Turner can be seen wearing a black cropped dress in one of the additional images, clearly having a great time herself.

The couple tied the knot Saturday in Christian wedding ceremony officiated by the groom’s father at the Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

Both Chopra and Jonas wore custom Ralph Lauren designs for the Western ceremony, where they also exchanged wedding bands by famed jeweler Chopard.

On Sunday, the bride and groom will continue their epic wedding weekend with a Hindu ceremony to honor Chopra’s background.

“It is super important to Priyanka to have an Indian ceremony that honors her heritage and culture, just as it’s important to also have a Western ceremony that honors Nick’s Christian upbringing,” a source told PEOPLE. “They are doing both.”

Chopra and Jonas, who arrived in Chopra’s home country in time to spend Thanksgiving with her family, have been in whirlwind wedding planning mode since Jonas popped the question in July. Joe and Turner joined them on Monday in Mumbai, where the foursome enjoyed a night out.

In addition to the bride and groom’s parents — Nick’s parents Paul Kevin Sr. and Denise Jonas and Priyanka’s mother Madhu Chopra — the wedding is expected to draw a number of famous guests. Nick’s brothers Frankie Jonas and Kevin Jonas will join Joe as groomsmen. Priyanka’s brother Siddharth Chopra is also one of Nick’s groomsmen, as is his Kingdom costar Jonathan Tucker. (The men all were gifted personalized lime scooters for Nick’s bachelor party, as he showed off on social media.)

Despite speculation, one famous couple did not attend: A source told PEOPLE that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will not head to India for her pal Chopra‘s wedding. Chopra was one of the guests at the royal couple’s star-studded nuptials in May.

Meghan, 37, and Harry, 34 — who are expecting their first child in the spring — are preparing to begin a new chapter “early next year” by moving out of Kensington Palace and into Windsor Castle’s Frogmore Cottage.

“I think friendships depend on people individually and how personal your relationship is,” Chopra told PEOPLE in July, speaking about her relationship with Meghan. “You can have work friendships, those are different. But when you have real friendships, like ours, it doesn’t matter what people look at you as or where your world goes, you sort of just, stay friends. And I think that’s what we’re like.”