Indian Wedding–Part 2!

The actual wedding ceremony was supposed to begin at 2:45 on Saturday, but I think it actually started around 3:15. I was told that people joke about “Indian Standard Time” – meaning everything is always late. In fact, every event we went to throughout the week started late – Sejal was always calling Jef to tell us not to come yet because no one was there! (For those who know Jason, this works pretty well with “Rickard Time!”)

Anyway, the first part of the ceremony is called the Baraat. The groom rides a horse into the ceremony area while the groom’s family and friends dance around him! Sejal’s parents had hired some professional dancers to guide us in our moves, and the DJ played loud Indian dance music. It was really fun (and really hot and sweaty), and it definitely had all the hotel guests out of their rooms and watching the scene!

(You can sort of see Jef on the horse in the back!)

I think the Baraat lasted around 30 minutes – not sure – I was juggling a sleeping baby and trying to make sure she didn’t get sunburned!

The ceremony (for most of it, I was way in the back feeding/calming Paige – these are not all my photos):

I think the ceremony lasted an hour and a half? It was longer than I expected! There was a brief waiting period where guests changed clothes (apparently the saris are too hot for the ladies so they changed into some other Indian outfit), and then the cocktail hour. I have no pictures of the cocktail hour, but it was held both outside the reception room and on a patio outdoors, with full bar and heavy hors d’oeuvres.

Then, the gorgeous reception. We sat at the king table with Jef and Sejal, Sejal’s parents, our parents, Sejal’s sister, and Jon and fam.

First dance! (Sejal and Jef had changed clothes too. Sejal was stunningly beautiful all week!)

Mother/son dance – I loved that Jef picked “Unforgettable” by Nat and Natalie Cole for the song – we listened to that song so much growing up!

And those are the majority of my photos! We left a bit early since we had an early flight the next morning and we had to leave the house at 6 am. I am SO glad we went to this wedding. Taking a newborn wasn’t nearly the challenge I thought it could be, and now we have all these wonderful memories and had so much fun with family. Congrats again, Jef and Sejal – wishing you all the happiness in the world!