On the first weekend of December we were invited to an Indian wedding in Puri. The wedding was held over the time of five days but we attended on the main day with the most important ceremony only. As the wedding was in Puri, we flew there and took the opportunity to take another two days for some sightseeing around the area too.
For the occasion Claudia had a fancy Saree custom made and Roger got a traditional Kurta (together with the matching shoes ;-)!). It was great fun dressing up, with Claudia going by a you tube video to drape the 5 meters of silk fabric around her body. Being more or less successful our local friend just had to make some adjustments to make it look properly and too keep everything in place ;-).
The wedding itself involved many different ceremonies which the bride and groom had to perform together or separately with their families. For the family of the bride the event is not joyous only as they are 'loosing' a daughter. For the family of the groom however it's joy all over as they are receiving a new daughter in law. As from the wedding day the bride will be staying with her husband and his parents (and looking after them).
The wedding was held in a beautiful garden in a hotel by the sea. Everything was lavishly decorated and the buffet must have been more than 20 meters long. There were about 400 guests that evening. We got to dance, eat and party and were awed by the pompous and glamerous festivities. Everyone was so happy and included us dearly. Truly an experience to treasure and remember!
The following day we visited the huge Chilka Lake and some surrounding villages, dropped by at a colourful music festival and visited the famous UNESCO world heritage Suntemple of Konark.
Tom
2018-01-17
Saw this entry last year but just realized never got to comment on it... Must have been a truly one of a kind event this wedding. You guys look great in the local waredrobe - Roger's shoes are the hit, like from the Disney movie Aladdin...;o)