Weddings Smeddings

At this point I have been to quite a few weddings--too much if you'd ask me (about 6 in total). The pictures below of the latest weddings I attended. One is of my good friend, Priyanka. Her marriage was arranged but thankfully she had some time to get to know her husband before they officially got hitched. The other was not an arranged marriage, it was a love marriage (similar to the states). I did not know the bride or the groom. I was close with the bride's mother--Samita Ma'am (another teacher on my staff). The whole staff actually went to the wedding. It was pretty amazing.The interesting thing about this wedding is that the bride and groom do not follow the same traditions because they are from different cultures within the Indian culture. The 3rd wedding was like Priyanka's in that it was arranged. Only, the bride and groom only met a few weeks prior--HOW CRAZY!!!

**Priyanka's and Samita Ma'am's daughter's wedding were in late November while the 3rd wedding was in February. You will notice that I am wearing the the same sari for the first two occasions--I had no shame because I looked fabulous!

Priyanka & Arka's wedding:

My friend and bride, Priyanka

Yup, this is the location of the wedding. Each floor was used 

Me and the bride

Priyanka and her dad

Bride's mother blesses her future son-in-law, the groom aka Arka

The groom sits on his throne (he still hasn't seen Priyanka)

All the Kolkata ETAs attend this wonderful affair--Priyanka was our facilitator when we first came to India

The bride and groom finally unites--literally they tie a knot 

Family performs rituals before they can unite as one

As they sit next to each other they, are beginning the process of uniting as one.

**Look at my first post on attending and Indian wedding to fully understand the traditions of a Bengali wedding.



Samita-Ma'am's Daughter's wedding:

Samita Ma'am--looking so beautiful!

Bride's father(Samita Ma'am's husband), groom, bride, and myself

Me and my coordinating teacher aka 'Mother' teacher

Bride and groom perform the groom's family traditions

Bride's mother (left) and groom's mother (right)

Myself and some of the staff members at my school--KV Ballygunge (we're like a family)

The wedding venue

Another wedding...

Me and  the music teacher

Along with the men of her family, bride makes the move to see her groom

Bride makes her rounds around the groom (she has to go around him 7x)

Me and the bride's mother (another teacher I work with) 

Some of the staff attend to support

Wedding venue

Groom, bride, and the bride's mother