The wedding day dawned, and it was hot and sunny. I received a text message summoning all unmarried girls to Nikita's room to help the bride get ready. This casual invitation led to a full on hour and a half of Hindu blessings from the priest, before we each took turns to paste the bride with turmeric and rose water. She was looking a very bright yellow by the time she was finished, and was taken away to be cleaned up. Meanwhile the next ceremony was prepared. Long lines of bangles were soaked in rose water, and then covered with table napkins so that the bride could not see them.
Nikita reappeared having been de-yellowed. She was seated on a thrown, and her younger cousin covered her eyes. The bangles were then placed on her arms without her being able to see them. These would have originally been ivory, but fortunately these days they are plastic. The napkins were then tied around her wrists so she couldn't see the bangles, as seeing them before your wedding is considered bad luck.
The next bit of audience participation was that every unmarried woman had to tie a golden pendant to her bangles. By the time we were finished this must have weighed a ton. Everyone tied them super tight as there was some tradition that Dev had to untie them, and if he took too long at doing this tradition held that she would be the most dominant one in the marriage.
Then began the Indian equivalent of throwing the bouquet. Each unmarried girl had to kneel in front of Nikita, whilst she banged her bangles above our heads. Should one of the pendants break and fall on us then it meant that we would get married yet. Giving pendants unwillingness to fall on anyone no one is set to get married soon, although Nikita did improvise and start throwing the pendants at people.
It was then time to get into a sari and head to a wedding. The large amount of very good food I have eaten recently definitely contributed to sari being quite tight, but I found three very helpful aunties to help me tie it.
The wedding ceremony was held outside in a modern amphitheatre overlooking the Dead Sea, with the mountains of Palestine in the background. Dev arrived on a horse that didn't look particularly comfortable with the portable loud speaker that moved along next to it. However, it's lack of comfort was nothing compared to Dev, who looked totally terrified, and got paler every time the horse moved. Nikita had a more relaxed arrival, greeted her husband to be, and walked to sit under the brightly coloured wedding canopy with her parents, Dev and the Hindu priest.
"This wedding has been shortened from the traditional one," the Indian lady to the left of me explained. "It'll only be two hours, they used to go on for three or four, fortunately we have a supper to get to this evening." Unfortunately the ceremony wasn't amplified so we didn't really know what was going on. The audience soon began to talk amongst themselves and then go and fetch tea and biscuits from the back of the open-air theatre.
After what felt like a very long time the crowd suddenly cheered, and Nikita began to lead Dev around the scared fire, which symbolised they had been married. Their scarves had been knotted together and they walked seven times around he fire. Nikita got to lead for four of the circuits and Dev the last three.
By this point the sun had set and many pictures of the happy couple were taken, perched on pink stools under the bright orange wedding canopy. We then rushed back to the room for a quick change before heading in black tie to the ball room for the evening party. This was much more recognisable with speeches from the best man, maid of honour, father of the bride and the groom. We then headed onto the dance floor for a bit more dancing. Sadly for Edd there was no pool to finish the evening in...
Nikita reappeared having been de-yellowed. She was seated on a thrown, and her younger cousin covered her eyes. The bangles were then placed on her arms without her being able to see them. These would have originally been ivory, but fortunately these days they are plastic. The napkins were then tied around her wrists so she couldn't see the bangles, as seeing them before your wedding is considered bad luck.
The next bit of audience participation was that every unmarried woman had to tie a golden pendant to her bangles. By the time we were finished this must have weighed a ton. Everyone tied them super tight as there was some tradition that Dev had to untie them, and if he took too long at doing this tradition held that she would be the most dominant one in the marriage.
Then began the Indian equivalent of throwing the bouquet. Each unmarried girl had to kneel in front of Nikita, whilst she banged her bangles above our heads. Should one of the pendants break and fall on us then it meant that we would get married yet. Giving pendants unwillingness to fall on anyone no one is set to get married soon, although Nikita did improvise and start throwing the pendants at people.
It was then time to get into a sari and head to a wedding. The large amount of very good food I have eaten recently definitely contributed to sari being quite tight, but I found three very helpful aunties to help me tie it.
The wedding ceremony was held outside in a modern amphitheatre overlooking the Dead Sea, with the mountains of Palestine in the background. Dev arrived on a horse that didn't look particularly comfortable with the portable loud speaker that moved along next to it. However, it's lack of comfort was nothing compared to Dev, who looked totally terrified, and got paler every time the horse moved. Nikita had a more relaxed arrival, greeted her husband to be, and walked to sit under the brightly coloured wedding canopy with her parents, Dev and the Hindu priest.
"This wedding has been shortened from the traditional one," the Indian lady to the left of me explained. "It'll only be two hours, they used to go on for three or four, fortunately we have a supper to get to this evening." Unfortunately the ceremony wasn't amplified so we didn't really know what was going on. The audience soon began to talk amongst themselves and then go and fetch tea and biscuits from the back of the open-air theatre.
After what felt like a very long time the crowd suddenly cheered, and Nikita began to lead Dev around the scared fire, which symbolised they had been married. Their scarves had been knotted together and they walked seven times around he fire. Nikita got to lead for four of the circuits and Dev the last three.
By this point the sun had set and many pictures of the happy couple were taken, perched on pink stools under the bright orange wedding canopy. We then rushed back to the room for a quick change before heading in black tie to the ball room for the evening party. This was much more recognisable with speeches from the best man, maid of honour, father of the bride and the groom. We then headed onto the dance floor for a bit more dancing. Sadly for Edd there was no pool to finish the evening in...
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