The wedding tradition in this village is that the grooms family purchases all the clothes and personal items that the bride may need in her new life as a part of her dowry. These items are then displayed at the grooms parents house, during the week leading up to the wedding, for the entire village to view. The dowry items included beautiful silk saris and scarves as well as little things like a toothbrush, hair bands, handkerchiefs and even pajamas.  Everything and I mean everything was on display for the 2000 friends, family and villagers to walk by and evaluate the dowry.  I can't imagine knowing that the entire village would know what my PJ's were going to look like!  

In preparation for the wedding we had our palms decorated with henna.  Kingsley was not sure this was a good idea as some types of henna can last weeks even months on the skin.  I of course did not listen and had both palms decorated with a beautiful henna design.  The girls doing my henna assured me it would be gone in 5 days...it actually took almost 3 weeks for it completely fade! 

Dressing up for the rehearsal dinner at the grooms parents home. It was so fun to be part of the family celebrations though I found it particularly stressful trying to eat with my freshly henna covered hands while wearing such a beautiful outfit.