Fini's Pics

Hey I know this is not LOTR topic, but this is where I used to post most and I aint putting my WEDDING PICS out there in the General forum or OTF( oh heck no).

So admins, can you leave this thread here PLEASE?!?!??!

Sooo all, I got married bout 5 weeks ago. I'm hindu and had a hindu ceremony first and 5 days later we have the christian ceremony since my husband is christian. In all from 2 weeks of ceremonies, I got 4500 pics, and here are just a few from the weddings( with full explanation when needed)

Here I'm getting my mehendi done. Its where they apply henna paste to my arms and feet and is meant to be decorative.

This is the mehendi when the paste has come of a day later. It was a dark burgundy/nearly black at some places, but the flash of the camer makes it look red.

This is during the first ceremony ( performed on the Friday before the wedding) Here the pundit( hindu priest) ties a Kangan on my wrist. This is essentially a talisman meant to ward of bad luck and I do not take it of until the day after the wedding.

This ceremony is called Maticoor and Haldi. Maticoor is the ceremony where a large procession of ladies walk from my house to another to get some dirt to use for the wedding ceremony. Haldi is a cleansing/beautifying process where little girls rub my skin with a mixture of Haldi( a ginder like plant otherwise called saffron in some places) and coconut oil. It really does help brighten the skin. I've used it before.

Here is the line of little girls who have to apply the haldi

The haldi is yellow in colour and stains clothes really badly, but when it washes of the skin, it makes it look amazing.

For hindu weddings, the ceremony takes place at the bride's home and the food is usually cooked there too. Here's a pic of one of the many pots that were used for cooking

The area where the wedding ceremony is performed is called the Mandap. I designed one with six pillars( when the norm is 4). here's a pic when they are putting up the silk flowers and plants on it. This is the Saturday night before the wedding.

The morning of the wedding, they apply haldi one more time and then 5 married women have to bathe me with milk, honey and dahee( fresh yoghurt). It was early morning and they decided to throw the entire bucket ( full of COLD milk) on me.

On to wedding pics now.

When the groom or the Bharat arrive, my mather has to cover his head and lead him into the yard( my mom was supposed to do that for me too, but she was too short to reach me/my husband's head lol) The groom must have his face covered untill he starts the welcoming ceremony,again to prevent bad luck. The thing covering his face is called a mowrie.

While the groom is in one ceremony, I come outside to the Mandap to perform another one. I wear a yellow saree and I also wear the mowrie( this is the same one the groom had).

After this ceremony, I go inside and change into a red outfit( which is the wedding colour in hinduism, ironically white is a colour used for mourning in hinduism)
My Bridal Gharara( a top and a wide skirt outfit) weighed about 20 pounds. OMG it was soooo heavy, especially the veil piece

Here we all are at the mandap on opposite sides, where we have to acknowledge that this is the person we are getting married to ( its a redundant process now, but still done)

This is the ceremony called Khanya Dhaan. This is where my parents give me away.
I have ball made of flour , water and some gold inside of it on my hand and my parent place their hands under mine and then the groom. My brother pours water onto the flour while the pundit recites hyms. When they are done, my parents remove their hands and its just mine and the groom's

This is the shot of us walking around the scared fire. We have to do this 7 times. I lead 3 times, my husband leads 3 times and we walking side by side for the last.

Exchanging rings in a marriage ceremony is not a traditional one in hinduism, so we skipped that. Instead the groom puts a necklace on the bride, called a Mangalsutra. This signifies a married woman and should not be removed unless her husband dies.

This is where my husband puts on the Mangalsutra for me.

We exchange Malas ( or garlands made of flowers) as a form of worship

After the ceremony we all go inside( had pics and stuff taken) and the groom CANNOT leave without paying my little sister( I dont have any sisters so my cousin filled that role). She has to block his way until he has given her enough money. It was soooo funny. She kept on taking the cash. Eventually my Husband had to call a friend to give him more ( dont worry, they know about this and walked with money for it)

see the money in her hand

This is a shot of us just before we left. Man it was crazy the amount of people there.

Second ceremony pics now.

Here we are in the church at the altar

While the Pastor was reciting a prayer.

here we are outside the church taking some pics

Well thats bout it for the while. Enjoy.

jumpy CONGRATS!!!! hug I didn't know you were hindu. 😱 I'm from Trinidad too, if you remember me. 😛 You still teach at Northwestern? 🙂

its Northeastern, lol

yeah and I do.

Thanks a lot

Lol, if you had seen my posts in the religion section for the past couple of years you would know that I am hindu.

Oh yeah, I remembered that like a couple hours later. haermm

Welcome. doped

And trust me, I've never been in the religion forum and never will be. Don't want to be contaminated. ermmnone

lol, nah its not that bad,lol