I went to my first Indian wedding yesterday. It was fun. I liked getting all dressed up-I had bought a new outfit
in Dehradun to wear to the wedding. I wore as much sparkly jewelry as I could-including bangles, ankle bracelet, toe rings, a necklace, earrings, and rings.
Indian weddings are generally 3 days long on average. Each day has different events.
At this wedding:
Day 1 was the henna painting (called Mehendi) and songs (the bride and groom are separately celebrating with their families at this point). Day 2 morning was the Haldi Haath (a ceremony involving the family placing tumeric on the bride and groom (still separate at this point) and more music.
We went to Day 2 in the evening where the groom comes to the bride and there is a lot of dancing a music (and bagpipes). There was a big buffet dinner. The bride and groom place flower garlands on each other. Later their would be a vow ceremony but we did not attend that (it was going to be at 2am). Then Day 3 in the morning was the bride saying goodbye to her family.
I have greatly over simplified the wedding-if you want to read more about Indian weddings I suggest:
http://jessinsideindia.blogspot.in/2011/02/wedding-ceremony-feb-18.html
Traditional Garhwali music (2 bagpipes on the left and a dohl and damou drum on the right).
This is before the bride and groom and arrived. They would later sit here and pose for pictures with family and friends.
Bride and groom placing garlands of flowers on each other (ceremony called Jai Mala).
We had several
people come up to us and say they saw an article about us in the paper.
There also was a little girl (about 9 years old?) who spoke English and
took great pleasure in staying with us the whole time and telling us
what was going on. This is a picture of her and her little brother.
The wedding was a a hotel in a neighboring town called Maletha.
Indian weddings are generally 3 days long on average. Each day has different events.
At this wedding:
Day 1 was the henna painting (called Mehendi) and songs (the bride and groom are separately celebrating with their families at this point). Day 2 morning was the Haldi Haath (a ceremony involving the family placing tumeric on the bride and groom (still separate at this point) and more music.
We went to Day 2 in the evening where the groom comes to the bride and there is a lot of dancing a music (and bagpipes). There was a big buffet dinner. The bride and groom place flower garlands on each other. Later their would be a vow ceremony but we did not attend that (it was going to be at 2am). Then Day 3 in the morning was the bride saying goodbye to her family.
I have greatly over simplified the wedding-if you want to read more about Indian weddings I suggest:
http://jessinsideindia.blogspot.in/2011/02/wedding-ceremony-feb-18.html
Traditional Garhwali music (2 bagpipes on the left and a dohl and damou drum on the right).
This is before the bride and groom and arrived. They would later sit here and pose for pictures with family and friends.
