Indian Wedding Baraat: Barat Welcome in India

Indian weddings are a holy union connecting two individuals, their families, exchanging years old cultures and traditions and adapting to the new environment. Usually, the wedding ceremony is a sequence of multicolored and bright events, continuing for a period of around 7days. Its seems to be fortunate for those who get to see or attend the functions of an Indian wedding as weddings in India are considered to be a delight to witness since there are many exhilarating and thrilling customs and traditions related to them. Regardless of the differences in their culture and tradition as people are from different religious background, Indian weddings are believed to be an occasion of great.

Baraat in an event entirely meant to welcome the groom and his family. It’s kind of an event wherein the groom and everyone from the groom’s side are given a special welcome with flowers, garlands and money showering in the cases of the rich and the wealthy. Hence, Barat is one of the coolest and most entertaining traditions in the whole wedding ritual, which is marked by a march starting from the groom’s residence accompanied by all the near and dear ones from the groom’s side, dancing away in full glory and the groom becoming the ‘hot wane babes of the day’. As the baraat reaches at the entrance of the wedding venue, they exchange greetings with the bride’s family known as ‘Milni’, followed by the groom’s ‘Aarti’ which is performed by the bride’s mother and after finishing all these small ceremonies the groom’s crowd go into the wedding site.

Sangeet Night: Dance and Music on Sangeet Night

Sangeet Night is mainly associated with Indian Weddings, which is organized before one day of wedding and sometimes Sangeet Night and mehndi nights is organized together. Sangeet Night is organized in bride as well groom’s home. On this day all the close relatives of bride and groom’s family gather at their homes. In older times this day was specially associated with ladies. Indian traditional wedding songs were used to sung by ladies and they were also used to perform dance on those songs.

Now the time has changed. Now a days men also participate in this function. Now there is a fashion of DJs and Dhols. Bollywood songs are played on DJ. Dhol walas are called and all the relatives dance and enjoy the Sangeet Night a lot. Every religion in India has different culture and customs and based on that they celebrate this night like Gujratis have their own traditional songs and dances like Garbha, Dandiya and Bhangra is most famous in Punjabis. Like the same every religion in India celebrate this special night as per their tradition and culture.

These Sangeet Nights are not only limited to family members and relatives. These days people call upon famous celebrities, dance groups and traditional singing groups to give special performances on this day. And instead of celebrating the Sangeet Night at home they book farmhouses, hotels or any open space or resorts.

Main Wedding Ceremony: Varmala Ceremony

The main day ceremonies are usually conducted at the bride’s parent’s house but at the present age due to lack of space, majority of the wedding ceremonies are held at a place where all the guests can be easily accommodated comfortably and every single wedding ceremony could be arranged with ease and lots of entertainment. The main day wedding ceremonies are full of hardcore rituals which in no case or at any point of time can be taken lightly. According to the Indian traditions, wedding is a life long union of two individuals and a holy association, which brings a young man and a young woman to a stage of manhood and womanhood. The main wedding ceremony can be divided into mandap ceremony and var mala ceremony.

• Varmala Ceremony: Var Mala is known as one of the most important wedding ceremonies of the main wedding day. During this ceremony bride and groom exchange flower garland.

• Mandap Ceremony: Mandap is a place where the bride and the groom will be performing all the wedding ceremonies and rituals while the Indian priest, “pundit” reads the religious hymns at the backdrop. The mandap is decorated with vibrant colors which usually pray for their richness and well being of their married life, adorned with some exclusive flowers on the other hand. Surrounding the mandap are the four pillars representing both the bride and the groom’s parents. These pillars express the bride and the groom’s gratitude towards their parents for their well up-bringing and for making them the fine man and woman they are today. The most significant ceremonies performed around the mandap are the “saat phere” and the “kanyadan”. Saat phere signifies the seven circles taken by the bride and the groom around the holy fire, chanting holy mantras, making promises to each other. While on the other hand, kanyadan is yet another ritual of the main wedding, where the bride’s father or brother in front of all the family members and guests as witnesses, gives her hands to the groom with all her responsibilities coming forth!

Post Wedding Ceremonies: Reception Ceremony

Wedding Ceremonies whether its pre, main or post are thought of as the central attraction of our lives. Weddings are a lengthy gathering and it’s really exhilarating to know that even after the completion of the main wedding ceremonies, the merriment and all the partying don't come to a halt, but go on and the reason behind this is, weddings are just the first step towards a new life and beginning a new life filled with happiness and joy, marks the positive attitude towards the future. Post wedding ceremonies include Vidaai Ceremony and Reception Ceremony.

• Vidaai Ceremony: Vidaai is part of a post wedding ceremony. This characterizes the final goodbye of the bride to her family members and also marks an end to all the wedding ceremonies. Therefore, this ritual signifies the new establishment of newly wed’s married life along with her husband’s family. As the bride takes her first step out, handful of rice grains are thrown, as a sign of gratitude shown towards her parents and other family members. This rice throwing ritual is for the prosperity and wealth for her parents as well as for her new life.
  
  
• Reception Ceremony: The following day of the wedding is reception day. During this day, lots of guests are invited to join in the happiness and joy of the newly weds and to share their moment of being united. Reception is the other name of feasting and partying with music all around and sometimes a special number by a special celebrity makes it even more memorable. All the guests are offered a number of delicacies and cuisines from all over India, representing different regions ad cultures and behind every winning event, be it a gathering of few persons or a big wedding, foodstuff plays an essential part to place the right ambience. Indian Wedding Feast will be in two different shades, either vegetarian or non-vegetarian or at times it can be a mixture of both keeping in mind about what majority of the guests would prefer.
  

Pre Wedding Ceremonies: Engagement Ceremony, Ring Ceremony

Pre wedding ceremonies lasts for at least four to five days prior to the main wedding rituals. The pre wedding ceremonies are not those kinds of serious rituals; rather it’s filled with enjoyment and delight. It is believed that pre wedding rituals and customs play a crucial role since its thought as promising and a positive sign for the times coming forth. Well, pre wedding ceremonies are those ceremonies which are conducted before the wedding day and as compared to the main wedding ceremonies, a ritual of pre wedding are lengthy and goes on for days. The ceremonies of pre wedding can be broadly divided into engagement ceremony, mehendi ceremony, sangeet ceremony and Shagun ceremony.

• Engagement Ceremony: Engagement Ceremony marks the beginning of the wedding ceremonies and is normally conducted months or days before the main wedding. Usually, the time between the engagement and the main wedding ceremony given to the bride and groom is to know and understand each other better. Precisely, it can be said that it’s the probation time given to the would be bride and groom. The most significant episode in this whole chapter is the moment when the bride and the groom exchange the ring with each other in the presence of their family members and near and dear ones, signifying that from this day forth they are on the path of becoming one.

• Mehndi Ceremony: This is one of the pre wedding ceremonies wherein the bride is applied turmeric to enhance her beauty, after which a colorful mehendi is applied on her feet and hands. It is an old belief that, deeper the colors of mehendi, the more love and care she gets from her husband.

• Sangeet Ceremony: The origination of this ceremony goes back to north-India however, in the present day scenario, sangeet has become a common ceremony for every culture. Sangeet is a ceremony where the families of both the bride and groom share a common platform, singing and dancing in glory.

• Shagun Ceremony: Earlier both Shagun and chunni ceremony were two different ceremonies, performed at two different dates. However, for convenience, these days both are combined as one ceremony. First, both the family members are formally introduced to each other then “tikka” is put on the forehead of the groom by all the family members of the bride with gifts. Right after this, the chunni ceremony takes place wherein the bride is presented with a red chunni by the groom’s family with some jewelry, gifts or dresses.

Wedding Ceremonies: Indian Wedding Ceremonies

Indian weddings are an amalgamation of numerous rituals and traditions which are considered as sacred and holy. In spite of the fact that, India is a combination of many traditions and cultures, the wedding ceremonies somehow remain the same with just a slight reflection of their own culture and tradition. Since weddings in India are considered to be a gala affair, therefore, expenses are huge and “jaw- dropping”, however all these expenses are taken as an element of necessity as weddings for Indians are one of the biggest events in one’s lifetime. Moreover, these days Indian weddings as compared to those days have become extensively popular as many brides and grooms opt for a grand celebration mainly because they can afford it and who does not love to be “the talk of the town”? So, in order to leave everyone in amusement, you need a lot of planning and strategizing to-do. Indian weddings involve a lot of functions and for the successful running of all the wedding functions you need best preparations i.e. adding lots of fun and pleasure, making equally remarkable and unforgettable for the bride and groom, as well as for the guests. It is often said that in Indian traditions, the brides and grooms not only marry each other but in fact, its like marrying each other’s families as well. Indian weddings are an elongated affair and for this reason its ceremonies are mainly divided into pre wedding ceremonies, main wedding ceremonies and post wedding ceremonies.

The Indian wedding ceremonies and rituals may differ a little bit depending from where the bride and groom originates but the basic ceremonies remain the same and can be categorized into three: pre wedding ceremony, main wedding ceremony and post wedding ceremony.

Bridal Mehndi Designs: Latest Mehndi Designs for Brides

India is well known for its number of cultures and traditions. One of them is to put Mehndi on bride's hands when she is getting married. This is one of the very important traditions in India. A bride’s wedding in India is considered as complete if there is no mehndi on her hands.

For putting mehndi on bride’s hands a special day is fixed one or two days before of wedding. This is the day when bride and all the other relatives enjoy a lot. Some special mehndi songs and other songs are played on this day. And on the same time bride gets mehndi on her hands.

Have a look on some of the very special Bridal Mehndi Designs: