So we were engaged! Just as us, our parents were thrilled that we had decided to get married and began to plan a wedding in India. However, anxiety turned into worry soon and our parents were overwhelmed with the options for venue, vendors for catering, flowers, invitations, etc. Arun and I were helpless, listening to their woes from Canada and wondered how we could help them. We decided to hire a wedding planner and told our parents that the only thing they had to do was prepare a guest list.
Finding a venue, which suited my parents based in Bangalore and Arun’s parents based in Bhopal was hard. All thanks to our accommodative parents and our skilled wedding planner, we decided to host a wedding in Bangalore and a reception party at Bhopal, a week after the wedding. Hotel rooms at the cities were booked well in advance for relatives. We decided on a small and simplistic wedding ceremony at a kalyan mantap in Bangalore. The rituals were new to us (as both Arun and I had not attended a traditional Hindu wedding in over 15 years), but the priest made it appear very simple and we were married with the essential Hindu customs of havan, saptapadi, kanyadaan and vidaai. The reception at Bhopal was a great opportunity to meet Arun’s family. We heard that our well-planned wedding was much talked about months after the big day.
I think it’s only natural to feel stressed before the big day. Although Arun was very supportive and shared most of the responsibilities through the days before the wedding, I always wondered if we would miss inviting someone, or planning something. Our wedding planner constantly reminded me that “On your wedding day, you are supposed to be Queen. Start feeling like one today!”
We had a Bollywood Night a day before the wedding in Bangalore and found ourselves dancing to great Hindi tunes (all thanks to the DJ who played some of the best numbers and the venue, which was decorated with posters of movie stars). It was a night full of memorable laughter and dance all in true Bollywood style.
I loved my make up on my wedding day and the ever so sweet beautician made a trip to Bhopal too, to dress me up for my reception too. I had plenty of time to get ready and relax. I thoroughly enjoyed my day sans the stress of the wedding planning. We look through the photographs even now and dwell on the sweet memories of our Indian wedding!