8:30 am
Indian clothes (sari/suits/lenghas for women and kurtas/sherwani's/suits for men).
The bharaat is a groom's wedding procession in North India, West India and Pakistan. In North Indian communities, it is customary for the groom to travel to the wedding venue on a horse, accompanied by his family members. The bharaat can become a large procession. The groom and his horse are covered in finery and do not usually take part in the dancing and singing; that is left to the "bharaatis" or people accompanying the procession. The groom usually carries a sword. The term bharaati is also more generically used to describe any invitee from the groom's side.
10:30 am
Indian clothes (sari/suits/lenghas for women and kurtas/sherwani's/suits for men).
A Hindu wedding is Vivaha and the wedding ceremony is called Vivaah Sanskar in North India and Kalyanam (generally) in Tamil Nadu. The Hindu wedding ceremony at its core is essentially a Vedic yajna ritual and three key rituals are almost universal: Kanyadaan, Panigrahana, and Saptapadi—which are respectively, giving away of his daughter by the father, voluntarily holding hands near the fire to signify union, and taking seven ‘steps before fire’. (Each ‘step’ is a complete circuit of the fire.) At each step promises are made by to each to the other. The primary witness of a Hindu marriage is the fire-deity (or the Sacred Fire) Agni, in the presence of family and friends. The ceremony is traditionally conducted entirely or at least partially in Sanskrit, considered by Hindus as the language of holy ceremonies. The local language of the bride and groom may also be used. The rituals are prescribed in the Gruhya sutra composed by various rishis such as Baudhayana and Ashvalayana.
6:30 pm
Indian clothes (sari/suits/lenghas for women and American suits for men) are suggested.
This is the moment that we've been waiting for! Cocktail hour will begin promptly at 6:30pm and end at 7:30pm. The bride and groom will enter at 8:00pm, followed by a few speeches and dances. Then we get to party with an open dance floor (for our favorite songs checkout the playlist tab!).