Last week I had the most incredible experience, I attended an Indian wedding - my first. I have never looked forward to an occasion such as this with as much anticipation and excitement. I broke this experience into two parts, starting with the mehndi celebrations that were held the night before the wedding.
This celebration is an elaborate, joyous and colourful pre-wedding ceremony held in honour of the bride at her family home. Both the bride and groom attend for blessings from the brides family and close friends, while the bride and female guests are decorated by elaborate henna or mehndi tattoos.
I found it heartwarming to watch as family members and friends went one by one to bless the bride and groom (separately), stooping to select a sweet treat to feed them and gathering a spice and oil mixture to smear on the couples face, arms, and feet to cleanse them. Then blessing them and tossing either a flower or a cash gift over their heads into a suspended gauze scarf.
I adored the beautiful colours on every sari, punjabi, backdrop, and flower streamer, an image that for me will always be synonymous with an Indian wedding.
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