Traditional Indian Wedding

by Sweetu
(Kolkata,India)

Traditional Indian Wedding:
Wedding ceremonies in India are done in a traditional style. Different states have different traditions and customs. Though it has become a fashion now to have a simple and sophisticated wedding, mine was an elaborate spread of three days.

Two days prior to my wedding, there was a sangeet (song) ceremony where all my friends and relatives dedicated a song to me and enjoyed the evening .It was very colorful and was organized in a grand way. Next day was the mehendi ( heena) ceremony where I along with my family members and friends apply heena on the hands and legs. My heena turned out bright red and in our custom it is said that if the heena on the bride’s hand turns out bright red, she will be liked by everyone in her in-laws side. So everybody started teasing me.

Finally the D-day arrived and my marriage ceremony was scheduled for the morning. It was considered to be the most auspicious time of the day. I have good and sweet memories of that particular day. All the invitees were told to come to the wedding in their traditional attire. There was no particular theme but the marriage hall was decorated with lots of flowers and gave a rich look.

It took us nearly three hours to fulfill rituals of the marriage ceremony. We had to sit in front of the fire and take vows to remain together for seven births.

There was a lavish spread of different types of menu served in lunch. The re was Indian, Chinese, Continental spread and everybody had a sumptuous meal. The desserts served were also very good and had gulab jamun, kheer, ice cream and varieties of sweets.

On the wedding day in the night my cousins had planned a surprise for me as they had bought a wedding cake that was to be cut by both of us. Though our elders were a little reluctant at first but they gave up after they saw the excitement and joined the grand celebration.