Talking about weddings has to be the #1 favourite past time of Indian people, as someone I met recently said over dinner “when Indians are not getting married, they talk about others getting married, if they aren’t talking about others, they are busy rehearsing for other people’s wedding occasions” I found that hilarious and it was somewhat true.

Especially with the Indian (Sindhi) community in HK and  South East Asia, I sometimes wonder how do some people manage to attend each and every wedding which happens to be in some exotic location around Asia. How do they get so many days off from work???

If you’ve ever attended an Indian wedding, you’d know that the festive goes on for a whole week! That’s why I feel that the phrase “The Big Fat Indian Wedding” would be perfect for this post because every wedding is handled with the pride that it HAS to be THE wedding people will remember for days to come. They don’t think they are any less than Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwairya Rai themselves – they expect the same kind of reception from people. O well you only get married once and if its an Indian wedding and what goes into it – trust me you wouldn’t wanna go through all of that again and that’s probably why the reason the divorce rate comparatively is lower amongst the Indians

Well with all that said and done, Indian weddings are fun (and tiring) no doubt about that! The colourful deco - each different from the other for ALL the occasions, the feast- again from Indian to Italian they don’t want to miss out anything!The glamourous outfits of the bride and the groom and their parents and their relatives, their relative’s relative ……ya well it’s not less than any Indian Designer fashion show, ooooh and did I mention the dazzling bling bling jewellery, the more the better (They haven’t heard of the phrase “Less is more”)

An Indian wedding is not just a wedding, it’s a celebration of two families joining together not just the couple becoming one. You’ll have your relatives whom you probably didn’t even know existed until the time your parents were making a list of inviting the who’s who of their respective towns and the world over. All of a sudden you meet your 798th relative from  across the world whom you had never ever heard of until your wedding and the next thing you’ll probably be attending their wedding after a few months cuz they hooked up with one of those 1000’s invitees at your wedding.

Maybe I’ve been a little too harsh upto now because no matter what, an Indian wedding is a sight to see and is always fun no matter how much we crib about the whole thing. I must also add that it’s not an easy task arranging everything even for the most simplest Indian wedding. The stress that both the sides go through and the anxiety until the wedding is over, so let’s just give it to them for putting up with it and yet have their 400 watt smile on their faces all night long.

 Here’s a little glimpse of the Indian wedding festivities that usually take place :

  It starts with an Engagement Ceremony – The Bride and Groom exchange rings on this day. (Actually they’ve probably had a small ceremony before the actual ceremony – oh its complicated lets just get on with it)

                  Then usually they have a Mehndi Ceremony - They adorn The Bride with Henna patterns on her hands and feet and sometimes even with flowers in some customs.       

 The mehndi ceremony usually is followed by a Sangeet Ceremony - This usually is the highlight of the wedding occasions, this is where friends and relatives prepare some skit or dances especially for the couple and just about everyone joins in with the celebration with dancing and wining and dining all night long.

Then they have a religious ceremony “Haldi”  - every community has its own  ceremony and customs to follow.

Finally, comes the day of the actual WEDDING – this again is different according to different communities customs.

Phew! well as I mentioned this was just ‘a glimpse’ of what an Indian wedding is all about, the more bigger the wedding, the more reasons of celebrations, they will just throw in a couple of nights more to celebrate with theme parties and dinners.

That’s why I am amazed at some people who have the time to attend so many weddings that take place. An Indian wedding is never a family affair, its a whole town’s affair and sometimes even two different towns

The Indian wedding is definitely an experience of its own, it’s got glitz, glamour, music, masti (fun) and even emotions and drama with the whole bidaai rhona dhona and of course the 400 watt smiles from everybody!

P.S.          We’ve got some Hindi films totally dedicated to the experience of ” The Indian Wedding” – Hum Aapke hain Kaun, and if you’d like you could even read Kavita Daswani’s “For Matrimonial Purposes” which decidated the whole novel to the Indian wedding and the search for the ”perfect man”.