I wasn’t surprised when Rohit proposed to me during a holiday last year. I saw it coming because he was constantly planning for getaways and fumbling for words at dinners, which he would abruptly plan. Nevertheless, it couldn’t get any more perfect. The Italian Riveria is a lovely stretch and the village of Monterosso is simply breathtaking. While having a candlelit dinner by the beach (Rohit’s idea, yet again), he popped the question and by the end of dinner we had not just decided on spending the rest of our lives together but decided on having a big, fat Indian wedding too.
For most Indian parents, their tension starts when a girl child is old enough to get married. Same with mine, however, when I told them about Rohit, they were more than excited and began throwing a volley of questions at me – Where do you want to get married? We’ve thought of a location already, are you okay with that? Do we invite everyone we know (that would be close to 1500 people!)? When do we shop for jewelry? Wow I had no clue what I was getting into, now.
For most of the things to do, we had to plan a trip to India. Short listing locations, shopping for jewelry, invitations – we could not manage to do all this from New York. Like most girls, I had dreamt of my wedding, walking down an Indian mantap in a bright red saree, resplendent in finery, surrounded by family and friends. But the whole process overwhelmed Rohit and me. We often wondered if we should settle for a simple registered marriage but decided that planning our wedding in India would be great fun! And it was!
With a little research online, we found great vendors for almost all our activities – booking the location (pre-approved by our parents, wedding invites, photographers and videographers, and decorations). Our wedding was solemnised at the Jag Mandir, a little island on the Lake Pichola, in Udaipur. The setting was perfect, bright yellow flowers and a red mantap. The evening before our wedding, we had a sangeet with a local DJ belting out Bollywood numbers, which brought back lots of memories. It was a relaxed affair and the best time to catch up with family and friends we had not met for ages.
We had a Mehendi rasam (traditional ritual of applying henna to the bride’s hands and legs) on the next day. The occasion called for more dancing, with all the older aunties joining in, gyrating to their favourite numbers including “Mere Haathon Mein Nau Nau Chudiyan….” Rohit and I could not help but smile as we looked at an island full of people – happy and dancing and the best day of our lives was yet to come.
The wedding followed a day after the Mehendi and we had our own respective ceremonies to complete (as I am a North-Indian and Rohit is a South-Indian) as per the Hindu tradition. Blessings made, garlands exchanged and pheras too! At the end of it, we cut a cake too, to mark the beginning of a great journey together and Rohit surprised me with a song he had written! Following his performance, we had lunch – which included traditional Rajasthani fare and South Indian cuisine too. Everything from the venue, décor to the food was perfect and the memories in the form of photographs are a constant reminder of the day most cherished in our lives.