An Indian wedding often follows the rituals which started in the vedic times. First, a muhurat, (an auspicious time of the year) is chosen, The wedding is usually conducted at the bride's place. Entire families gather and the evening is spent singing, dancing andeating.
A day before the wedding, the palms and feet of the bride are decorated with 'henna', in the mehendi ceremony. A canopy or mandap decorated with flowers is erected at the wedding hall. On the wedding day, the bride and groom are anointed with turmeric in their respective homes.
The Indian bride is resplendent in her gorgeous red silk brocade and gold and diamond ornaments.
The north Indian bridegroom ties a veil of flowers, called sehra, to their turban. It is said that the tying of sehra confers the status of Vishnu on the groom.
The Indian wedding procession of the groom or the baraat is themain event on the groom's side. The baraat is headed by a deafening display offireworks and lively dancing of family and friends.
Accompanied by the rhythm of the north Indian dholak to the brass-bands playingthe western tunes the baraat finally reaches the meeting point, where the elders of both the families meet and the baraatis are welcomed with garlands and arati.
The groom is welcomed by the brides mother, she performs a arati , womenfolkshower flowers on him and then he is taken inside the pandal.The bride then comes with the jaimala, and both the bride and the groom exchange garlands to denote formal mutual acceptance.
After this the bride and groom sit in the mandap next to each other before a sacrificial pit or havana kund. And the detailed ritual of kanyadaan begins.Old ladies of the house, the elders, and the friends of both the bride and groom remain near the mandapa, directing the entire process like well-seasoned musical maestros.
Food is the centre point of an Indian wedding. It may be mithi daal in a Gujarati wedding, fish fry in a Bengali wedding, biryani in Muslim or butter chicken in a Punjabi wedding, food is one of the central themes at any Indian wedding.
After the kanyadaan where the bride is given to the groom by her father, (symbolically giving her to Vishnu), the ritual of pradakshina starts, in which the bride and the groom ritually walk seven times around the sacrificial fire. Also called pheras, this signifies their union.
The marriage ceremony now enters its most important phase, the saptapadi, in which the bride and the groom take seven steps together facing the north, After which the bride comes to the groom's left, leaving his right side free to take on the world. Thecouple are now considered married.
