On Thursday night (December 17), we were invited to the Henna Dance Party. We had no idea what to expect, but it was fun. First, we sat down for our first Indian meal. The food was super spicy, but I still managed to eat it. I wanted to take in the whole experience.
After we ate dinner, two of the couple's relatives did a dance for us. It was beautiful, and the sounds were incredible. Their bracelets jingled along with the music and their saris were beautiful, too.
After the dance, the happy couple went up on the platform and played a game. They each had a blue card with an H on it for Harsh and a pink card with an A on it for Artee. They were asked questions like, "Who is the better cook?" and they held up the letter of their choice. It was cute.
After the game, I went and got in line for my henna tattoo. All of the women were getting henna on their hands. Most of the Indian ladies had it on their palms and top of their hands, but I chose to just get the top of my hand done. Here is a pic from my experience.
This is what it looked like when she finished.
I know that I told you that this party was on Thursday night. Well, we didn't get home until after 11, and I had to teach the next day. When I woke up on Friday morning, I had to squeeze lemon juice on my henna and scrape off the "puffy paint." Underneath that was the actual tattoo.
I had a long day at school, but I finally made it home about 5. Nana and Pop (Matt's parents) came up to keep the kids, so we could enjoy the wedding experience. They got to our house on Friday night. We ironed and packed for the next day because Trent had a basketball game at 9AM on Saturday morning. I will save that for another blog entry.
After the game, we rushed home to change and get our bags to head to the Hilton. Here we are before we left.
We arrived at the Hilton, and everyone was just standing around. We met up with our friends and visited while we waited. After a while, Harsh rode up on his white horse. Change that, in India it is tradition for the groom to ride up on a white horse, but Harsh rode up in a white Escalade limo. There was a lot of dancing and singing, and then the groom walked in along with the priest (Maharaj).
Here is a picture of the Maharaj.
Then the groom went into the ballroom with both sets of parents. There is a large portion of the ceremony that does not involve the bride. We sat for a few minutes, and then I went with several of the girls to see Artee. She was so beautiful. She had henna on her hands, arms, feet, and legs. It took her 15 hours for all of hers. After going to see Artee, I returned to my seat with Matt where he was drinking what looked like milk. They were given a milk, fennel seed, sugar, and other ingredients mixture while we were with Artee. I tried it, but I am not a big fan of licourice, so I let Matt have most of it. Then it was time for Artee to enter and start her part of the ceremony. Here are a couple of pictures with Artee.
This is when Artee entered.
This is from part of the ceremony. The priest is sitting on the floor and both sets of parents are there too.
Instead of trying to explain the ceremony, I am putting what we were given. (Hint - If you click on the picture, it makes it bigger and easier to read.)
One of Artee's relatives came over during the ceremony and said that lunch was ready. We said that we thought the ceremony was almost over, but he informed us that his wedding lasted 4 hours, so we decided that lunch sounded like a good idea. We walked next door and helped ourselves to our second Indian meal of the wedding weekend.
Again, it was spicy, but good.
When we walked out after eating lunch, Artee and Harsh were doing their walk out to the limo. Here is a great picture of them.
After the wedding, we headed upstairs to rest for the night's festivities. I took a nap while Matt worked on his fantasy football stuff. Luckily, I woke up at 5PM because Matt had dozed too. It was time to head down for cocktail hour. We went downstairs and enjoyed the company of our friends with free drinks. :)
After cocktail hour (or hours), it was time for dinner. We sat a table with several of our friends including Joey.
Matt and Joey
Matt and I (Eleven years ago at this time, we were arriving in New Orleans for our honeymoon.)
Then we had dinner. Our first two meals did not have meat, but there was chicken at dinner. It was super spicy, but it was good.
After dinner, they passed around these little packets. I am not sure what it was, but it was spicy.
After dinner, the happy couple made the rounds. Then the dancing started. It was an interesting mix of American and Indian music. I loved how they started an American song and got all of the American guests on the dance floor. Then they would change the music to Indian. It was great.
We really enjoyed our first Indian wedding experience, and we are so happy to share an anniversary with Artee and Harsh.
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