the big Indian Wedding

As my friend's wedding is coming up, it leads me to think about what it is that makes weddings special. I think apart from the actual marriage of the two individuals involved, a wedding is a celebration of this union, and also an opportunity for close family and friends to congratulate and join the couple in these celebrations. While I'm sure all weddings are special to the couple involved, I don't think I've experienced anything more fun than a good old Indian wedding! I think Monsoon Wedding gave a pretty good insight into Indian Weddings to the world at large. They are chaotic, colourful, noisy affairs, and an opportunity to get together with all your family and friends. The pre-wedding celebrations can last upto a full week, with events such as the sangeet, mehndi, haldi and then the actual ceremony itself. I think it's all of these events that really lead up to the big day and help generate the feeling of celebration for the bride.

Having close family and friends around helps to create the atmosphere of what makes a good old Indian wedding, and throughout the week, there was plenty of dancing and singing in the build up to the hindu wedding on Thursday! Merthyr did us proud again by holding the rain at bay during the actual ceremony, just like on my wedding day!

Despite her reluctance to put on a lot of jewellry - I think she looked amazing on her hindu wedding day! and I think Paul was a great sport all through the ceremony, even showing Bittu up by touching the panditji's feet while she just stood there!!! After, what was a very long day, the four of us (Bittu, Baby, Preeti and me) were spending the night in Bristol, it was like old times when the four of us just hung out in her kitchen drinking tea and reminiscing!

The next day was the grand finale at Orchardleigh, with the church ceremony followed by the reception. The ceremony was short and sweet, with beautiful readings by Sreeti and Tana. The whole week was lots of fun, and also a bit exhausting, and we can't believe it's over! Here are a couple of pictures (I'll add more to photosite/flickr later).