You know I’m not a professional blogger when I posting something that occurred a month ago. But hey! This wedding was so fun that I have to show the glimpse of this extravagant Indian wedding. I never attended an Indian wedding before so when we received an invitation from our dear friend, Eric, I was ecstatic.
Eric (middle) has been a dear friend of my husband since they were roommates during their Teach for America tenure in 2008 (yikes, 10 years ago). Since their teaching days, Eric moved onto working for Target a few years, and then pursued MBA at Ross School of Business. He now works as a consultant.
I was lucky enough to borrow a couple of traditional Indian dresses from a local friend so I really felt like I was able to fully immerse in this festivity. Largely, the wedding festivity divides into three major events: Sangeet, Baraat/Hindu wedding ceremony, and then the reception. For your educational purpose (and so that I don’t have to type for the 3 hours), I highly suggest reading about Indian weddings because it’s quite fascinating.
Sangeet was a night full of entertainment. This occurred the night before the wedding, a full-blown pre-wedding celebration (just think of it as really big party). For Sangeet, friends and families showcase a series of celebratory dances for the bride and the groom. Z and I, along with many other friends, also performed short skits after hours of “tireless” rehearsal. Seriously, it has been a while where I had to actually memorize a choreography…my brain hurt a little and my body hurt more. Needless to say, it was a fun tradition to participate in.
Baraat takes the following day. This is groom’s procession (also, in a full party mode) to the Hindu ceremony. Supposedly, elephant is traditionally used for this occasion…but, renting an elephant is not such an easy (nor cheap) task in the US. Therefore, horse is commonly used. Essentially, baraat is a town parade (in this case, in middle of downtown Chicago with roads blocked by Chicago PD!) with dance and music. I don’t think there is many out there that can say that they had police escort and having roads blocked in one of the largest cities in the US. Since it was raining and rather chilly, the procession remained near the hotel most of the time, but we got plenty of attention from hotel guests and pedestrians 😂.
The Hindu ceremony took place in the hotel ballroom, decorated in beautiful, extravagant structures and flowers. Red has positive meaning in both Indian and Taiwanese cultures, so it was a noticeable color to be seen. The ceremony was about an hour and a half with series of rituals that symbolizes love, respect, partnership, and acceptance of each other. The wedding program was thoughtful enough to include explanation for each ritual for people like me (non-Indian) to understand. I appreciated that extra touch of consideration.
Finally, for the reception, we took a more Western approach in our attire. Fun fact: I bought this dress the first day I was in Chicago, picked by Z. I didn’t like the original dress that I brought so we ended up hitting up Nordstrom Rack for an impromptu shopping. The dress is from Adrianna Papell.
Did I mention that this wedding had 370+ guests? Compared to my humble 70+ guests at my own wedding in 2012, this wedding was just ginormous in every way. By the way, 370 is not considered a large wedding for Indians.
Let me just say that Indians know how to party. Everyone is an amazingly tireless dancer and they just know how to keep things. We seriously danced to one of the best DJs that I’ve ever encountered in a wedding, and it lasted all the way until 1am without missing a beat. Let’s just say that both Z and I took painkillers the next time we woke up. Post crazy night of dancing when you are in the 30s is just not the same as when you were 21.
Besides the simply spectacular wedding festivities we experienced, this was also an emotional reunion of Teach for America Houston Corp of 2008 to 2010. Some have remained in education while others moved onto earning their MBAs or MDs. It was a rarity to have the core group of friends reunite in one place.
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