Indian Wedding - Wedding

aroy

Senior Member
Indian Hindu weddings are pretty elaborate affair. In good old days they were a week long affair. Today, they have toned down quite a bit (except the very rich, who have a week long bash in exotic locations), but some core functions still remain. Though the core wedding ceremony remains same for all Hidus, there are regional variations. Some back ground.

We come from the East, from what is now Bangladesh. There were few roads and all transportation was by river. So the groom would arrive in the evening, wedding at night. The groom's party would stay the night;; as not only it was unwise to travel by boat at night, the dacoits would be around to loot the unwary; and depart the next day. Then there would be a party at grooms house the day after the wedding.

In north, there was constant menace of invaders and dacoits. So the groom's party arrived on horse back in the morning and departed in the evening.

In this wedding the bride is from Bengal and the Groom from North. So the wedding takes place in the evening, but the groom arrives on horse back. The bride goes to her in-laws immidiately after the marriage.

I will try to highlight various aspects of the marriage
. Venue
. Food served
. Dancing by relatives
. Barat - the grooms party
. Mandap - the location of ceremony

1. Venue.

There were around 1200 guests and the weather sultry with high humidity. So a venue for accommodating all the guests and their vehicle is required. Even though Delhi has numerous venues, locating a venue requires quite an effort, as Hindu marriages are conducted on ospicious days, which are few, hence a lot of marriages take place on any given day. This results in massive traffic jams, hence the venue not only has to have space, but be within a driving distance and preferably on major highways to avoid major traffic jams. This venue is on Delhi Jaipur highway and can easily accommodate 1500 people in an air conditioned hall, and a few more hundred in the lawns.

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Fountain at the entrance
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Longer exposure time to smooth the flow

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Walkway to the hall
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Walkway to the hall
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Walkway to the hall
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Guest arriving
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The hall
 
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aroy

Senior Member
2. Food - overview

No wedding is complete without food. The current trend is to have all varieties - Indian, Italian, Thai and any thing that catches the fancy of the host. Plus there are counters for street food which are on the lawns. There were over hundred dishes and the total length of all counters must have been over 400 feet. Here a few samplers.

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Indoors - Italian Pasta counter
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Indoors - Indian counter
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Indoors - Desserts
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Outdoor - Street food section
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Snacks served inside
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Indoors - Pasta in progress
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Indoors - chicken steak
 

aroy

Senior Member
2. Food - Kebabs

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Kebab grill. There were six such locations
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Sheek kebabs
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Sheek kebabs
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Cottage cheese - grilled in Tandoor
 

aroy

Senior Member
2. Food - Indian breads and Pan.

In North India, the bread is cooked in Tandoor - a coal fired vertical oven. The dough is kneaded and then small balls are made. Then the balls are flattened by hand and put in the Tandoor. After less than a minute the bread is ready and taken out.

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Kneading the dough

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Balls

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The Tandoor - you can see one bread fluffing up

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Cook taking the bread out. As the temperature can go upto 500 degrees centigrade, the cooks use long handled hooks to take the cooked bread out


Pan is an after dinner mouth freshener. I consists of the beetle leaf filled with various condiments. Here the artisan is jazzing the scene up, by preparing the pan, blowing on the conch shell and then putting it in your mouth. Normally they just hand it over and you eat it your self, but it is a messy affair

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aroy

Senior Member
3. Barat - the Barat.
In Hindi means the groom's party. The grooms in North India come on a mare, though the rest of the party travels by cars. They will arrive at the wedding venue, and dance the last mile. This takes quite some time. The Barat is accompanied by a brass band, and lights. In deference to modern times, the lights are electric supplied by a generator which travels in a van behind the party.

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Overview of the Barat
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Brass band
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Relatives and friends dancing. They do so every ten meters, that is why it takes them an hour to enter.
 

aroy

Senior Member
3. Barat. The groom.

Traditionally the Barat came on horses from their village. No women came as not only they did not ride horses, but they were busy preparing the home for the bride's arrival, as well as guarding the house. Today every one comes. They normally travel by car or bus to a per-arranged meeting point. The core party comes together, friends may arrive separately from various parts of the city. The mare awaits the groom. The last mile the Barat assembles and dances their way to the wedding venue. The groom rides a horse with a small child.

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Groom surrounded by relatives
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aroy

Senior Member
3. Barat - reception by the brides maids.

The Barat is received and flowers showered. Then the bride's father distributes gifts to the relatives. After that he escorts the groom to the Mandap.

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Lamp carried by the bride's mother - minor puja while receiving her future son in law.
 

aroy

Senior Member
4. Mandap - preparing the venue

Mandap is the place where the marriage ceremony will take place. Traditionally the boy will be received by the bride's father and a ceremony is performed. The bride comes next and the marriage is performed. Here are some images of how the Mandap is prepared, culminating in the bride groom taking his place.

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The priest relaxing. Hectic time is ahead

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Some material has arrived, rest to follow

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Priest arranging things

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Relatives arranging flowers

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Priest mixing sandalwood paste and other herbs

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Flowers arranged

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Final touches

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Priest ready
 

aroy

Senior Member
4. Mandap - arrival of the groom

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Bride's father escorting the Groom

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A moment of reflection

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Last minute discussions by the bride's parents

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The groom all set - let the ceremonies begin
 

aroy

Senior Member
5. Photographers.

In any wedding there quite a lot of professional photographers engaged. Here is glimpse of some of them.

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Roving videographer
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Video and still
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This person stays put at the entrance to the hall. The video feed is displayed on giant screens strategically placed around the hall.

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Checking each others images?

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The whole gang

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First time I have seen a Monopod, and that too on a video camera
 

aroy

Senior Member
5. The bride and her family.

The bride comes and sits on dias, where all the guests can wish her (and give the presents). The bride's father receives each guest (after all he has called all of them), and escorts them to the bride.

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With friends

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Last minute adjustment

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With relative
 

aroy

Senior Member
5. The bride and her family - Parents with guests

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Hassled Mother
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Mother with guests
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Have I missed out?
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Father
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What is it?
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aroy

Senior Member
6. Music and dance

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Shenai players. Traditionally music greets the guests. So they are sitting just out side the entrance to the hall.

An now some glimpses of guests dancing. Most of the shots are without flash at high ISO. The D3300 sensor really works in low light.
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Two bows giving a performance
 

aroy

Senior Member
Normally my hands shake a lot, so I use flash to strobe the shots. I guess this one of those times when the hands suddenly decided to be steady.
 

aroy

Senior Member
Two panoramas which I stitched today. Both show the out door area where street food and kebabs are prepared and served.

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The right side

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The left side
 
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