Wedding bells ... um, not quite bells ... but you know what I mean!
June 11, 2005
The morning started out with the breakfast of champions -- danish, muffins, and coffee, lots and LOTS of it. The fam had rolled in through the day on Friday, and we brought the "Whyndham" house down at the Mehendi that evening. Groggy Ali Mohammeds and friends were slowly rolling into the hospitality suite for breakfast, and Boojan and I manned the fort for a while. The events of the day were basically - GET READY FOR THE WEDDING :)
The nikkah and reception were being held at the Lodge, which was about an hour away - so we had to leave around 5.30pm - again, the pressure was on us to get the baraat there on time. Breakfast and lunch gelled into each other, and soon it was time to get Mo ready to roll. My mom walked him through the traditional and religious needs of the day, Noamz helped him get ready. Its tradition in our family for the groom to wear athar [essential oil or perfume obtained from flowers], and Noamz was elected to put it on Mo before he went down. Around four, Mo had to leave, so we had a small gathering of close family and friends to send him off - with dua's [supplications] led by the oldest member of the family - my mom's mama. Mohd. Mama read a beautiful dua, and again put athar on Mo ... it was a really really emotional send off. I don't know why I was so emotional, I guess its just coz this is the first wedding in our family, and it was really moving ... and of course, Mohd. mama did the dua.
After sending Mo off w/his buddy Harish, rushing coz they left a little later than scheduled, we hustled to get ourselves into gear to get moving. Buses had been aranged for everyone to get to the Lodge, in addition to cars that followed in a caravan ... the bus was alot of fun, it was a task and a half to get everyone on, and MAKE sure everyone was on - but alhamdulilah, it worked out ... and off we went, into the sunset ... or maybe it wasn't really sunset yet, I was just making it fairy tale like.
Arrived and prepared for the nikkah, which was also really beautiful ... the Imam that conducted the nikkah was incidentally present during Mo's time at SU, and of course was close to the brides family. so, the nikkah is essentially the signing of the wedding contract, and is conducted by the imam, and there are two witnesses - one was the brides uncle, and the other was mom's mama. While I would love to go into the minute by minute of the details of the nikkah, its all very simple - the imam gives a small talk, usually about marriage and the responsibilities of marriage, etc. and then the couple is asked for consent [both parties MUST consent willingly], and then they sign. Once that's done, there is alot of hugging and congratulating, and in this case, alot of picture taking :-)
The reception was awesome - for the record, this is technically only the second wedding that I've been to in the US - incidentally, its my brothers', so all the norms are lost on me -- I haven't a clue whats normal and whats not. Anyhoo, it was beautifully organized -- we all had assigned seating, I was at the "cool" table - the Omer girls, Zarah, Daniella and 'sef [i.e. You-sef that is!], which was so awesome coz I got to chill with all of them, and not be going crazy - for the most part. I did get up periodically to chat with other people, and do the meet and greet ... my feet were killing me at the end of the night, but I have to say, my feet can't compare to the bride's family -- they have been on their feet since Thursday, and probably even before -- constantly on the go, making sure that everything is perfect, and wonderful -- which it absolutely was.
All in all, the night was full of alot of warmth, fantastic food, alot of pictures [I promise I will put them up; I have over 400 pictures from the weekend, and I need to pare 'em down to a manageable size!] - quick highlights
- the slideshow -- it was SOOOO cool :)
- the cousins [bride's] dancing on the landing together :) awww
- joothe chupayee [hiding the shoes] and subsequent negotiations
- song selection
- being seated at the cool table :)
Ok, you're wondering what this hiding the shoes business is -- a sort of a game in desi tradition, the bride's family steals his shoes and prevents the groom from leaving until he pays the siblings/cousins of the bride a negotiated amount. Variation - young people in the brides family prevent the groom from entering and meeting the bride after the nikkah [in the case of segregated nikkahs]. Don't even think about leaving without your shoes - the family won't allow a barefoot groom to escort their princess out into the world. So, essentially there's gotta be some negotiation -- all a part of the fun of the evening. This time there was a little twist since we, and by we I don't include myself since I was pretty clueless through it all, had managed to find the shoes after they were stolen, and managed to hold onto ONE of them which gave Mo some bargaining power.
The pic here is a really cute pic of the first dance ... Mo was trying really hard not the step on the GORGEOUS train ...
Okie doke - signing off w/Mabrooks to the newly weds ... can we hear a chorus of "WE ARE FAMILY" :)
The morning started out with the breakfast of champions -- danish, muffins, and coffee, lots and LOTS of it. The fam had rolled in through the day on Friday, and we brought the "Whyndham" house down at the Mehendi that evening. Groggy Ali Mohammeds and friends were slowly rolling into the hospitality suite for breakfast, and Boojan and I manned the fort for a while. The events of the day were basically - GET READY FOR THE WEDDING :)
The nikkah and reception were being held at the Lodge, which was about an hour away - so we had to leave around 5.30pm - again, the pressure was on us to get the baraat there on time. Breakfast and lunch gelled into each other, and soon it was time to get Mo ready to roll. My mom walked him through the traditional and religious needs of the day, Noamz helped him get ready. Its tradition in our family for the groom to wear athar [essential oil or perfume obtained from flowers], and Noamz was elected to put it on Mo before he went down. Around four, Mo had to leave, so we had a small gathering of close family and friends to send him off - with dua's [supplications] led by the oldest member of the family - my mom's mama. Mohd. Mama read a beautiful dua, and again put athar on Mo ... it was a really really emotional send off. I don't know why I was so emotional, I guess its just coz this is the first wedding in our family, and it was really moving ... and of course, Mohd. mama did the dua.
After sending Mo off w/his buddy Harish, rushing coz they left a little later than scheduled, we hustled to get ourselves into gear to get moving. Buses had been aranged for everyone to get to the Lodge, in addition to cars that followed in a caravan ... the bus was alot of fun, it was a task and a half to get everyone on, and MAKE sure everyone was on - but alhamdulilah, it worked out ... and off we went, into the sunset ... or maybe it wasn't really sunset yet, I was just making it fairy tale like.
Arrived and prepared for the nikkah, which was also really beautiful ... the Imam that conducted the nikkah was incidentally present during Mo's time at SU, and of course was close to the brides family. so, the nikkah is essentially the signing of the wedding contract, and is conducted by the imam, and there are two witnesses - one was the brides uncle, and the other was mom's mama. While I would love to go into the minute by minute of the details of the nikkah, its all very simple - the imam gives a small talk, usually about marriage and the responsibilities of marriage, etc. and then the couple is asked for consent [both parties MUST consent willingly], and then they sign. Once that's done, there is alot of hugging and congratulating, and in this case, alot of picture taking :-)
The reception was awesome - for the record, this is technically only the second wedding that I've been to in the US - incidentally, its my brothers', so all the norms are lost on me -- I haven't a clue whats normal and whats not. Anyhoo, it was beautifully organized -- we all had assigned seating, I was at the "cool" table - the Omer girls, Zarah, Daniella and 'sef [i.e. You-sef that is!], which was so awesome coz I got to chill with all of them, and not be going crazy - for the most part. I did get up periodically to chat with other people, and do the meet and greet ... my feet were killing me at the end of the night, but I have to say, my feet can't compare to the bride's family -- they have been on their feet since Thursday, and probably even before -- constantly on the go, making sure that everything is perfect, and wonderful -- which it absolutely was.
All in all, the night was full of alot of warmth, fantastic food, alot of pictures [I promise I will put them up; I have over 400 pictures from the weekend, and I need to pare 'em down to a manageable size!] - quick highlights
- the slideshow -- it was SOOOO cool :)
- the cousins [bride's] dancing on the landing together :) awww
- joothe chupayee [hiding the shoes] and subsequent negotiations
- song selection
- being seated at the cool table :)
Ok, you're wondering what this hiding the shoes business is -- a sort of a game in desi tradition, the bride's family steals his shoes and prevents the groom from leaving until he pays the siblings/cousins of the bride a negotiated amount. Variation - young people in the brides family prevent the groom from entering and meeting the bride after the nikkah [in the case of segregated nikkahs]. Don't even think about leaving without your shoes - the family won't allow a barefoot groom to escort their princess out into the world. So, essentially there's gotta be some negotiation -- all a part of the fun of the evening. This time there was a little twist since we, and by we I don't include myself since I was pretty clueless through it all, had managed to find the shoes after they were stolen, and managed to hold onto ONE of them which gave Mo some bargaining power.
The pic here is a really cute pic of the first dance ... Mo was trying really hard not the step on the GORGEOUS train ...
Okie doke - signing off w/Mabrooks to the newly weds ... can we hear a chorus of "WE ARE FAMILY" :)
posted by zai5h at Sunday, June 12, 2005
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