by Bhumi H.
The wedding lasted for two days, and it took place at a resort. We got to the resort by bus. We left in the afternoon and arrived about an hour later. But instead of checking in and going to our rooms, we had to wait in the lobby for the bride’s guests. When the bride’s guests and family arrived, we went outside to welcome them with flowers. There were people who played the Dholak, which is a type of Indian drum, and everybody was dancing. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a video of it.
When the celebrations were finally over, everyone went to their rooms and unpacked their bags. My family got a suite that had a sofa that could turn into a bed, and a king sized bed. There was a jacuzzi in the bathroom as well. In the evening, Lucky, Lucky’s sister Rishi, my brother Aadi, and I went to the pool. There were two parts to it; the first one was slightly elevated, and the second one was a bit lower. It was very pretty and authentic. We enjoyed the pool until about 8PM, and then we took showers and changed into our clothes. Then, the groom and bride’s family members all had dinner together outside. There was Indian food as well as other food. After dinner, we all came back to find that our rooms had a little package with extra little things we might need and a schedule for the wedding.
Then, we all decided to get some rest. My mom, dad, and brother were on the king bed and I was on a sofa bed. I honestly preferred the sofa bed because it was pretty big, about a Twin XL. So the next day, when we woke up, everyone was well rested. The official wedding functions would start at 12PM that afternoon, but there was a preliminary function that the groom held. It was called Janiye, and it took place at about 8AM. It was basically just a ceremony where the groom and his parents did some kind of prayers with a priest guiding them. It wasn’t all that interesting to me, but I did get a few good pictures near the decorations.
Next at 12PM, we had the Mehendi Fiesta, or Henna Fiesta. Basically, there was music and everyone danced and got their Henna done. There were also some games that you could enjoy. After a while, the groom and bride made an entrance and everyone danced some more.
Then, at about 2 P.M, everybody had lunch. After lunch, everyone went back to their rooms to get ready for the Ring Ceremony and Sangeet. The Sangeet is basically where the groom’s side and bride’s side take turns performing in a friendly dance competition.
After getting ready, my mom and I went to the makeup room, which they had arranged so everyone could get their makeup and hair done professionally. After everyone was ready, we all took a buggy to one of the other resort areas. After almost everyone got there, we started the performances. In total, I participated in two group dances and one solo, but I learned another dance to teach my parents and help them practice. The group dances were pretty easy to memorize, but the solo dance was a bit more difficult because I had only been informed about it the day before; and it wasn’t that somebody taught me the dance, I had to choreograph it myself.
In fact, the soundtrack wasn’t even ready until one hour before the performance, so I just got on stage and freestyle. I did have a few steps in mind that I did for sure but the other steps, I made up as I went. And I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but I must say, it was pretty fabulous. You wouldn’t even be able to tell that I was freestyling (these aren’t my words, they are my family members’). After the performances, we cut cake and danced on this huge dance floor. I was probably the only child dancing there, but that’s fine because I love dancing. Although I did almost get stepped on multiple times. That wasn’t very fun seeing as I was in heels, but it all ended well.
After that, we all had dinner and took the buggy back to the resort. However, there was a “Youngsters’ Night” party where all the parents would go to drink and dance. When Lucky and I heard that it started at 1:30 A.M., and that it would probably end at around 4 A.M., we immediately started formulating a plan. Lucky’s mom was definitely going, and my dad was too. So if we got my mom to go, we could all hang out at my suite and have a sleepover. The problem was, my mom didn’t want to go because she was worried about us (sighhh, not again). So we tried to convince her by telling her things like “Oh, don’t ruin your fun because of us,” and “Oh, you should go, it’s a new experience.” Yea, that didn’t work as well as I would have wanted to. But in the end, she did end up going (score!).
So Lucky, Rishi, Aadi, and I all hung out at our suite. We played loud music on the Alexa (provided by the resort) and danced and had snacks. It was pretty fun, but it didn’t last as long. Remember how I said we anticipated them to come back around 4 A.M.? Well yea, not really. My mom came back early because she was worried (ughhh) and we weren’t able to enjoy it as much. She probably only stayed there for 30 minutes tops, and half of the time we spent trying to convince her to go in the first place (my mom swears she came back because the party ended but that doesn’t explain why our dad came back later). But anyways, Lucky and Rishi went back to their room and we all went to sleep.