Indian Wedding? Check.

As many of you know, one of my primary goals in India was to attend a traditional wedding. Just when I was losing hope, our Ayurveda assistant (Ms. Sangeetha) generously invited us to her cousin's ceremony! I was thrilled to say the least.

We rented a van to a nearby wedding hall called Mother Palace in Brahmavar, Udupi - about 15 minutes from campus. Initially, I was concerned because we arrived before Ms. Sangeetha and knew no other family members (it also didn't help that we stood out slightly). But it only took a matter of seconds before her uncle spotted us in the entryway and welcomed us in. Here is what it looked like before the ceremony:

I was surprised to see only a third of the chairs were filled upon entrance (the wedding was to begin in twenty minutes). Particularly so because weddings are one event where punctuality is of utmost importance. This is because religious persons are consulted to determine an auspicious time and date.

This was an arranged marriage. Abhijith and Sahana would
see each other for the first time on stage.

Moments later, I turned to find out where the sudden trumpeting of horns was coming from. The ceremony had begun! Men with giant horns preceded the bride, and what seemed like her entire maternal side of the family, down the aisle to the stage. The remaining seats quickly filled up as guests shuffled in between the bride's entrance and the groom's entrance.

One tradition with Indian weddings is the bride and groom do not see each other enter the hall. Once the bride arrived on stage, she was quickly shuffled to a side room so the groom could make his way down the aisle. Several minutes elapsed as the helpers on stage made final arrangements and the couple waited to lay eyes on each other for the very first time.

The bride's hair entirely covered in flowers!

 Once the bride and groom met, they were walked around several times, rice was thrown, a small fire was maintained at the front of the stage, and seemingly random outbursts of music from the musicians occurred. One thing that surprised me was how disinterested guests appeared. I know this is not true, but compared to my own wedding experiences in the US, guests are quiet and attentive. In India, guests chat among one another all throughout the ceremony - it is an expected happening.

About half way through the ceremony, several hundred guests suddenly rose and walked hurriedly toward the side rooms in the hall. Lunch time! We were encouraged to join in and find a seat before they all filled. Luckily, we grabbed the last few remaining chairs for the first lunch shift and were served an incredible (and ENORMOUS) Indian  thali on a banana leaf!

Photo credit: Moira Dhaliwal

Before hopping back in to the van, we made it a point to congratulate the bride and groom and take a photo with them. What a wonderful experience!!

Photo credit: Danielle Pelaez