A Typical Hindu Wedding

I am from south India and my wedding was a typical south Indian Hindu ceremony with lots of relatives and friends and fun and chaos. I got married on Oct 22, 2011. In our community, marriage is held at a place chosen by the bride's side.

Our marriage was held at an auditorium near our house. I was so excited and happy. I still remember the feeling of happy anticipation. I reached the auditorium early enough to get ready. My wedding dress was a bright red sari. It was so beautiful and that I just had to have it preserved.

There was a beautician to help me get ready. It was so wonderful to have some there that was a prefessional to do my hair and make up for me. She understood exactly the look I was looking to achieve and created it for me perfectly.

The marriage ceremony was at 10.30. My groom or husband to be arrived at 10 and there was the ceremony where my brother has to garland my husband-to-be and lead him to the dais.Then there was the ceremony where both the bride and the groom get the blessings of the elders of the family. After that my father led me to the dais where i was seated on the left side of the groom. These are very Hindi traditions.

At the right time he tied 'thali' - a golden pendant which is a symbol of the marriage- around my neck and then we garlanded each other. Then he put saffron on my forehead. It is a symbol which married Indian women wear.

Then we sought blessings from our elders and our friends and relatives gave us their best wishes and presents. My brother delivered the most beautiful toast. I know he worked very hard on it because I found a whole shoebox full of wedding speech samples that he was using for inspiration.

After that came the gruelling photo session when photographers from the both the bride's and groom's side made us stand in various poses and took pictures. Then we attended the wedding feast. It was a traditional south Indian vegetarian feast with rice, various curries and desserts. the feast ended by 2.30. I had to leave the auditorium immediately after the feast since the auspicious time for entering my husband will end at 5 and we had a two hour journey to make in order to reach there.

So, after getting blessings from my parents, I left for the house of my husband. We reached there before the auspicious time ended and there my mother-in-law invited me into the house by placing a lit lamp in my hand.