By now I guess most of you already know that I went to Mumbai last month to attend a wedding. I’ve shared stories about the city, about the food, even some travel and visa tips (the latter is in Bahasa Indonesia).But what about the wedding? Okay, although it is rather overdue… here goes! 😀
Disclaimer: Similar to Indonesian culture, Indian culture is very diverse. There are a lot of sub-cultures, usually differ by location. Every sub-culture has different traditions, especially about a wedding. I think my friend’s culture is Gujarati, so the wedding that I experienced was a Gujarati wedding. However, my understanding of a ritual/details might not be perfect, so read this post for fun only! 🙂
Before coming to India, my friend (the groom) told me to prepare for three functions; The Cocktail Party, The Henna Function, and The Wedding. But while I was there, I got to experienced some functions as well, all part of the wedding festivities.
The Cocktail Party
At first I have no idea what this is all about. When I asked what to prepare, my friend told me not to prepare anything, just wear a pretty party dress, hahaha. Later on, I found out that cocktail party means a night out with friends and family, all youngsters, just to have fun and celebrate before all the formal wedding festivities started. It is somewhat similar to a co-ed bachelor party. What happened there? a lot of dancing. So fun!! We started off with some current top40 dance songs, and followed by popular Indian songs. I can tell you now, I have never been to a party where everyone literally danced! and by everyone I mean, everyone! I had so much fun until I got my ankle sprained and had to sit down for the rest of the night, watching everyone else dancing. Booohooo 😦
Henna Function or Mehndi
This function happened 2 nights before the wedding. The bride had henna applied to her hands and feet, and then invited all her friends and family to a function involving a lot of dancing again! (I wish I could put the dancing emoji here, hehehe). That night, I arrived with my group of friends (from the groom’s side). When we first arrived at around 7PM, the bride and her family greeted us with a dance, and told us to dance as well. So we danced. After around 10 minutes dancing, they told us (the ladies) to approach the henna ladies to get our hands henna-ed. But then the groom and his family arrived, so we started dancing again to greet him. 😀 Then when I finally managed to had henna applied to my hands (because I was too busy dancing previously, hahaha), it was already 8.45 and the henna ladies had to leave at 9. Due to limited time, I could not get full henna, but it’s okay, better than nothing, right? 🙂 And then at around 9, finally all the dancing stopped and we were invited to have dinner. No questions about the food, they were all delicious!!
Night before the wedding
On the day before the wedding, there was some praying event both at the groom’s and the bride’s house. I did not witness it though, as me and my other foreigner friends was going on a quick last minute shopping for the wedding. We went to a small market nearby the hotel to buy some accessories and sandals for me because I had to ditch my heels due to my sprained ankle! 😦
Okay back to the night before the wedding. We were told to come to the groom’s house and from there walked to a function hall in his neighborhood. Turned out that there was a particular event; in which the men of the family (his father, uncles, cousins) played some sort of card game and the women did some chanting. I was told that it was supposed to bring good luck for the wedding 🙂
No dancing on this event, but still it was good fun. Me and my friends tried to join the card game but I sucked at it, hahaha. Food was served, so we spent the night eating instead hahaha…
The Morning of the Wedding
The morning of the wedding was hectic for us. We woke up very early and rushed to get ready. Lucky us there was a hairdresser in front of the hotel so the ladies could get their hair done. Afterwards, us foreigners needed some help from our Indian friends to put on our saree, because who knows it looks simple but turned out a bit complicated to do!
Without further ado, here’s me in a saree! 😀
After everyone was ready (there were 10 people in our group), we went to my friend’s house, the groom. We were a bit late when we got there, the baraat has started already. It is a procession where the groom left his house accompanied by his family dancing and singing in celebration for him, I was told as a sign of happiness and good luck.
So we joined the dancing and singing for around 45 minutes before we left to the wedding venue. Traditionally, the groom and his family need to dance all the way to the wedding venue (or the bride’s house)… how cool is that!? But obviously we could not do it in a modern Mumbai, so we took cars instead, hehehe.
When we arrived to the venue, there were a lot of people already. We were told to sit down while the groom was taken to a special room for some preparation. While waiting, there were people bringing light meals and drinks for us, and there was also some musical performance. In short, it was festive, unlike traditional Indonesian wedding ceremony which I know is very quiet and serene. There were even two more dances as the groom “walked the aisle” to the wedding stage. So fun!!
To my understanding, the wedding process involved some rituals, led by a shaman in which after every ritual the bride and groom had to circle a sacred fire.
After certain circle, they were officially married and we gathered to the stage and throw flowers at them in celebration! Yayyy!!
I was truly happy that I got the chance to be a part of my friend’s wedding. It was a truly memorable event and I’m happy to share it with all of you 🙂
Christa Bercerita 
Banyak joget2 beneran mirip sm film India yaaa??? Cool.. Coba ada videonya pasti makin seruuu.. 😀
Iyaaa joged muluuu hehehe ini videonya ada di hp cuma sedikit tapi, sisanya aku kan ikutan heboh joged jadi ga sempet megang hp hhahaha.. Btw mau upload videonya kesini ngga bisaa :s
Pake youtube mau gak mau atau upgrade wordpress premium.. :p
Ouuu begituuu hehehe makasih Nita sarannyaa 😀
Dulu saya pernah punya tamu India yang lagi Honeymoon, saya lihat tatto istrinya (ditangan sampai jerijinya) keren banget motifnya ..pengen tahu tinta apa ya dipakai..? Kalau di Bali umumnya Tattoo temporary kagak bagus gitu…thanks for sharing
Iyaa itu Henna nya pasti.. kurang paham juga bahan dasarnya apa, tapi hilang dengan sendirinya sekitar semingguan. Sama sama, terima kasih sudah mampir ya!
wahh.. cantik nih pake saree! hehe.. iyaa.. upload video di youtube. hehehe.. tari-an synchronized gt apa gimana buat sambut groom.nya?
Hihihi thankyouu! Iya nih nanti dicoba upload youtube ya mudah2an bisa hehehe. Ngga, narinya free style aja.. well ada gerakan khusus kadang2 kita nari nya dalam lingkaran gitu, tapi kebanyakan free style, asal gerak aja mengikuti musiknya hehe
beneran sama kyk di film india ya mbak?
suatu saat pingin deh motret nikahan orang india. seru banget kyknya…. >.<
btw, itu saree-nya baguusss. canteeekkk kalii… XD
Iya, banyak nari nya hehehe. Makasihhhh susie 🙂
What an experience Christa to have followed all the functions! It was surely fun and impressive. You look very beautiful in a saree. I know how difficult to wrap it around your body.
Thank you Lorraine! Yaa it was so hard to put on, I had two friends helping me out…But the result was pretty and it stayed the whole day even after so much dancing! 🙂
The saree fits you very well, Mba Christa, you look awesome ☺ Seru banget pestanya ya, Mba 😊
Iyaa.. pengalaman sekali seumur hidup Icha.. hehe makasih yaa 🙂
Looks so much fun !!
It was 🙂
Nehi nehi 😀
Banyak jogetnya gitu ya, jadi kalau di film india memang nggak dibuat-buat, ya emang India suka njoget semuanya ya mbak 😀
Heehehe nehi nehi konon kabarnya artinya “no”, Febri.. hehe. Iyaa.. beneran semuanya joged dan makanya mereka keliatan happy terus. Kalau denger musik dikit langsung joged 😀
Eng… nehi-nehi itu no-no yang berarti tidak-tidak gitu ya mbak wkwkw. gak nyambung berarti aku wkwkw
Hahhaha India kayaknya orangnya hepi semua gitu ya wkwkwk negeri joget 😀
Saree nya kece deh Chris warna pink gituuu
Thank youu nis hehehe 😀
Naksir saree nya, cakeeepp Pink. Kamu juga makin keren pakai saree 🙂
Thank youuu Deny ❤
You looked very pretty in that saree, Mbak. Pernikahan India memang banyak lagu dan tari, menunjukkan mereka yang begitu gembira ya. Saya melihat pernikahan ala India itu di film saja–melihat langsung pasti beda banget aura dan euforianya. Keren!
Iya.. meriah sekali pernikahannya disana Gara. Seru banget! Makasih yaa hehehe 😀
Siap, sama-sama, Mbak :)).
mba, aku suka India. Pengen banget bisa jalan-jalan ke India dan belanja kain-kain saree nya. itu sareenya bagus mba 🙂
mba, boleh minta email ga? hehe pengen nanya-nanya 🙂 tq.
Terima kasih sudah mampir ya Ira 🙂 hehe, kalau mau tanya2 boleh, lewat halaman contact yaa.. langsung ke email aku kok.. https://christabercerita.wordpress.com/contact/
thank you Christa :*
Sudah dibalas yaa 🙂
dimana lihat balasannya say? maaf belum pernah sebelumnya kirim pesan via WP say 😛
Di email kamu.. Yg yahoo yah? Itu jatohnya kayak email2an kok hehe
oo ke yahoo heheh yaya oke say, aku buka yahoo aku sekarang. thank you 😀
Reblogged this on My Rainbow Village.
cantik banget warna saree nya.yang pake juga cantik deh,betul2 totalitas ya ikutan seluruh rangkaian acaranya,asik seru luar biasa 😉
Iyaa, beruntung bisa ikutan semua, pengalaman sekali seumur hidup kan.. makasih Adhya.. hehehe:)
So festive!! so many colors and I can smell different fragrances from henna, food, perfumes, flowers…. totally love it. Did you buy your saree while you where there? You looked stunning 🙂
Yes, my friend organised it for us, all I did when I got there was to have my body measured and in 2 days, the saree was delivered to our hotel! Just in time for the wedding hehehe.. Thank you Oppie! It was indeed very festive! 🙂
sareenya cantik, yang pake juga 😀
Joget asli mereka itu kayak yang di film2 kak?
Makasih Rindi 🙂 hmmm kurang lebih gitu, tp banyak free style hehehe, seruu deh.. Goyang aja sesuka hati 🙂
wow
😀
Senangnya kawinan banyak jogetnya.. 🙂
Iya Puji, aku kepengen deh kalo kawinan banyak joged juga tp di Indonesia mana mungkin hihihi :))))
Ya ampun seru abis ya, sampe 3 hari 3 malam. Langsung mikir, biaya pernikahannya berapa tuh ya hahaha… emak-emak banget. You looked so pretty in saree! Saree-nya beli di sana ya Ta?
Thankss Ngel! Hahaha iya rangkaian acaranya banyaakk, mahal kali yaaa.. Hihi. Iyaa saree nya dibeliin disana..
Seruuuuuuu seruuuuuu dan nari2 trus ya hahaha. Sareenya bagus, pink. Ehh hennanya walau gak full tapi cakep ya
Iyaa nari muluuu.. Seneng deh aku, pada dasarnya emang suka joged aku Non hehehe. Iya kalau full lebih cakep lagii.. Cuma musti sabar tangannya pas dipakein ga gerak berapa lama gitu. Kalo aku express bikinnya 15menitan hehe
Hallo Christa,
Salam kenal saya Inong…Udah jadi silent reader dari dua bulan lalu dan udah khatam baca blog ini n juga blog yang lama…Suka banget cerita-ceritannya n pas lihat kamu pake saree pink (Which is my favorite color) jadi gak tahan pengen komen deh 🙂 Look so beautiful, both you and the saree 🙂 Pengalaman menarik banget ya bisa menyaksikan pernikahan teman di negara asalnya…Dan jadi teringat pernah mengunjungi pernikahan sepupu yang menikah dengan gadis Malaysia di Malaysia beberapa tahun lalu 🙂
Halo Inong, wah senang sekaliii udah sempetin baca2 blogku 🙂 terima kasih yaaa!
Oyaa kalau pernikahan di Malaysia gimana? Memang kalau pernikahan beda adat seru ya liatnya, something new and exciting gitu 🙂
Kalo yg aku lihat waktu pernikahan sepupu itu prosesinya hampir sama kayak di Indonesia (^-^)
Ouuu ya karena emg mirip yah budaya nya hehehe.. Seru juga pastinya!
Pengalaman luar biasa!👍😃 Beruntungnya kamu bisa hadir di acara seperti ini..
Iya Emmy, seneng skalii.. kayaknya pengalaman sekali seumur hidup ini 🙂