A Perfect Wedding

There is a proverb in Kannada - Mane katti nodu, maduve maadi nodu - meaning "Build a house and see, perform a wedding and see". We did the second one :)

My brother and R decided to get married early this year. As in the case of any wedding, we were all very excited! The preparations slowly started from Feb with the engagement ceremony which went very well. It was a pleasant function, with very close family and friends attending.

After the engagement, we started off the preparations for the wedding . The wedding hall was booked, after searching for a day. I kept a book, where I could write everything related to the wedding. We started making lists - list of things to buy, list of things to do etc.

The first list was a "high-level" list, which covered everything related to the wedding. 

1. Print Invitations

2. Invite people

3. Buy sarees

4. Buy gifts

5. Buy gold

6. Paint house

7. Wood work (we didn't have proper cupboards)

8. Gowri samaan

9. Gombe, Kobri

10. Book Hall for Satyanarayana Pooje

11. Decide menu

12. Photo/Video

13. Decoration for reception stage

14. Meet Purohit

15. Chakli Ladoo bageena

16. Gombe

17. Satyanarayana pooje purohit

18. Satyanarayana pooje catering

19. Devarasamaradhne - purohit, catering

20. Ask Purohit for the list

21. Buy Toe ring

22. Gowri pooja - Mora jote

23. Varapooje list

Then came the separate lists - guest list, number of people for each function, gifts for family members, expenses list, list of things to buy for each occasion etc.

Now comes executing everything in the list :)

The first thing I did was to buy sarees for myself and mom :D. I had to ensure I looked the best before I could think of anything else. hehehe. Well, it wasn't planned that way. It just happened that Deepam had their yearly sale in April. And I had decided long back that I was going to buy one saree from Deepam for my brother's wedding :) So as soon as I saw the sale board, I rushed to the Deepam store on M.G.Road to pick that ONE saree for the big occasion. We left the store with 6 sarees!!!!!! And I LOVE all the sarees :D. 4 sarees for the great me, and 2 for my mom.

Next came jewellery shopping for the girl. 

Now it was time for saree shopping for the bride. We went to our all-time favorite store "Jai-Shankar Palace" in VV Puram. We picked up 4 lovely sarees for R. 

Then saree/shirt/pant/kurta shopping for all the family members and friends at various places - Kumarans, Jai shankar, Manpasand, Avenue road store, Kaiser hind, Desi.

Next major task was inviting people. Decided the wordings for the card. Got the invitation cards from Avenue road, and got the words printed on the cards at Hanumanthanagar.

Started inviting people by inviting my grandfather who is in Mysore first. We invited few people personally, and remaining people we mailed and called.

We were done with inviting people when we had a week's time left. 

Meanwhile, we had 2 other major tasks pending - reception stage decoration and surprise flash mob dance for the couple :)

I did not want the regular flower decoration for the stage. Few of C's friends and we got together and started coming up with ideas for the stage set-up. Initially we thought of having a halli-mane (village home) set-up, it didn't work out. Then we thought of arranging various things from the couple's life - like, dance related stuff, theatre stuff, bike stuff etc. That didn't materialize as well. We also wanted to do something with photos, but we were not sure how it would go with the theme. And most of the decoraters were used to doing just flower decorations. We had told the bride and the groom that it was going to be a surprise stage setting. So the pressure was more on us :) But finally, it all fell into place. One of M's friend agreed to help us with the set-up. And when we met him to discuss our ideas, we realized that hes a very close friend of A :) 

The end result can be seen in the picture below and it was fabulous. We were able to add pictures of the bride and the groom from their childhood on the 2 screens on the stage. It was just perfect :)

Again, C's friends, cousins, A and I got together and planned a dance for the special couple :) We first chose the songs, then decided on the time. We used to get together at a friend's place and rehearse. It was a lot of fun :) And the key was to make sure C and R didn't get to know about this. It was a huge hit :)

Shopping went on for many days till the nth moment. The house was full of guests for 10 days. It was soo much fun :) - chatting, shopping, arranging, keeping everything ready. Few of us decided to do a long plait on the day of the muhurtham. So cousin and I shopped for all the accessories needed to deck up ourselves :)

The groom bought, shirts, pants, suit, shoes and he was all set! It was very simple for him :)

Surprise No 1 for C was the bachelor's party :), where his friend M asked C to meet him urgently one evening at one of their hangout places. Later the whole gang and A joined him and they put a hat that said "Yes I am getting married, buy me a drink", and made him wear a pink t shirt :) They roamed around on the streets and visited various pubs and had fun!!

A and I sat on the hasemane. So it was nice.

Following were the functions that we had as part of the wedding - 

Narahari Bhageerathi 

on a Thursday - during the week before the wedding week - a small function at home, uncle and aunt from dad's side came home to do the pooja and then home-made lunch - obbattu, brinjal curds, 2 kosambaris, vangibath - all prepared by our dear S atte and mom.

Devarasamaradhne

on a Wednesday - 2 days before the wedding. Early morning we had yenne shastra (applying oil to the head, hands, legs), Malneer shastra (Pouring water on mother and son). The purohit had come and he did all the pooja. We started off with Chappra pooje. Then we did Ganesha pooja, mane devru pooje, homa, pada pooje for the elders, hoovilya, sandige beesodu. Then oota.

Rangoli put by U aunty

Chappra

Kalasha

Mangalarathi

Homa

Making Sandige and other foodies for the wedding :)

Mehndi night

on a Wednesday evening - fun time applying mehndi at home.  Around 10 -15 of us applied including all the elders :)

Varapooje

on a Thursday.


We had planned to leave home around 4.30 in the evening. Exactly at 4.30, it started raining. It rained for about 10 minutes and stopped. Its supposed to be auspicious if it rains at the beginning of something new. So we were very happy :) We left home around 5pm, to go to the wedding hall. Surprise no 2 was C's friend M getting his new car to pick up C :)

We reached the wedding hall in 15 minutes. We were welcomed by the girl's family. Had light snacks - Mangaloor bajji and mysore pak with tea/coffee. 

The Varapooje rituals started around 6.30, and got over in one hour.

The third surprise was the dance! It was a super hit, and everyone enjoyed it :) We all had loot of fun :) The bride and the groom had no clue and were really surprised. The boys started off with "Ye Chand sa Roshna Chehra", then rap music where the girls come in and push the boys and dance for "Ye Ladka hai Allah Keisa Hei Deewana". Later all of us (boys and girls) danced for the following nos - "Jinke mari na, nee jinke mari na", "Hayo Rabba Hayo rabba", "If you come today, you are too early", "Pyar ge Aagbittayte, Namduke Pyar ge aagbittayte", "Ainvi Ainvi lut gaya". We pull R and C in to dance for "Nidde Bartilla Nange Nidde Bartilla, Naale nanna maduve ante, Nidde bartilla". They both start dancing, and we all just cheer them. Then "Baag Baag TK Bose" song starts, and we all run off, leaving the 2 of them. It was a superb ending :)

Dinner was yummy. Belted nicely. 

Rangoli at home

Car ready for the groom

Dance steps print out - last minute rehearsal :p

The Stage

Super Oota

Dhaare

on a Friday :)

Woke up at 4.30 am, got ready. One of my aunts put long plait for 3 of us ladies and tied our sarees. It came out so well :) Thanks Aunty :)

First thing we did on this day was "Gowri Pooja". R did the pooja and then we made her wear green and red bangles. 

The first thing for the boy is "Kashi Yatre", where he wears turban and panche and joli with a stick in his hand and pretends to go away on Sanyasatva. The girl's parents and brother bring him back :)

All the other rituals went on very well. The Muhurtham was between 9.30am and 10.30am. Doing pooja to the thaali and saree, Jeerige Bella, exchanging gifts, Dhare yeriskolodu, holding thread by 7 couples around the boy and the girl, TYING THE KNOT, exchanging garlands, Sapthapadi, Homa, Toe ring, Naagoli, Mane tumbiskolodu where the girl sits on mil's lap and husband's lap.

Heavy yummy lunch.

R entering our house :)

The Stage

Gowri Pooje

Kashi Yatre

 

Homa

Uppina Aane

Reception

on a Friday evening. 

The reception stage came out very well, thanks to everyone who helped out. 

Got ready, we had a parlor lady come to the hall. It was fun getting ready together. Fun evening :)

The Stage

Satayanarayana Pooje

on a Sunday, its also called "Bheegara Autna". It was at a different hall close to home. The pooja started around 8.45 am in the morning. 

Breakfast was yummy pooris, saagu, chatni and Haalbai with coffee.

Pooja went very well. Lunch was the yummiest with - Akki Rotti and Brinjal Yenngai, Kosambari, Rice Kheer, Capsicum bonda, Pulav, rice, rasam, huli tovve, Malai sandwich.

All done, and back home!

Navagraha Dhanya

Foooooooood :D

Pooja ingredients

Abhisheka

Satyanarayana Prasada

The whole experience was soo much fun and satisfying :) Most of the people we had invited had come. The food was great, people were great, all the rituals went very well, had fun with the whole family and friends, elders were present to bless us, bride and the groom looked great and lovely and most importantly very very happy together :)

During our wedding, my fil had mentioned that I am not losing my family, I am just gaining another new family. Its soo true :) C's family and R's family have become a bigger family now :)

It was amazing how each and everyone helped us in the whole process. I really want to thank ALL my family members, ALL of R's family and all our friends :) :) It was soo much fun all this while with everyone.

My 98 years old grandfather (mom's father) stayed with us for a week. Its always so great when he stays at our house :) He sat thru the whole wedding and blessed the newly weds :)

My grandmother on dad's side (dad's aunt) came for all the functions and we were so glad she could make it.

All the relatives from Mysore had taken off for a week for the wedding. Thanks U aunty, S mava, S aunty, K atte and every one in B'lore - S atte, R mava, G aunty, V uncle, P aunty, G uncle, my in-laws and all my cousins. 

All our friends and extended family who attended the wedding, and made us feel real special :)

And R's family who put together such a GREAT wedding! 

Everyone said the wedding went very well, and my brother said It was a Perfect Wedding!

:) :D :)