ORLANDO, FLORIDA, June 12, 2005: When newly married Shivani Lad, 25, sent out her wedding invitations two months ago, the first invitation went to the Hindu God Shrinathji. As is the custom, one invitation was delivered to the Hindu temple first and then to specific family members in a certain order before being sent out en masse. Formerly Shivani Patel, Lad was married to husband Yateen Lad on May 28. More than 600 family members and friends attended. The invitation was the first step in an extensive array of ceremonies and rituals that took place before and during the event. “I always wanted to have a Hindu wedding,” said Lad, who lives with her new husband in Tampa. “There are so many different cultures in this country. I just wanted to keep our culture. I hope our kids will follow it, too.” Culturally speaking, the marriage represents a union of families, as such, family plays a pivotal roll in all aspects of the wedding. Each step of the wedding process, from the mailing of the invitations to the marriage itself, is scheduled on favorable days and times according to the Hindu religious calendar.
The Lad pre-wedding festivities began with a meeting between the couple’s families. Three days before the big event the women and girls on the bride’s side attended a mehndi party. Guests ate and sang while Lad’s hands and feet were decorated with ornate patterns of reddish brown henna. The morning before the wedding, Lad was blessed by a priest and female family members during a ceremony called Manglik Prasang. That evening, the bride and bridegrooms families came together for Raas-Garba, a celebration with traditional dancing. The wedding ceremony was the following day. During the ceremony the bride and groom sat facing each other under a decorated canopy. The entire wedding took place before a ceremonial fire. The bride and groom then alternated leading each other in a circle around the fire seven times while the priest recited potential obstacles in life the couple would overcome together. Himaxi Patel, a relative of the bride, explained that when the bride follows the bridegroom around the fire, she is supporting him; when she leads him around the fire, she is intercepting anything bad that may come his way. “In India, the woman, wife, mother, is the most important person in the family to keep the family together and stable,” said Patel.