How To Save Costs on Wedding Cuisine

A wedding is not only a union of the couple; traditionally it symbolizes the merging of two families and society. Also, the wedding ceremony should reflect the sacredness of marriage, drawing the attention of parents and friends.

After the dressing of the bride and groom, the only thing comes after that is the wedding cuisine. Food tops the list of the wedding guests. A great wedding is characterized by the food and drinks served there in Hindi Matrimony. People also like to enjoy the wedding cuisine, but I was unlucky at my wedding as I was on fast that day, and couldn’t enjoy the mouth watery and sumptuous food of my wedding.

One needs to prepare a list of the total expenditure and get an idea of how much you want to spend, since the catering is extremely expensive. The caterers charge for per plate of food, but yes, you have the options to cut off the extra costs by arranging the cooks on your own. If your guests list is long, say more than 1000, then it is can be the best option. But it becomes a responsible task while arranging food on your own.

Arranging drinks for the guests is considered as the status symbol. There are many caterers that provide glassware with the drinks or a 'sale or return' option, according to which you can return the unopened bottles and get the refund.

These days’ wedding cakes have emerged as the latest trend even in Hindu matrimonial. Cutting the cake after the wedding is a great fun, and you can also include that fun element to your marriage. The cake cutting moment is cherished by all the guests be it a child or an elderly person. This can also save your dessert cost. You can select a good wedding cake from the catalogs of renowned confectioneries.

Author: Rashmi Karan

Wedding Traditions in the Progressing Jatav Community

Marriages in India are still fixed by the parents who find a suitable life partner for their child. The considerable points to fix a wedding are caste, sub-caste, job, education, property, geographical origin, skin color, and family background. To find a suitable match, the matrimonial ads keep a big importance. The ads help to find the best matches as per the requirements and the keyword used to search the bridegroom

Generally, the date and time of the ceremony are set after consultation with the pundits and horoscopes. But all the young people do not accept this situation. The youngsters in all the communities, even in Jatav matrimony, have become progressive and are approaching for inter-caste or love marriage. Education and the influence of the west have led to creation of a contemporary society, which is good in itself.

However, if the parents approve the alliance, the wedding is performed with all enthusiasm, and all the rituals are followed as followed by the ancestors. Celebrations in the Jatav Matrimonial are generally based on the Hindu rituals, some changes may be observed based on the state where the bride and groom belong to. Many of the Jatavs have adopted the Buddhism, learnt their ideologies, and are following the preaching of Lord Buddha.

No matter which preaching one follows, the spirit with which the marriages in India are celebrated is the most important. The wedding ceremonies in Jatav matrimony are performed with all the precision and sacredness. Time has changed and now the most important task is to change the mindset of the people. Many people still consider Jatav as untouchables, as they are the sub-tribes of Chamars, who are involved in the leatherwork since ages. However, the awareness has increased and the youngsters are employed, which has thus led to decreasing poverty.

Author: Rashmi Karan

Inter Caste Wedding in India

The Hindu religion in India has various castes and sub-castes. There is social stratification and the communities are divided into higher castes and lower castes. To a person from another country, especially from the Europe or American continent, this demarcation will be a very strange one. The entire concept of high and low creates a superiority complex in certain communities. The Brahmin matrimony occupies the highest position in the social ladder. This is what I learnt being a non-Indian.

There are also low castes communities in India belonging to the Shudras. This community is further divided in various sub-groups and one such group commonly found in India is the Chamar caste. The Chamar caste is engaged in the profession of leather manufacturing and exports. When I attended the Jatav Matrimonial function to document the different forms of marriage taking place in India, I came to know some more of the Chamar community and the Jatav population in particular.

The Jatav people are one of the largest tribal populations in India. They are known by various names like Jatia or Jatba in the state of Jammu. The community members are settled in various parts of India, and have large concentration of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Eastern Rajasthan and North-West Madhya Pradesh. The community members also reside in the neighboring country of Nepal. Since they belong to the lowest strata in the Hindu social order, they are part of the Scheduled Castes in India. They are also known as Dalits.

Jatav Matrimonial functions and rituals vary from state to state. They mostly follow the Hindu matrimonial customs. The members of this community speak mostly Hindi and the dialect of the place. The wedding alliances earlier were within the community as there was social stigmatization and restriction. This trend is slowly changing as I found after attending this wedding. The groom is from the Jatav community whereas the bride belongs to higher caste Hindu. This is a heartening trend, which I hope catches with other Indians as well

Author: Shipra Sinha

Lovable fights can add fun to your married life

Marriage is a very sweet bond, which gains its strength with time. It is very important for you and your life partner to give time and space to each other, so that to have a well maintained married life. Marriage is the bond, which needs a lot of care and time to come at a stage, where both, you and your life partner understand each other very well and have no scope for doubts and misunderstandings. There are fights and misunderstandings in every relation, but sometimes, small fights between the couple can add fun to the married life. It actually adds cherishable moments in your journey of married life.

It is also said, the more you fight with your life partner, you are bound to form stronger bond with him. So, there is no harm in having small tiffs with your partner, because in a way, it gives an opportunity to know his highs and lows. This also gives you a clarity on the relationship you share with your partner, and where are you lacking behind. It is very important to fill the gaps, between husband and wife, to give a smooth shape to their married life. In fact, if there are problems in your married life, then its better to talk about that and just way off the issues from your precious bond.

Having a small fight with your partner, and by not talking to him for one or two days, actually makes both of you realise the importance of each other. Getting apart for a small time period increases the urge of being together and reinforces all the feelings of love and care in both the bride and groom. So, next time, if you have a fight with your love, then first of all don’t let it drag for long, and make the best use of it and try and understand, where did you lack behind and what made you to have an argument with your life partner. Always try and learn from your mistakes and you must keep it in mind that you must not repeat those mistakes, which would annoy your life partner.

Journey of Indian Marriages

Indian marriages have traversed a long way from the days when couples hardly met each other before the wedding to the times of today when they make an informed, well though out decision on marriage after several meetings. Marriages used to last for a lifetime earlier but now they break up at any instant due to trivial issues.

Dr. Vijay Nagaswami in his recent book titled ‘The Fifty-50 Marriage: Return to Intimacy’ talks about issues revolving around marriage and their solutions. The idea of marriage has changed tremendously over generations- from being a spiritualistic institution to a pragmatic one. This is commendable as it moves on from the level of being a ritualistic exercise to the one where the couple is involved and ‘owns’ it. This sacred relationship has always been on a backburner until few decades ago where husbands and wives viewed the relation as a role play. It is much more than role playing in modern times with couples getting engaged as life partners and human beings.

The kind of love in the course of relation may change but the magic never dies down, be it an arranged or love marriage. Dr. Nagaswami says that romantic love in the initial years of a marriage gets replaced by either intimate love or nurturing love. As couples are much more demanding-both men and women- they make efforts to accentuate the quality of their lives and relations. It has become a novel idea for them since what they had seen in their parents’ marriage as a kid has undergone a complete transformation. The roles of women as home makers and men as bread winners do not exist anymore at least in urban India.

A married couple today is like partnering of two individuals embarking on the journey called life!

Annual Wedding Fair in September

Weddings in India are a much celebrated event that unites two individuals into a couple amidst the sacred chants and best wishes of friends and relatives. Being a grand occasion, everything- from wedding costumes to make-up to gifts and sweets distribution- is given detailed attention. Hundreds of guests including both distant and close relatives from far flung areas are invited to the mega feast.

As soon as the term ‘marriage’ is mentioned, the image of a gorgeous bride decked in a stunning costume appears in our minds. The bridal costumes are of paramount importance when making preparations for a wedding as they give that ultimate princess look to the bride. The couples today are ready to spend a fortune to carve a memorable event that they can remember for a lifetime. The market for all bridal costumes and accessories has flourished greatly as the grandeur of the event multiplied.

Bridal Asia is celebrating its 12th edition by organizing an annual wedding fair, showcasing everything related to weddings under one roof. The three day wedding extravaganza begins on September 11 at Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi with designers from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh participating in the exhibition. It will put on display everything from designer lehengas to breathtaking jewellery, from wedding planners to honeymoon packages and from lingerie to accessories. Things in vogue and those that can appeal the people are to be presented by designers like Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Rina Dhaka, Falguni & Shane Peacock, Jaya Rathore among others. The hottest trends of the season will also be unveiled by jewellery designers such as Dolly Oberoi, Notandas, Preeti Shah, etc. and accessory designers like Malaga and Bea.

This annual fashion wedding exhibition by Bridal Asia is a trendsetter and among the largest in India with an exclusive range of wedding attires.

May 16, 2010 : The Day of Wedding Extravaganza

Marriage season was in resplendence on the auspicious day of Akshaya Tritiya on Sunday. If Mumbai witnessed the solemnization of 60,000 marriages, Delhi echoed wedding vows of around 20,000 couples. The tri-city of Chandigarh (including Panchkula, Chandigarh and Mohali) observed 200 marriages while Hubli in Karnataka saw at least 100 couples tying the blissful knot on one of the most favorable days in Hindu calendar.

All marriage halls, caterers, decorators, shamiyanas, photographers, priests, henna artists in these cities had their hands full after a lull of nearly six months. The day of Akshaya Tritiya is considered so fortunate that with almost a lakh couples getting married, there was a shortage of labourers and prices had shoot up 15 to 40% for various services. Wherever one turned, flower bedecked, brightly lit hotels and banquet halls with overflowing guests could be seen all around.

Huge wedding rush around the country could be seen with almost everyone invited to a wedding. Both government & private hotels & banquet halls were chock-a-block in Delhi and Mumbai with thousands of couple seeking blessings to start their new lives. The booking for this day had been done well in advance by most of the would-be couples to avoid any hassles later. Akshaya Tritiya is considered to be a lucky day to start a new business or to get married.

On trying to find the reason behind such popularity of the day, I found the legend associated with it. Akshaya Tritiya is traditionally celebrated as the birthday of the sixth avatar or incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the Hindu sage Parashurama. ‘Akshaya’ means the 'never diminishing' in Sanskrit and the day is widely believed to bring good luck and success in all new ventures undertaken. People across the country start new businesses, invest in gold and get married on this day.

What’s more important: Religion or Love?

Cross Border Marriages, especially between Hindus and Muslims, have always been the hottest topic for debate in the world of marriage. Everyone seems to be dead opposed to the idea of a Hindu girl getting married to a Muslim boy or vice versa. Can this unrelenting opposition for Hindu Muslim weddings be attributed to Indo-Pak relations apart from the communal reasons?

When inter religion marriages within a country are met with such protest and raised eyebrows, how can the marriage between an Indian and a Pakistani go unnoticed even if they are from the same religion? Everyone has a problem from maulanas to political leaders to governments to citizens of respective countries. The latest example is the biggest tabloid story of the subcontinent that caused gargantuan frenzy among all- Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik’s marriage.

The wedding of two sportspersons from India and Pakistan became the topic of utmost importance foe exactly the same reason. Ignoring the issues of terrorism and militancy causing deaths of hundreds of people everyday, the concern of international reporters suddenly shifted to the wedding of Sania and Shoaib. One could see everyone around censuring the unison of Shoainia (Shoaib and Sania) as if feelings mattered nothing in front of the geographical borders. Any two individuals in love with each other have all the rights in the world to get married irrespective of their belonging to different countries, religions, castes or communities.

In fact, according to a marriage portal, eligible bachelors and girls are now found willing to consider proposals from other countries. And why not! After all, the bond of marriage is dependent on love, commitment, compatibility & mutual trust and not geographical & social borders. Only if our society could understand this, the world would have been a better place to live and to get married.

Peeping into the mind of the bride

No doubt, wedding day is the most amazing day in the lives of both bride and groom. But, for bride, it is the day filled with loads of emotions. I think a bride, goes through tons of emotions throughout the day, the major ones being the sadness and happiness. Tears seem to be like the best friends, they accompany not only bride, but even her family members all day during the marriage ceremonies. Even the rare moments, called the tears of happiness can also be witnessed during this occasion. Shades of the happy, sad, nervous, anxious, chilled, cool, surprise moments are experienced by the bride in a single day.

One of my friend, who got married recently, told me, that the day of the marriage seems like a long day, its not at all like a usual day, it seems like you live so many days and relations in that one day. Actually you get to know the meaning and sanctity of all relations on the day of your marriage. Actually I too believe that, the moments, when the maternal uncle, mother, father, grandparents, perform different rituals with the bride are speechless, they are times, which are priceless and a girl only, when in the form of a bride, gets to earn and practice those moments.

Each mantra or spiritual rhyme recited by the priest, takes the bride away from her parents and maternal family, leading her life towards new beginning with new family and new relatives. The most emotional and touching moment in the marriage, is when the girl leaves her maternal house and heads towards her new house with her husband. Though, the happiness and the majesticity of the feeling of a new life, full of happiness and joys is beyond description, but anyhow the feeling of leaving your family behind, and that this house will no longer be yours, certainly overpowers the happiness and makes you as a bride so feeble and full of tears. All these emotions are very personal and close to the heart of the bride, so the groom should always try and understand these emotions which a bride goes through at the time of their wedding, and should always support her, in starting a new life, filled with all the smiles and happy moments.