We just got back from our first Indian Wedding last night. My cousin Ashish was married in a very traditional arranged marriage. It was very interesting to attend, and I'm so glad that I finally was able to go. The wedding started out earlier in the week with different events. We were able to go to the actual wedding ceremony at a Hindu temple in Sacramento. The wedding started out with the arrival of my cousin all dressed with his face covered. Then, all of the groom's family followed him to a ceremony in front of the temple doors on a mat. Everything was in hindi so I have no idea what everything entailed. However, the ceremony on the mat in front of the temple was with the priest, my cousin, and the bride's father.
During this part of the ceremony my cousin's family gave a gift in the pink sack to the father of the bride. Usually it contains clothing and jewelry. We didn't get to see the sari's but apparently there are about 2 saris in the bag.
After this part of the ceremony everyone had to remove their shoes and go in to the Hindu Temple. There was a welcome and more of the priest saying stuff in Hindi, my cousin who speaks Hindi said it was too fast and he couldn't understand what was being said. Finally the bride arrived dressed in a red sari.
We were able to see the actual wedding ceremony, and then the closest family members on the bride's said gave their gifts to the new couple. while that was going on my eldest cousin took us into the Dining Hall and we had Indian sweets, and vegetable curries. Kenyon's totally not a big fan, but I haven't had some of these dishes in years, and loved it! Especially the jackfruit curry.
Finally the closest male members of the groom's family were seated on the stage in the dining hall and were fed dinner by the bride's father and uncle. Afterward, the bride's father and the groom, and the groom's father, and my dad were served a dessert. When this was completed there was a traditional farewell song when the bride said goodbye to her sisters, and mother, and to her father. Everyone was crying so much, I almost started to cry and I don't even know the bride. I guess if I were married to someone I'd only talked to once I would start crying too. But something my aunt and uncle wanted us to remember is that this is the tradition in their culture and children are respectful to their parent's and follow through with their wishes. So it was quite an experience!
