Indian wedding | But I Smile Anyway...

The Wedding Day

18 Nov 2018 47 Comments

by Ritu in Family, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Anniversary, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Indian wedding, Sikh Wedding, Wedding

So, I have led you, briefly, towards the main event.

If you want to check out the wedding build up, click here.

This time 17 years ago, one of the biggest days of my life played out. The day I finally became Mrs Bhathal!

All dolled up and ready to meet my Prince! This was our last family photo as a foursome. Soon another would join us ❤

We had a magical ceremony, where we took the four laavan, or rounds, of the Guru Granth Sahib, making our vows to each other,, followed by a beautiful reception that whizzed by so fast…

It wasn’t long before the tearful goodbyes… I may have been gaining a new family, but I had to say farewell to my own…

He’s not one for sharing photos of himself, so I will post one from our first dance, one that I love.

A truly wonderful day that I will cherish forever ❤

Happy Anniversary to my soulmate ❤

Those Pre-Wedding Traditions

17 Nov 2018 26 Comments

by Ritu in Family, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Chura, Indian wedding, Maiyaan, Sikh Wedding, Wedding, Wedding Traditions

I’ve been busy today, mopping up sick, and dealing with a pain-ridden teen, experiencing his first day with braces… Put paid to our plans for the weekend.

You see tomorrow is our anniversary.

However, it’s given me time to reminisce.

If you aren’t aware, Indian weddings are big affairs lasting a good week or so.

My Sikh wedding was no different, and in addition to the length of the build-up, there were at least forty guests who had come from overseas for the occasion too!

I thought it would be an idea to share the build-up with you too, so you can learn a bit about our wedding traditions, (in addition to a silly one my family have too!)

On the Friday before I got married, I had my henna applied by my best friend’s sister.

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A post shared by Ritu Bhathal ✍🏽📚💜 (@ritubhathalwrites)

Then this is the madcap part. We had a fancy dress night!

Usually, I am in the thick of it, but as I had hands adorned with wet, sticky henna I watched from the sidelines as Batman, the cast of Cinderella, masaai warriors, giant babies, amongst others, joined the fun!

And my Pops, not wanting to be left behind, joined my Red Indian Brother as a Punjabi Pirate!

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A post shared by Ritu Bhathal ✍🏽📚💜 (@ritubhathalwrites)

It was a really fun night, full of food, dance and music!

The next day, Saturday, was a day where there were more traditional events.

The Maiyaan was in the morning. This is the haldi, or turmeric ceremony, where the bride (and groom at his place) are blessed and wiped with this sticky goo made from turmeric, supposedly to brighten skin and make you look stunning on your special day!

Oh, and you get fed some sweet rice, which you then go on to feed to at least five other single girls/boys wishing them a speedy marital union too!

The evening was the Chura ceremony, where the bridal bangles are placed on the bride’s arms by the maternal uncles. These are usually worn for an amount of time specified by your in laws, to signify you are a new bride in the family. Some wear them for five weeks, some as long as a whole year!

The next step was the Jago, which was traditionally a ceremony to get everyone in the mood for the wedding. Jago means wake up!

After “waking everyone up” we had a lot of dancing, more food and even some Bollywood karaoke! My family do love a sing-a-long!

Then it was time for bed.

An extremely early start for me was looming… 5am… and an extremely special day ❤

‘My Way’ – FFF42

16 May 2017 27 Comments

by Ritu in #flashfictionforay, Fiction, Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #flashfictionforay, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, fff, Flash Fiction Foray, Frank Sinatra, Indian wedding, My Way, the book blogger, Wedding

Matt the Book Blogger is back with another wonderful #FFF prompt (Flash Fiction Friday!)

Neon Music Sign

This week’s edition will be on (drum roll please)… Frank Sinatra’s My Way. Feel free to base responses of anything to do with the song, I always enjoy any different takes!

Today we have the wonderful voice of Frank Sinatra ~~to croon along~~ to inspire us! (Is the singing along just me?!) And the song is My Way, a true classic!

So… here goes!

No fuss.
No show.
No craziness.
No feeding the five thousand.
No people I have not seen since I was in nappies.
No functions for two weeks in advance.
Just you and me… and the family of course.
A few close friends.
Food that we like.
Music we choose.
Sorry if your mum doesn’t like it.
It’s not her day, it‘s mine… ours.
Gone are the days of the parents paying for everything.
We’ve saved up and can pay for everything.
We decide what our wedding will be like.
Sorry, consoling her is your problem, we’re doing this MY WAY!

And just for the record… I was totally not like this!

My wedding was done with the true pomp and circumstance of the average Indian wedding.. I still watch the video (yes, video, I am that old!) and see people I don’t have a clue about, enjoying the festivities!

Seven hundred and fifty guests were there on the day! And only 200 of them from the boys side! (Yes I know may western weddings would gasp at 200 for the entire guest list! But that was a very small amount for the baraat, or groom’s side!)

Our functions started in earnest the week before, and we actually had the opportunity to rent our neighbour’s house to sleep some of the multitude of family who came from various international destinations to attend my wedding!

Would I change it? Not a lot!

Maybe if it was up to me there wouldn’t be as many people there, but the rest of it, well that’s the fun of a Big Fat Indian Wedding!

I Attended A Big Fat Indian Wedding…Again! #Loveuary❤ Day 5.1

05 Feb 2017 47 Comments

by Ritu in Thoughts Opinions & Memories Tags: #loveuary, Blog, Blog Post, Blogger, Blogging, Dorchester, Good food, Indian wedding, love, Sukhbir, Wedding

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of going to a wedding. A great event to go to in this month of love1 #Loveuary!It was my Hubby Dearest’s cousin getting married, and as previous weddings in their family have shown, it was going to be a grand affair…

Grand indeed!

The decor was amazing, both in the Gurdwara and in the reception venue, which happened to be The Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane, in London! (very La-di-da!)

Aside from a huge vase with an arrangement suddenly exploding in the middle of the ceremony (Goodness knows what happened there!) there was nothing amiss. It was luxury from beginning to end!

When we arrived at the reception venue, there were little envelopes with our names on them. No simple seating plan here… inside each envelope was your table number! And then at your place on the table, we all had personalised menus, with our names on them too!

And the food… oh the food! I can assure you that my diet went totally out of the window yesterday! From the absolutely amazing breakfast buffet, to the canapes, the starters, to the main lunch, and the desserts, wedding cake and petit fours, there was no space left in my stomach!

There was a band and singer playing English songs for the initial part of the party, then we had a celebrity guest, Sukhbir Singh, a Bhangra Singer, originating from Kenya, and now living in Dubai. I felt a little at home here as I knew exactly who he was… his songs played at many of my own family functions, but there were a lot of people, the bride’s mum and sister to name a few, who didn’t know who he was!! He was accompanied by four dhol players which perked my Lil Man up no end, as he also plays the Dhol!

And the couple themselves… Well, here they are, taking their Lawaan (nuptial rounds), cutting the cake with a rather large sword (Eek!) and sat at their table. Beautiful couple, wish them every happiness!