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| Home > Wedding Preparation > Pre Wedding Preparation
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| | Pre Wedding Preparation
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 Indian weddings are elaborate, expensive and emotional events. They are a significant parts of everyone and the bride and the groom are treated like kings and queens of the day. More important are the groom`s parents and his relatives as they are usually invited and welcome to the bride`s quarter as guests. Of course, different communities have different rituals but the basic sentiment of the marriage event remains the same. Muhurat is a very important part of most of the Hindu weddings and they are announced and performed at the auspicious moment as predicted by the Vedic astrologers. Though with the changing times and life styles, the ceremonies are cut short the traditional weddings used to be more than a week long. Rituals like adorning the bride with turmeric or sandal paste and painting her hands and feet beautifully henna paste are celebrated. There are rapport building ceremonies to celebrate the occasion when the families visit each other before the wedding and send gifts to each other along with sweets, fruits and dry fruits. If the pre wedding ceremonies are followed by much enthusiasm, there is much more zest in celebrating the main day when the nuptial knots of the bride and the bridegroom are tied. Very emotional, yet very beautiful post wedding functions leave a trail in everyone`s mind for a long time. Thus, Indian wedding is not just the matter of the big day celebration but is an elaborate process over a period of time and much after that to discuss, gossip and talk about. An Indian wedding is not just about rituals and customs it is also about fun and feast. Good food is one of the most important aspects of wedding reception party. Indeed the food constitutes a major chunk of the entire wedding budget. These days wedding feasts are usually served buffet style, unlike in the past, where each guest was served individually.
Traditional Hindu weddings are grand affair. It normally takes place over several days with elaborate ceremonies, which lasts up to one week. Indian wedding function is divided in to three sections pre wedding functions, main day functions and post wedding functions. These functions include the entire family, friends and relatives in the celebration and involve many costume changes. The bride and groom are treated royally for the days preceding the wedding and are showered with gifts and attention. The main day ceremony is nothing less than a fairytale. On the day of the wedding the groom mounts a grandly decorated horse and rides to the wedding ceremony accompanied by his family and friends. Nowadays the grooms mostly travel by decorated car. The bride on the other hand is dressed in traditionally attire, which is normally a pink or a red sari with heavy zari work and embroidery on her wedding day and sparkling jewelry given to her by family and close friends.
Earlier main wedding function use to take place on a mandap, which is normally decorated with flowers. Today modern Indian wedding decoration is a mixture of Indian ethnicity, richness and Western culture and custom. Mostly today`s Indian wedding decorations are theme based, as people mainly don`t have the time or resources. The mandap is decorated with red color cloth because red is considered auspicious for the wedding occasion. Hire a henna artist a day or two before wedding to entertain out of town guests and get them in the mood of the wedding. Flowers have always been a part of Indian wedding decorations. So there is an extensive use of flowers of different kinds like roses, jasmine, and many more. Decorative tents or "shamianas" are often rented for Indian weddings celebrations. Different pattern of tents are available like bandhani print, Gujarati work and ethnic mirror work and satin cloth depending on the budget and theme of the wedding. And if your wedding is an outdoor one than shamianas are a wonderful idea. The full wedding place is decorated with elaborate carpets to line the tent. Gold and red are the colors associated with Indian wedding decoration so most of the dιcor is of these two colors. The tents are lighted with Indian inspired lanterns and candles. Exotic incense stick is burn in the room to create a refreshing and pure atmosphere. In true sense the Indian wedding decoration is an amalgamation of Indian culture, tradition and custom and encompasses all the senses, which makes it an occasion to remember for lifetime.
Almost every aspect of wedding planning has evolved over time. That`s why the saying "the more things change, the more they stay the same" rings true in wedding planning. Many wedding traditions and trends have changed along with wedding fashions. Though wedding trends may come and go, many items like reception favors and the use of calligraphy remain constants.
Today`s bride has many choices when it comes to calligraphy. Just as it seems that everything else has gone high tech, the new trend in calligraphy is computerized calligraphy. Just like traditional calligraphy, computerized calligraphy services include invitation envelopes, reception placecards and menu cards. While each calligrapher may offer you a choice of calligraphy styles, computerized calligraphy generally offers a wider selection of fonts. Often, your wedding invitation font can be matched to a computerized calligraphy font. Another appeal of computerized calligraphy is its affordability. Many brides are opting for the computerized calligraphy not only to save money, but because computerized calligraphy orders usually can be completed in a shorter amount of time. Also, brides realize that most guests discard the invitation envelopes, keeping only the wedding invitation itself as a keepsake. So the money you save by using computerized calligraphy can be put towards another part of your wedding budget.
These days, the celebrations are much more planned than they used to be in the past. The areas like deciding budget of the wedding, venue of the wedding, the theme, decoration, menu, etc. In the main day preparation we have the wedding feast, stage or mandap decorations, etc are thought after much before the wedding day. The minute the alliance is fixed, these are the areas considered and decided. Though previously, most of the ceremonies were handled by the experts with the families and friends these days we see a trend of outsourcing most of the functions and hence much more research in finding out the best resource is spent. Certain tasks are handed to the experts in the field like:
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