Theme wedding vs. themed wedding

Choose at least one general theme for your wedding, as it helps to help refine the details of your big day. In fact, it is one of the first and recommended steps when you begin planning a wedding. Along with determining your budget and request a level of formality, choosing some thematic guidelines is vital to help define other details of your wedding. It is a super practical and effective way to realize important details like the color scheme, the overall aesthetic of the wedding, the design of the invitations, where to organize your wedding, and even what kind of menu and beverage you will be offering.

What is theme for wedding?

The theme is that fine and delicate thread that runs very quietly and consists of several elements and determines the level of formality of your wedding. Wedding theme also include the wedding celebrations and its different aspects. The theme of a wedding can be defined by the color scheme, the type of flowers, aesthetics, and even cultural aspects you choose to include in the celebration in general.

Let's say you choose a contemporary spring theme for a casual wedding.

Does this mean that all the wedding will be in pastel colors, and include flowers, bees, and birds? Here you have many options and you would need to have some attention to detail, which can make things look fabulous.

You can choose a scheme of contemporary spring colors, perhaps design your floral arrangements enjoy beautiful flowers of the season within the color scheme chosen with minimalist designs, and incorporate a spring element such as a contemporary floral design that you can include as a special detail on invitations. You can also incorporate these decorative elements in the wedding cake, the décor and even other details. 

The trick is to make the guests feel a certain unity of environments, colors and themes in everything related to your wedding, even if have manifested in different ways. In retrospect, your guests will remember your wedding as a harmonious sequence of events in a very special way which reflected the idea of ​​love in quite your style.

 

What makes a wedding a themed wedding?

A themed wedding is choosing a graduation theme to unify the different aspects of your wedding to a higher level of attention to detail which is offering guests a full multi-sensory experience. Good examples of themed weddings are:

A floral themed wedding: Here you will be using only one type of flower, though in more colors. From the invitations to the flower arrangements, drinks, meals, cake, flowers should be included everything in one way or another. 

Special Themed wedding date: It can be a great idea to celebrate the wedding on some special dates so that you can remember them every time you think of that day. You can get married on special dates like February 14, December 24 or 25, December 31, January 1 or even on festivals. The expenses of the floral and other décor arrangements would depend on the type chosen. Make sure that you choose the aesthetic details as per the type of event.

Is anything better than the other?

Definitely not! In fact, even if you choose to hold a themed wedding from beginning to end, you will surely have to choose a color scheme, a level of formality, and even some key designs that imbibe harmony and unify the various aspects of it. Here I mean a wedding theme for your themed wedding. Interesting, isn’t it? Now let the creative juices flowing and start imagining how you want to see your wedding, and remember to leave your own style flow.

 

A Short Description of Pre-Wedding Ceremonies in Gujarati Community

Like other Indian communities, the Gujarati community is also an ardent follower of its culture. The Gujarati people are very lively and enthusiastic who are known to celebrate their special occasions and festivities in their own style. Beginning with the engagement, marriage involves a number of events that include pre wedding, wedding and post wedding rituals.

The weddings in the Gujarati community commence with engagement, which is the official announcement of the wedding. The pre-wedding ceremonies start with the Ganesh Pooja, as it is believed that Lord Ganesha will remove all the obstacles, which may come across the wedding, and the wedding will be conducted in a peaceful manner.  

Some of the other important pre-wedding rituals in the Gujarati weddings are Pithi, Mehendi and Mandap Muharat. For the prosperity of the newly married and the peace of homes, a Grihashanti Pooja is performed before wedding. The ceremonies are performed at the respective homes of the bride and groom.

Pithi is another pre wedding ceremony that is performed by the family members of Gujarati brides and grooms, where a paste made up of turmeric, sandalwood and saffron is applied on the body of the bride and groom to be. This paste is also known as Pithi and is intended to clean the skin and make the skin glow for the occasion known as wedding.

Mehendi is an important occasion in the Gujarati community where the hands and feet of the bride and groom are applied with beautiful designs of henna. It is believed that darker the color, there will be more love between the couple.

The families then perform Garba on the tunes of traditional songs, and make the atmosphere vibrant and enthusiastic. However, with the changing times, youngsters now prefer calling a DJ for the celebrations and perform on the popular and peppy Bollywood numbers.

The wedding involves a number of rituals where the groom’s family visits the bride’s home and after the detailed wedding functions, the bride and groom are declared as partners for life.

Author:
Rashmi Karan

Importance of Mehndi in Indian Weddings

Mehndi has always played a crucial role in Indian weddings and occasions like Diwali and KarvaChauth. The following blog throws light on the importance of mehndi in Indian weddings.

Also known as Henna, mehndi in India is a form of temporary decoration on hands and feet. Applied in different patterns of traditional and modern designs, Mehndi holds a significant place in all Indian weddings, including Punjabi matrimony, Marathi matrimony, Gujarati matrimony or Rajput matrimony.

Significance of Mehndi

Mehndi in Indian wedding rituals is considered good or a ‘shagun’. The darker the color of mehndi on the bride’s hands, the more it signifies the love and affection between the couple. Hence, known as the significance of love and compatibility between the wedding couple, a special ritual is performed, known as ‘Mehndi Celebration’.

In Indian weddings, the color of mehndi also shows the understanding and love between the bride and mother-in-law. It is also known for its cooling effects that reduces headache and gives a soothing feeling. This is one of the old and scientific reasons for applying mehndi herb to bride and also groom.

Apart from the traditional and scientific reasons, another important factor that increases the significance of mehndi in Indian wedding rituals is that it enhances the beauty of the bride. Bridal makeup is not considered complete without decorating feet and hands of the bride with mehndi.

Popular Mehndi Patterns in India

There are different patterns of mehndi designs. Some of the popular ones include Floral Designs, Gujarati Mehndi designs, Peacock design, Round mehndi design, Pakistani mehndi design, Bangle design, Rajasthani mehndi design, and Arabic mehndi design.

Mehndi patterns inspired from Arabia are known as Arabic mehndi and are popular in Indian weddings due to its unique touch in tradition Indian design patterns. Similarly, Rajasthani designs have their own charm, which mainly represent the culture, dance and folk style of Rajasthan. Many brides prefer mehndi designs in which the groom’s name or initials are hidden. Such designs add to the fun rituals of Indian weddings where post marriage the groom is asked to find his name or initials written on the bride’s hands with mehndi.

So, mehndi not only holds significance, but also increases beauty and fun part in wedding rituals!

Author:

Swati Srivastava 

Choodha: The Traditional Wedding Ornament of a Punjabi Bride

Punjabi weddings are mostly grand and fun-filled. They are characterized by wedding ceremonies like the bride’s sisters stealing the groom’s footwear and pre-wedding ceremonies like the ghara gharoli ritual where bathing water for the bride is brought by the groom’s sister-in-law. But, there is one tradition that has been long going on since ages and yet not many people know of its connotation. This is the ceremony of Choodha chadhana.

The choodha ritual is one of the most crucial ceremonies in a Punjabi wedding. Simply put, it is the most significant wedding accessory for Punjabi bride. A set of red and ivory bangles, the choodha has a special meaning for a bride.

An evening before the wedding, relatives and friends flock the bride’s home for this ceremony. The bride’s maternal uncle and his wife play have to meaningful role as they gift the choodha to their beloved niece.

On the day of the ceremony, the bride’s family conducts a puja. The ritual starts with all the family members

Sisters and Cousins tie Kaliras on the Choodha

and friends touching the bangles and blessing them. They give their heartiest wishes to the bride for a happy married life. The bride is then called in and made to sit down. The oldest maternal uncle is invited first to put on the choodha in the petit hands of the young bride. Assisted by their wives, the uncles take one bangle at a time (usually spread out beautifully on a tray) and pass them to the aunts. The aunts dip the bangles in a bowl full of pure milk and hand it over to the uncles, who then put them on to the bride. The milk helps ease the process and allows the bride to comfortably wear the tight bangles without developing a rash or scratches.

After this, the bride is given something sweet to eat, mostly an Indian sweet, along with some cash. The people present sprinkle petals of flowers on the bride and then take turns to tie kaliras on to the front bangles. The bride is now ready for marriage.

Author:

Devika Arora

Groom yourself before you become a Groom

There are grooms who shy away like a bride and there are Haryanvi grooms who equally look forward to their marriage and perceive their marriage a lifetime commitment towards their life partner. The following content throws light on the behavior of Haryanvi grooms.

When it comes to wedding or matchmaking, the bride tend to take the entire spotlight from the groom as women seem to be more thrilled for their marriage as compared to men.  A wedding as we all know is a bonding between two people who are willing to share their entire life with each other through thick and thin.  However, in India a wedding means coming together of two families, a bonding of a culture and traditions and bragging how much money they have spent on wedding. If we are discussing about Indian weddings then undoubtedly north Indian weddings grabs the number one position as they are one of the most lavish weddings in the country.

Haryanvi Groom

Marriages in states like Punjab, Haryana and Delhi has elevated the level of marriages. . There are certain pre and post wedding rituals which makes the concept of marriage more interesting. Haryanvi wedding ceremony is no different. The list of rituals in a Hindu wedding is endless. Rituals from “Haldi” of groom and “Vaara Satkaarah” to the big day celebrations, Haryanvi grooms make sure they are dressed at their best. The wedding outfit is something which plays an integral part in a wedding. Haryanvi grooms opt for a traditional outfit such as “sherwani” which gives a royal look while some go for “achkan” or “kurta pyjama”.

Haryanvi grooms are believed to take key responsibilities for their big day. They eagerly participate and prepare themselves in the activities and formalities with an intention to shine at their marriage. Haryanvi grooms eagerly buy wedding outfit, wedding rings and gifts for the bride’s family and i.e. what every groom should do prior to tying the knot.

Author:

Ashish Kumar