Tag: India

Indian weddings are elaborate affairs, full of various rituals and customs inherited over a long period of time. All these rituals have their own significance. As most of the Indian weddings have three phases like pre, main-day and post-wedding ceremonies. Owing to its elaborate nature, the wedding planning needs great care and attention so that the couples and their families can enjoy the nuptials. To make marriage arrangements easy, there are various wedding planners in India to arrange everything as per your requirements to make your big day an amazing experience.

Like any other event, weddings also require meticulous planning and well implementation. Indian marriage planners have expertise over all the things essential for the weddings. From food to car rental, decorators to florist and DJ to photography; Indian marriage planners are able to arrange everything to make your weddings talk of the town.

As marriages are most auspicious moments of the life; every bride, groom and their families have a number of long nurtured dreams for the weddings. It is easy to dream but hard to make your dreams a reality. It is here Indian wedding planners come into picture; planning, organizing and managing your big day to make it a memorable experience of your life.

In recent times, the weddings too have changed, incorporating new trends in the weddings. Theme weddings based on palaces, beaches and exotic locations are recent trends in marriages. Wedding planners help you in all your wedding related queries right from the selection of wedding venues to arranging accommodation and transport for you. Indian wedding planners make every arrangement for your marriage, that too within a reasonable price according to your whim and budget.

India is a vast country with a lot of amazing wedding destinations. If you want to tie the nuptial knots at an exotic location wedding planners in India can arrange the same for you as they have great expertise over all the segments of the wedding planning. Their services are impeccable making your wedding bells something to remember long after it is concluded.

Bihar is one of the extremely backward regions in India. Though these days Biharis have turned quite liberal, they still stick to their modest traditions in every aspect. They dont exhibit any artificial pomp and are very proud of the rural touch of their roots. Usually a traditional Bihari wedding lasts for a month, but these days it has been reduced to a five days affair.
A Hindu Bihari matrimonial rite begins with Satyanarayan Katha, a prayer that is performed by the groom and his family, under the supervision of a Pundit or priest. All the attending family members are supposed to fast. The havan is performed on the last day to conclude all the wedding rituals.
Then the ritual Haldi Kutai takes place, in this grooms mother and other suhagins(married ladies) grind the turmeric to a paste that is sent to the bride for the ritual ubtan.
After that, an auspicious day is fixed for Cheka, which is the engagement ceremony. In this ceremony, 5, 7, 9, or 11 members from the grooms family along with the groom visit the brides house along with gifts, known as Chekas and the bride and groom exchange rings. The next day, the same ritual is repeated by the brides family and they visit the grooms house.
The Shagun is performed in which the brides priest, accompanied by her brother, the barber, and four other members, take auspicious gifts to the grooms family. The brides brother applies tilak/teeka on the grooms forehead that signifies that familys acceptance of the wedding. The brother gets along a lot of gifts like vessels, clothes, jewelry etc.
Shagun is followed by Tilak. IN this ceremony, Haldi paste, specially made by the brides mother, is brought in a silver bowl that is applied on the groom. Tilak is the one of the biggest ceremonies held by the grooms party, this is equivalent to a wedding reception.
On the wedding morning, once again the haldi/turmeric paste ceremony is performed so that the bride and the groom beautify and purify their bodies after which they are dressed up the Jaimala ceremony.
Silpoha a ladies ritual, is held early in the wedding morning wherein the grooms mother in her Chunri/shawl, along with her mother-in-law or her husbands elder brothers wife grinds akshat or rice on a flat grinding stone. While grinding they seek blessings of gods and ancestors. After that, a ritual Imli-Ghutai is performed by the grooms maternal uncle and aunt just before the paricchavan. It is to drive away evil omens and to warn the groom not to indulge in any form of vices. In this ritual, the uncle feeds a betel leaf to the groom, but the groom keeps it between his teeth while his mother takes it from him and eats it herself. This act signifies that the mother will accept all the evil omens falling on him upon her.
Now the wedding function begins. The bride is brought to the wedding ground where she performs an Aarti of the groom and then the couple exchange garlands. Before the commencement of wedding rites, the brides mother and other married women hold the Galsedi ceremony. During this ritual, the mother carries a plate that contains a small lighted lamp, betel leaves and small lumps of cow dung. All the women, one by one, heat the betel leaves on the lamp and foment the grooms face, forehead and eyes at least five times each from their left hand.
After that, the brides brother or brother-in-law escorts the groom to the mandap for Kangna Bandhana ceremony for which the bride adorns a yellow silk sari with zari/gold borders without absolutely no jewelry on her body. The pundit/priest ties the bracelets made of mango leaves, raw cotton thread, colored rice, turmeric and money, on the right hand of the couple and for the next four days they have to wear this symbolic bracelet. Then the barber, present in the mandap, cuts the fingernails and toenails of the both the bride and the groom.
Then the kanyadaan takes place. In this ceremony, the brides father stretches out his right hand to the brides mother who places her right hand on it, signifying the giving away daughter. All this time, the priests chant the mantras. The groom then retires to his room and once again the bride changes her dress for theKanya nirakshan which means an introduction to the grooms family and relatives.

Marriages all over India are the mixture of happy and sad moments, the articles describes the cultures and rituals followed in a Marathi wedding

Marriages in India have always been an affair of grandness and sanctity, associated with the religious believes and social values of particular regions and states of the country. India is a country, which is famous for its colours in terms of different people and their cultural activities, and so are the different states and cities of the country. The cultures, religions, clothes, language, appearance of people keeps on changing with the change in the region and the state or as we move from place to place, within the country. Same is the case with the marriage rituals and practises, the customs or traditions vary from region to region, culture to culture in the country. Maharashtra, the third largest state of the country, having the second largest population and the richest state of the country, celebrates the occasion of marriage with the same pop and gaiety.

The state of Maharshtra mainly constitutes with people following marathi culture, so the rituals for the marriage in the state are also according to the marathi rituals and customs. The marriage ceremony in a Marathi wedding, takes place in the morning in front of the lord. The most important and the sacred practise followed in a marathi wedding is the matching of the horoscopes of the prospective bride and groom before the marriage. Match of the horoscopes is considered to be very important for the Marathi bride and the Marathi groom to lead a cheerful married life.

Like weddings in all other cultures, Marathi weddings are divided into pre, during and post marital functions and ceremonies. Following are the rituals practised in a marathi wedding:

Pre- wedding rituals:

Sakhar Puda: a packet of sugar if exchanged between the families of the bride and the groom to mark the informal engagement of the two alliances.

Wang Nischay: it is also called the formal engagement of the bride and the groom, in front of the idol of the family god or goddess. Separate prayers are performed at the respective houses of the bride and the groom, after which both families meet and take blessing from the god and the priest.

Haldi Chadawat: a paste with turmeric powder and some other ingredients is formed and mango leaves are immersed in the paste, one day before the actual ceremony. On the day of the haldi ceremony, the paste is applied on the whole body of the bride and the groom with the mango leaves in the direction from down to upwards direction, in their respective houses.

Wedding day rituals:

Ganesh Puja: prayers are offered to the lord Ganesha in the morning on the day of the wedding to seek his blessings for a smooth and happy processing of the marriage rituals.

Seeman Pooja: This is the welcome ceremony or the reception of the groom and his family at the entry gate of the marriage venue. After the pooja, the parents of the bride, washes the feet of the groom, and offer him with a bunch of gifts.

Ceremonial Breakfast: This is the breakfast, which is offered to the groom, family and the guests for the marriage ceremony. The food is of great variety and is served with great lavishness.

Gowri- har puja: a simultaneous puja called Gowri- har is performed with the bride and the groom eating their breakfast.

Wedding ceremony: The wedding ceremony takes place in the morning hours of the day. The bride is taken to mandap or the place of wedding by her maternal uncle, and the bride and groom are not allowed to see each other, till the recitation of the spiritual rhymes or mantras is performed. Ceremonies of kanyadan and satapadi are performed same as done in the hindu weddings, where the parents of the bride gives away the responsibility of his daughter to the groom and requests him to take care of her daughter for the rest of her life. Satapadi is the ceremony, where the bride and the groom take seven pheras or circles around the sacred fire, after which they are declard married.

Post wedding rituals:

Reception: reception is the big feast or treat given to the guests and the relatives after the wedding ceremony. The ceremonial sweet is distributed by the bride and the groom themselves to the guests.

Greh- pravesh: it is the reception of the newly wed bride in the house of her in- laws, where she receives a grand welcome by her new family and is given blessings by the new relatives and family members for leading a happy married life.

Few useful links:
http://www.jeevansathi.com/
http://www.jeevansathi.com/matrimonials/marathi-matrimonial/

Like all wedding celebrations in India, Marathi matrimonial functions go for a number of days. Most of the weddings in Marathi are grand and has several rituals that begin several days before the actual wedding day. According to Marathi matrimonial, many rituals happen before and after the wedding day. Alliances for Marathi matrimony were earlier searched with the help of village priests or relatives, but now matrimonial websites are becoming popular to find the bride or groom for Marathi community.

The main wedding rituals happen in the morning though some happens in the afternoon too. All depends on the muhurat, which is the auspicious time to tie the knot according to Hindu rites. One common muhurat or auspicious time is when cows return in the morning after grazing fields. This muhurat is known as Goraj Muhurta. As a custom, no Hindu Marathi matrimonial takes place in the night.

Some common rituals before the day of wedding in Marathi custom are Sakhar Puda, Kelvan, and Kuldevta. Horoscope of girl and boy are matched. The family astrologer matches the horoscopes and checks compatibility issues. With all things sorted, the families gets ready for wedding celebrations. The Sakhar Puda ritual, boy and girl have a piece of gur (jaggery). This is similar to engagement in other communities of India. The boys parents present the girl with traditional sari and green bangles. The bride to be wears the green bangles. Once this ritual is completed, both the families sends wedding invitation cards to relatives and friends.

Kelvan ritual is a happy time when both the families meet at the bride to be house and enjoy a feast of traditional Marathi cuisine. This family get together happens two-three days before the wedding day.

Like all Hindu community-wedding rituals, a prayer offering to Hindu deities is necessary before beginning of anything. Even in Marathi matrimony customs, the families worship the Hindu gods and seek their blessings.

Wedding day activities in a Marathi matrimonial involves several small and big rituals. There is the Haldi ceremony where the bride and groom is applied a paste of turmeric, cream, sandalwood and scented oil. With the help of mango leaves, this paste is applied in all over the body. Then both the bride and groom are given a ritual bath.

Another wedding day ritual is the Seemant Puja where the family members of groom visit the brides house and they have delicious lunch of local delicacies.

The priest who chants Mangalashtakas which are holy verses to seel blessing of Hindu gods and goddess, conducts the wedding ceremony. Family members and close relatives are present during the rituals. At the end of each verse, the priest explains the meaning of verse to the gathering of people. The groom ties the mangalsutra along the brides neck and then both of them exchange garlands. Another common ritual in Marathi matrimonial wedding is the saptapadi, where the bride and groom encircles the holy fire.

Other wedding days rituals are Laxmi Pooja and Kanyadaan (Jhal Phirwane).

The post wedding Marathi matrimony rituals are Sun Mukh Baghne, where for the first time the grooms mother see her new daughter in law s face. She combs her hair. This is symbolic and implies that they should have a relation like mother-daughter. No wedding is complete without wedding dinner.

A groom’s wedding accessory plays an important part in a traditional Indian wedding, and the Indian wedding sherwani is chosen with care. No bridegroom’s sherwani is complete without a wedding Turban. You can choose outfits like menswear achkans, chic tuxedos, mens suits, etc. but nothing completes the look without the turban. It is not just a piece of cloth, it is a must have for an Indian groom.

It is the traditional Indian turban which brings out that touch of elegance, grace and royalty in his look. It is an integral part of a traditional Indian sherwani. Along with the grooms turban, other mens wedding accessories like the groom tikka, mens stoles, kilangi, kantha, etc, complete the look.

Indianmenswear.com offers you with a collection of turbans and online pathani suits that are made of different kinds of fabric such as kilangi, kantha, ghat chola, bandhej, zari, tissue, etc. and the most popular being the silk turban which makes the bridegroom look like a king. These turbans come in many shapes, sizes, styles, pattern and colors.

The grooms turbans can be accessorized with stones, and the groom also wears a kamarbandh. These are some traditional mens wears that are worn by the grooms in the India. You can check out the traditional sherwanis, which remains popular in colors like red with gold thread and stone work. At Indianmenswear.com all the grooms needs would be catered to. The urban and fashion conscious groom can get into designer kurta pajamas, trendy indo western, embroidered dhoti kurtas, etc.

The celebrities get their wedding attire conceptualized and designed by famous fashion designers from India. You can try out the designer kurta pajamas or the trendy indo western, and embroidered dhoti kurtas. There is a lot more from India that you can choose from this website. It provides you a large variety of mens apparel. Right from Sherwani, designer kurta pajamas, stole, pathani suit, trendy indo-western outfits, chic tuxedos, traditional wedding turbans, menswear achkans, embroidered kantha kurtas etc. You can get it customized to suit your needs.

When you choose a turban, you can pick from zardosi work, raw silk patti borders, pita maal ke kaam ki booti turbans, moti work brocade patti, colored crystals work with pearl strings attached. The grooms turban looks perfectly co-coordinated when embellished with a diamond or paisley kilangi. The Indian wedding sherwani can be coordinated with the menswear achkans.

One can also wear chic tuxedos or mens suits for the wedding. However, these are incomplete without the range of mens wedding accessories especially the groom turban. You can also get designer kurta pajamas or a trendy indo western look for the wedding.

Apart from these there is also the option of getting embroidered dhoti kurtas and more from India via indianmenswear.com. Those who are getting married or want to look trendy for a friends wedding should check out the mens suits available at this store. All of these designs are available online and can be worn for the wedding day.