And Action!

Another vendor down! Today, I put the deposit down on our videographer, Marliss Productions. After much debate, we decided to have a videographer, so we could capture everybody's winning smiles, and speeches, and anything else we might have missed while we're busy being worshipped. :)

A couple more things to book, and we have a wedding!

This is a short blog, since Snoopy is still gone, and I'm busy trying to hold down the fort. You can check out our other vendors which we listed on the sidebar. Enjoy!

Grick

Adieu! Adieu! To You and You and You!

Hi all....I just wanted to write a quick post before I fly to India tomorrow. It's going to be a whirlwind trip with much shopping to be done! I will be gone for a little over three weeks so there will likely be no blog posts in the interim. I will try to get Grick to step up.....but his beard may interfere with his typing skills :)

I won't be blogging, but I will be on email so feel free to drop me a line :)

Toodles!

The Wedding - Part Two

So we left our fictional couple sitting beside each other in the prayer hall....waiting for the wedding ceremony to begin. Let's join them!

Anand Karaj
Once the couple are comfortably sitting, the Anand Karaj can begin. Anand Karaj is the name for Sikh weddings - roughly translating to "ceremony of bliss."

At this point priest will come over to the couple and ask them and their parents to rise for a brief prayer. Once the prayer is complete, the bride, groom, their parents kneel, touch their head to the ground and sit down. The wedding guests do not participate in this. Following this, is the pullah ceremony. The pullah refers to the scarf that is held by the groom and draped over his right shoulder. The bride's father takes the end that is draped and places it in his daughter's hands - signifying their joining. Basically, it's the Indian equivalent of "giving the bride away." At my wedding, my brother will be fulfilling this role :) At this point, guests may note a mass exodus of young men towards the the holy book aka Guru Granth Sahib. They all encircle the priest who is reading and sit down on the ground. Do not be alarmed! This is perfectly normal. These young men are the bride's brothers or cousins. They have a role to play in the next part of the ceremony, which are the lavan.

The lavan are the main part of the Anand Karaj. This is when the bride and groom walk four times around the Guru Granth Sahib, completing the marriage ceremony. Each laav commences when the priests begin to sing hymns. The bride and groom kneel and touch their head to the ground, and then stand up. The groom passes the bride in front and walks to the left while the bride's helper assists her to follow. The helper is any close female relative who is there to help the bride through the ceremony. The helper passes the bride to the first brother. Each brother puts his arm around the bride and walks with her, passing her to each brother in turn. Upon completion of each laav, the bride and groom stand at the front and wait for the priests to finish the hymn. They again, kneel, touch their head to the ground and sit - waiting for the next laav. Once all four lavan are complete, the couple is married!

Following the ceremony, there is one more prayer during which everyone stands and participates. Once this is complete, the ceremony is over. The priests will then walk around distributing prasad to everyone. The prasad will be a a sweet pudding type mixture made of semolina, sugar, and butter. It is given out at temples during all functions and is meant as a gift from the gurus to the devotees. Please take it and eat it respectfully. However, be warned that it is buttery and we will be passing out napkins! :) While this is all happening, guests at the wedding will start to come up to the couple to give them money. I swear I am not making this up! The bride's parents begin this process. They stand behind the couple and drop money into their laps, while posing for pictures. Then one by one, family members and friends from both sides line-up to give the couple money. There is no mandatory participation for this but I just wanted to mention it, in case people were wondering what was happening.

That's it! The wedding is complete. At this point, the couple will go take photos while the guests can go downstairs and have a freshly prepared feast! I hope you enjoy :)