My Wedding (March 08-09,2008)

Note: My wedding as I remember it a year later and for all my friends who could not attend :)

Jan 4th 2008(Friday): My engagement day- the D day for the wedding was fixed as March 9th(Sunday) Muhurtham 7am - 8am and reception on March8th (Saturday). I was surprised, I had never heard of having  areception before the wedding but apparantly that is how it happened in Tamil weddings as the kalyanamandap was always booked. So be it I thought :). 

Jan 28th 2008(Monday):I did my wedding shopping with my in-laws and all the relatives iat Coimbatore A pink color saree for the reception and an orange for the wedding, we went to the beautician and fixed the style etc.At night when I reached the airport to fly to Mumbai my MIL thght it was better to have the orange one for the reception and pink for the wedding and told me likewise and they would get it sorted with the beautician, so be it I thght again, off I flew to Mumbai.

Mar 1st(Saturday): I was off to my 2.5 weeks of wedding vacation. Myself and Gopi had out tickets booked from Mumbai on the 1st March for Netravati Express(10:00 am). Mom, Dad, Chechi, kuttu, Gee and Sandy had their tickets booked the same night from Pune in Poorna Express. The 1st family in AC and second in S2 compartment. Gopi was to receive his Passport that day, so morning to avoid all the trouble the postman would have to make we walked the 10 mins to the post-office. But as luck would have it the postmaster insisted that he would deliver the Passport only at the residence address. No amount of cajoling or even for that matter my marathi speaking skills put to test have any affect on the postman. We even showed him our train tickets but the man was UNMOVED. We had no choice but to go back and wait at Gopi's home for him. Finally at noon he came and delivered the Passport with much cajoling from our owner Mr Shekhar and also pocketed his 100 bucks. Now as we had misse dour train we immediately checked for availability in Poorna, luckily we got 2 tickets for that nite in the S3 compartment. Immediatley we caught the ever reliable Raj Travels and reached Pune by 10 pm and that is how finally the whole family travelled together :)

Mar3rd 2008(Monday): We reached Trichur station at 2:30 and it was pouring. We caught a taxi to go home,  left Gopi at the bus-stop and we all went home. The next few days went in shopping for gold and eating gr8 food. My relatives got me a necklace set, Chechi gave gold earrings and my uncles got me the kalyanam saree from maternal home as is custom. The wedding was in Coimbatore, we i.e(Mom,Chechi,kuttu,Amooma,Apoopan and my cousin Sreeji left for Cbe Fri afternoon itself). We had booked 2 buses for all my relatives along with Daddy who would come Sat evening for the reception stay back for Sun morning wedding and go back by noon.

Mar 7th 2008:We i.e(Mom,Chechi,kuttu,Amooma,Apoopan and my cousin Sreeji) left for Cbe Fri noon in a taxi. Initially I thought of wearing a the saree my uncles gave but later on decidedto wear that on the wedding day and wore a normal chudidhar. We had lunch at a restaurant in Palakad and reached Cbe by 4 pm. Gopi, his brother Udhay, cousin Bharati were there to receive us. They took us to the hotel that they had booked. Tonite was to be the Haldi ceremony, they asked us to get ready by 7pm and left. I was excited, I would be smeared in turmeric, I love the shine it leaves on the skin. So by 7pm we reached the kalyam mandapam. It was decorated beautifully. There were 2 rooms, 1 for the bride and 1 for the groom. I was taken to a open area and asked to sit on a stool. But unfortunately for me my to be relatives decided to make a shortcut of the ceremony or else they thought a city girl would not like getting drenched in cold haldi water, so they applied some haldi on my feet and washed it 3 times. Then I was taken to the girls room and Shantiamma put the toe-ring. After that we had dinner and then myself and Sreeji went to the beauticians place to get my mehendi done. Later we got back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.

Mar 8th 2008: Reception Day. I was asked to reach the wedding mandapam by 2 pm with the saree. So myself and Sreeji went and my parents would come later at 6pm. Now I took the orange saree as I was told by my in laws, but the beautician who came there had got all the accessories for the pink saree(apparently no one informed her is my guess) but anyways due to the confusion poor Sreeji had to go back to the hotel and get the pink saree. In the meantime my make-up process started. She did a very light make-up which was good but she tied my hair back very tight which was so not very good. By 6 pm the mandap started filling in. There were always relatives peeping in the girls room to see the bride. By 7 pm all my relatives had reached. Now I was all set to go on the stage. A big garland was got which I myself wore around my neck and was escorted on the stage by the groom's sister(cousin). Handsome groom was also next to me. Then the usual reception tradition started. Guests coming on stage...smile.....wishes.....click clikc....Next.  By 11pm most of the guests had left and I was famished with hunger. We were taken to the dining area and served.  Now many people ask me what was the best thing about my wedding and I say - the FOOD. It was the best. There was a variety of items( all vegeterian) with great taste and made of really unique things. By the time we were done all I wanted was to go and sleep and then it was that my MIL stated that the bride cannot leave the mandap, as is tradition the bride and the groom have to stay at the mandap itself, I was so not prepared for this. But as nothing could be done me and Sreeji would stay back and others went to the hotel. The bed in the mandap was creaky , the lights were on, there were mosquitos, I had to get up at 4 am in the morning for the beautician and to make things worse, the saree which my uncles gave and my mom inssited I wear it as per tradition, so I would have to get up in the morning, go to the hotel, get ready , wear the saree and come back to the mandap and no one would see me in that excpet for myself , Ugggggggh. I hate waking up in the morning :(

Mar 9th 2008(Sunday):I woke up at 4am, went to the hotel, got ready wore the saree, came back and immediately removed it as I had to get ready. I was all done by 6am. At 7am I was taken on stage by my uncle and aunty, then my uncle put the garland across my neck(some tradition), then I was taken back to my room while the groom was taken to the temple with all gana bajana. After they returned i was again taken to the stage and then the pooja followed with thali kethu and garland exchange between the bride and groom. Finally by 9am I was married :). Then the usual photo clicking session followed by some yummy breakfast. 

*************************************************************************************