Wedding weekend

Rishi and Vinaya

Neal, Kevin, Rishi and Mehul

The head table

Cutting the cake...you can sorta see just how gorgeous the dress was

Kevin and I spent this past weekend in Raleigh, NC. A friend from college was getting married and it turned out to be an event to not be missed. Kevin's friend is a Hindu Indian as well as his wife, so this was a very traditional Indian wedding. Lots of culture, vegetarian food and gorgeous Saris.

On Friday we arrived around six in the evening. Friday night was the Mehendi, so we quickly changed out clothes and headed to the party. There was probably over a hundred people at the Mehendi, they served a full dinner, had entertainment and even a cold stone creamery type set up. I had my hand painted with a beautiful design covered in sparkles.

The next morning we were served breakfast at the hotel and headed out for the Barrat. The bar rat is the groom's procession to the actual wedding ceremony. They (the police) actually closed down some streets in downtown Raleigh for the groom's Barrat. The groom was in an adorned carriage being pulled by an equally adorned horse. There were traditional Indian dancers/drummers that led the procession through the streets. Once we arrived at the venue, the wedding ceremony began. It was a two hour ceremony and the bride didn't arrive until 40 minutes into the ceremony. It was acceptable to leave during the ceremony and have some hors devours that were set up right outside the ballroom. The ceremony was broadcast live over the internet for the families in India that couldn't make the wedding.

Later in the evening was the reception. Everything was beautifully decorated. The food was all vegetarian Indian dishes. The bride had on a beautiful pink and gold dress covered in beading. There was entertainment from two different groups and a picture slide show of the bride and groom with the families over time. It was by far the most extravagant event I have ever been to.