Sunday, September 25, 2011

Attending My First Indian Wedding

For many years, I've been curious about what an Indian wedding would be like and I was excited to finally get to experience it yesterday! Here are the things I learned about Indian weddings...


1) They don't start on time. We were told to arrive by 9:30 but the ceremony did not start until 11:30.

2) Part of the reason why the ceremony started late was because we were served breakfast and chai before going up to the ceremony. Their breakfast food included (and i don't know the official names for them) deep fried battered vegetables and deep fried breaded cheese. 

3) Before entering the ceremony, everyone must have their heads covered and their shoes removed. Men and women take a different set of stairs to go up to the ceremony and they also sit on separate sides of the room.


4) When you enter, you must present a money offering of coins to the front and touch your head to the ground. 

5) The ceremony is about 2 hours long, filled with the reading of passages and song. Everything was in punjabi but thankfully, they had an overhead with the translation.

6) The bride and groom get to wear the coolest outfits ever. The groom has on a traditional indian outfit and he gets to carry around... a sword!!! The bride wears red and gold and is beautifully adorned with jewels... absolutely breathtaking!

7) After the ceremony, you eat again! The whole meal was vegetarian but very delicious! It reminded me of a bento box, but indian style :)


If you are ever invited to an indian wedding, make sure you invest in a sari. My sister-in-law and i thought that since there would be other non-indian attendees, it would be okay for us to wear non-indian attire. We were wrong... everyone including non-indian people were wearing saris so you can imagine how much we stood out... but it was a great time nonetheless :) 

Have you attended an Indian wedding before?

 

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25 comments:

krissy ♥ said...

I've never attended an Indian wedding, and I don't think I will ever have the chance, but I think it looks very interesting :)

BTW have you seen the Indian movie The Three Idiots? You MUST watch it, it's a very good movie :)

Katy said...

I've never attended one but always been curious. I think Indians have some of the most beautiful weddings ever!

mizzsandychau said...

i never attended one but i've seen a lot of pictures, they looks so beautiful!
the food is so cute, really does look like bento box

Nashe^ said...

I've never been to one! but I get to hear about it all the time here, so I'm sure I can be quite familiar with it if I do get to attend, hahaha. How come there are no pics of you??

Erny said...

I've been to one but as a non-Indian attendee, we didn't have to offer coins and touch your head to the ground tradition.

Is that the venue for the Indian wedding? It looks beautiful!

Tisha said...

I LOVE Indian weddings! I've been to a few--days and days of partying! And such beautiful clothes! Two posts about my best friend's wedding: http://heretishietishie.blogspot.com/search/label/indian

ShinyPrettyThings said...

i've never been to an indian wedding but quite a few indian parties. they sure know how to throw a good party!!! i always love their colorful clothes. looks like u had a great time! food looks yum!

crickette inserto said...

I've always wanted to attend an indian wedding! When I lived in London, before, my friend told me about how Punjabi weddings are and I fell in love --- just hearing about it.

Sadly, I didn't stay long enough in London to see any of my friends get married! :

Ricademus said...

As you know (since I completely over-share), I missed an opportunity to attend a friend's Indian wedding this past April. :(

dolce la robyn said...

perhaps those I've attended were pretty much "modernized" version of Indian wedding =/

Kalmo said...

Oh an Indian wedding sounds nice. The meal is so neatly presented. Saris are so pretty, maybe you'll wear one in the future. ^^

cryskay said...

i've always been curious about indian weddings so thanks for sharing! xx

MizzJ said...

hehe this sounds pretty much like the one I went to this summer as well! Another note for those who DO buy saris for weddings: make sure they include a petticoat (slip) to wear underneath the sari otherwise you will have to tuck it into leggings and not be able to pee all night. For realz.

Sellina said...

I've attended an Indian reception a couple of months ago (decked out in a Sari) and I had a blast. They don't stop dancing! Did you guys get to go to the reception as well?

Katherine said...

Exciting! I would love to go to an Indian wedding - the colors/food/everything looks so amazing!

Steph said...

thanks for the insight!!! Now I know what to do at a traditional indian wedding... especially the sari bit =]

Dirt On The Rocks said...

That's awesome that they offer food before and after the wedding. Most traditional weddings definitely don't do before.

This is awesome I always wondered how other traditional/cultural weddings were. This was a great post I learned a lot.

Anonymous said...

aww lucky you, to be invited..
it's nice to see~ others traditional weddings ^^
i love some indian foodie too ^^ hehe

thanks for sharing

Leah said...

From what I heard from friends (Hi, Tisha!) who've been to Indian weddings, the celebration lasts a whole week! Days of partying! :)

Anonymous said...

Asians run on asian time = always late!!! I have never been to an Indian wedding but thank you for the saris advice. the food sure looks delish if i might add!

Cindy said...

Great post! Now I know what to expect if one of my friends gets married (in 10 years or so...hahaha). Love your style of writing :)

xxCindy
Oriental Expresso

oystergirl said...

I'm attending my first one next year, so now i'll know what to expect!

xo

❖❖мoɴιcα-αι❖❖ said...

That. is. awesome. I would love to attend an Indian wedding! the food looks great. I've been craving INdian curry for so long now D: you're killing meeeee

Richelle said...

Wow. That is very traditional. I haven't been to one, but I do see them on TV. I did see a glamorous one on Platinum Weddings and it didn't look anything like this one.

How is the married life, Kym?! :D

richelle
www.rarepersona.com

Liza said...

I have never attended an Indian wedding before, but I would definitely like to go to one!!