We assure you, you will enjoy these wedding ceremony stories.
How I fell in love
Falling in love is not in your hands, it can happen anytime, anywhere. I am Deepshikha, and this is my story of when I fell in love with my husband. When my mom asked if I had a boyfriend, I said no and within seconds she opened the Shaadi.com profile that she had made for me. It became a task for me every day to check the matrimonial prospects. And one fine day, I came across this profile. He seemed well-to-do. My mom got super excited and called the number on the profile page. That single call gave me an adrenaline rush. It crossed my mind a hundred times that I might end up getting married to this guy. Somehow, I had a very strong feeling about it. By then, my mom was done talking over the phone with the guy and said that she had given my number to him and he would be calling me in about 5 minutes.
Rifles, not rituals, sealed this arranged marriage
The day my mother brought up the subject of my marriage, I enrolled for rifle shooting training. The two were unrelated events. I had turned 25, which was a signal for the community matchmakers to take up my cause with a vengeance. An uncle made a truckload of copies of my horoscope to be handed to every Tamilian in town. I wanted to enjoy my independence for as long as I could. As a journalist, I was passionate about my work and liked the unconventional lifestyle it offered. I did not believe in the ‘bliss of domesticity’ my parents were trying to sell. But I did not want to upset them and instead, let the matchmaking circus run its course.
A proposal, a drunk-text and a happily-ever-after
I didn’t exactly realise what I was getting into when I said yes to Arjun under a sky of glittering diamonds. I was sitting on his lap on the terrace, wearing his favourite shorts. My hair was totally dishevelled. The green streaks were giving way to a pathetic dirty yellow but it was too dark to see. We were quite drunk when he popped a totally unexpected question. Yes, yes, yes! And in a drunken stupor I sent a spontaneous message to almost everyone on my contact list, saying I was getting married to Arjun. Unfortunately what I hadn’t quite realised at that time was that ‘almost everyone’ would include all my cousins, my aunts and uncles and most importantly my mom and dad – a mistake I realised the next morning.
A twisted ankle and a twist in the pheras
After dating for four years, Rhea and Vicky were finally getting married. There was resistance from both families but they had dug their heels in. They tried all possible means to convince their parents, but nothing worked. They threatened to elope. The parents relented. They could certainly do without a scandal. Considering the degree of the confrontation they had faced, the couple expected frosty treatment from both sides, for a while. But they were in for a surprise. Rhea’s parents welcomed Vicky into the family with open arms. He was pampered to the hilt at every visit. Vicky’s parents showered Rhea with all the attention deserving of a to-be daughter-in-law. Everybody seemed to have taken a complete U-turn!
A cocktail of cultures
Our story is a Bollywood movie (Chennai Express and 2 States in reverse). I’m a Punjabi married to a Tamilian. However, unlike these movies, both sides readily agreed to our marriage. The wedding preparations brought out stark cultural differences. My husband, a Tamilian Brahmin, said strictly no non-vegetarian food, dance or drinks on the wedding day for the sake of conservative elders in his family. They had agreed to have the ceremony in Punjabi style, which doesn’t start early in the morning like Tamilian weddings but promises to go on till the wee hours. We decided to have a 3-D’s (Dance, dinner and drinks) cocktail party before the wedding day.
Indian weddings and the art of tracing lineages
A great grand aunt twice removed once called out of the blue to invite us to her granddaughter’s wedding. “What, you don’t remember me?” she shrieked in abject horror into the phone, and proceeded to explain the exact and excruciatingly complex web of relationships that connected us. “Why, I was right there at your parents’ wedding!” I apologised that I had missed that event, probably because I hadn’t been born yet. She snorted at the namby pamby excuse. As far as she was concerned, in terms of namby-pamby excuses, it was right up there alongside “I was out fighting a war!” or “I was in the hospital having a baby!”
The bride wore jeans
It was at the impressionable age of 19 that I got engaged to be married. I was shocked at myself and so were my friends in college. But I was floored by Ravi as soon as we met, and to my parents’ delight, agreed to marry him. I was as juvenile as one could be at that age and took a foolish vow to get married in my favourite pair of Wrangler jeans. My mom obviously refused to listen to anything on this. My dad would indulge me and then throw his hands up in the air and declare that he could do nothing about it. That made me more defiant. The fun was in breaking the rules and going against tradition. I had made tall claims to my friends about it and that is the way it would be! Ravi humoured me by saying that he would marry me irrespective of what I wore.
She stopped her wedding for her lesbian lover
We might have attained our independence 70 years ago but India doesn’t allow you to be free. We are still captives of myths, archaic thoughts and societal pressures. Aloka and I have known each other since we were teenyboppers. I thought I knew her inside out. My notion shattered on the day of her marriage though. However, a part of me is happy that it did. More for her, than for me. As dramatic as these next few lines may sound, it actually did happen. As the groom waited at the mandap, Aloka busied herself in a closed room upstairs, with her parents, (and forced me to stay on as well) in truth-time.
Best movies on Wedding ceremonies
My Best Friend’s Wedding When a woman’s long-time friend reveals he’s engaged, she realizes she loves him herself and sets out to get him, with only days before the wedding. (105 mins.) Runaway Bride A reporter is assigned to write a story about a woman who has left a string of fiances at the altar. The Princess Bride While home sick in bed, a young boy’s grandfather reads him a story called The Princess Bride. (98 mins.) My Big Fat Greek Wedding A young Greek woman falls in love with a non-Greek and struggles to get her family to accept him while she comes to terms with her heritage and cultural identity. (95 mins.) Father of the Bride With his oldest daughter’s wedding approaching, a father finds himself reluctant to let go. (105 mins.) Monsoon Wedding A stressed father, a bride-to-be with a secret, a smitten event planner, and relatives from around the world create much ado about the preparations for an arranged marriage in India. (114 mins.)
Quotes on wedding ceremonies
A wedding dress is both an intimate and personal for a woman – it must reflect the personality and style of the bride.― Carolina Herrera A wedding is a funeral where you smell your own flowers.― Eddie Cantor A wedding, a great wedding, is just a blast. A celebration of romance and community and love… What is unfun about that? Nothing.― Ariel LevySave<Save<[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
