My Indian Wedding Story

Hi, I'm Beryl and today's video is going to be a little different. I needed a little break from cooking and thought a fun video would be to share my Indian

wedding

with you all. I'm not really used to making stories. times, luckily I have a ton of pictures so you don't have to just watch me talk and you can see really beautiful dances and outfits, but here goes, I met my husband through a dating app, here we look so cute we went out. for two years and then we got engaged and married a year later we had an American

wedding

, you know, pretty typical, you know, I had a white dress, he had a very nice suit and then a couple of months later we flew to the India to have our great Indian. wedding and that is where the pictures will start, that was my heart transition, so I got married almost four years ago in a city called muratabad and that is, let me show you on a map, wait, so muratabad is here in uttar pradesh, It's just a couple of hours north of New Delhi, if you don't know Indian weddings are a big deal, I mean you probably do, but maybe you've never been to one, there are several days of ceremonies, wedding changes, clothes, tons of guests, it's quite a deal.

I was a fish out of water and didn't really understand what was happening most of the time, but the first day was an event called sangeet and the sangeet is where they do the henna. I had my hands and arms. I had my feet. It was a long process but it turned out very beautiful and it's actually kind of a day for most women to dance, do their hannah and get ready for the evening event which is called a cocktail party and by the way, weddings can be done in different orders. that's what mine was like and the cocktail party was just wild, this huge hotel space and we had the whole backyard with a huge stage.

I had the most beautiful dress that my sister-in-law helped me design. It was inspired by this designer called saba sachi who I am still absolutely obsessed with and practically during the cocktail party you drink a lot of alcohol, eat a lot of food and dance for hours and there are performances, so my friends who came from the United States to my wedding danced. I did a dance with my sister I did a dance with my husband and his family his parents his aunt his sister did a dance my parents did a dance it was very fun I feel like my face hurt all night from just smiling like that so much and it was like It was so special and really very fun and the next day there are more ceremonies the morning after the cocktail it was a very early morning ceremony called the churra ceremony where they put my trudeau bracelets on me which were my bridal bracelets or these bracelets red ones that reach almost half or maybe more than half of your forearm and mean that you are a new girlfriend and wear them for as long as you want.

I used mine for a month. I did not do it. I slept in them, but I wore them every day, even when I came back to New York and had some kind of jewelry adorned all over my body. It is a kind of beautification ceremony for the bride to prepare for marriage. There is another ceremony that happened. and it's called haldi and this is where they put turmeric. We had actually done it at my in-laws' house, so it wasn't part of the main wedding ceremony, although it can often be the entire beautification process. Then I left. go get my hair and makeup done, which was a complete look.

The Indian bridal makeup was a very different makeup than what I am used to. I mean, I don't even wear makeup, so this was a lot and I asked the woman who did it. My makeup receded a little. I just didn't want to feel so different from myself, she says while dressed like a fula hanga and hair jewelry. Obviously it didn't look like me, but that's what it was. It was the only thing I felt like I had a bit of control over, but it was also when I had to wear my bridal lehenga, which, oh I mean, was really tricky.

I had no idea what I was doing when I chose my girlfriend. dressing my sister-in-law helped me so much that she was practically facetiming me in India in all these fabric stores, there were just beads and sequins and there were designs everywhere, it was so special, especially when you compare it to my American wedding dress which was white and straight with a little bow on the back just night and day, really night and day, but there is another ceremony that happens and that is for the groom, finally the groom gets something, so the groom's ceremony is called cheap and this is where the groom comes in maybe you guys have seen him like elephants my husband came in on a horse and he looked so cute I mean I wasn't there to see it but I saw the video and there's music playing and everyone's dancing and it's like this big type of event where the entire family from both sides accompanies the groom to his new life.

My parents were there to welcome them and it was a very sweet moment where our two families came together and Be honest, you know, I don't think either of our parents imagined this as their future. I don't think it was in anyone's plans, but everyone loves each other and that's why I consider myself very lucky anyway. The groom is here. To get there I walk under this beautiful kind of canopy with flowers hanging and it's not actually the wedding ceremony that happens yet, so I go up to this stage and we put these beautiful necklaces made of orchids around each other's necks and then we We sit for photos and if anyone else has ever been in my place here, you know what I'm talking about that photo section when you're sitting on that couch and everyone comes to take your photo and that's how I think about him.

In the end I I was like a stone still, cold, like I couldn't even smile anymore, it was exhausting. It didn't take long until the wedding ceremony at our wedding ceremony happened very, very late in the night because that was the auspicious time, I think the auspicious time. It was 2 a.m. m., it could not have been auspicious at 11 p.m. m. or 10 p.m. m. and it was actually a really beautiful ceremony and the electricity kept cutting out so it was almost like it was a little annoying but also really nice because it was just us lit up by the fire with the last of the last people who really cared about us and They stayed to see us get married.

There were many traditions that happened at my wedding ceremony that were things that your parents wanted and that your religion wanted, I honestly don't understand them all, but I know that we tied our clothes, we walked around the fire seven times and Bob is your uncle. He was married. The experience was something that honestly changed me. I learned to be comfortable being uncomfortable and that's something that I think is a really important lesson to learn and on top of that, I feel like it gave me a little grounding in the culture of my husband and my husband's family and that culture is really important in our daily lives, so with that my

story

time is over.

I hope you like this video and I'll see you next week with a normal five cooking video.