India - Wedding Ceremony
The Grooms family very generously had Sari's and Dhoty's made for all of the foreign guests. It was such a kind and thoughtful gesture and I absolutely loved the sari material they chose for us.
At 6am the morning of the wedding I received a knock on our hotel room door and found a stoic older woman standing there. She stated "I have arrived to apply your sari". It was a bit of a shock as I was half asleep when she first knocked but I knew better than to argue with her! Within in 15 minutes she had me twisted, turned pinned and tucked into my sari. I was instantly transformed into an Indian Princess.
Kingsley and David wearing their Dhoty's
Once we arrived at the Brides house, where the wedding was to take place, we had Jasmine flowers pinned in our hair which smelled heavenly.
Eating breakfast at the brides house before the wedding ceremony.
We then spent about 2 hours sitting on the floor waiting for the wedding to begin in incredibly hot room crammed full of woman. The men waited in a seperate room.
The actual ceremony was simple but beautiful. Instead of exchanging rings they traded marigold flower wreaths. It was an arranged marriage by both sets of parents. The bride and groom had met only once about 6 months before the wedding at a 15 minute supervised visit with both parents in the room. Other than that they had absolutely no contact with each other until the day of the wedding. I remember how nervous I was on my wedding day, I can't even imagine what was going through her mind on her wedding day. They were essentially strangers that were committing to spend the rest of their lives together. It seems so foreign to me but they obviously are doing something right. The tradition of arranged marriages has been around for many generations and has been highly successful in India.
Labels:
India
0 Response to "India - Wedding Ceremony"