Our first national wedding

We had the opportunity to attend a national wedding today. The bride is the only daughter of our one of our language teachers, so when we received our wedding invitation a couple weeks ago, we knew right away that we would be attending. It was a fun day full of new and exciting things ... but there was some sadness as well. Please, as you scroll down, please remember these faces as you speak to the Father.

Below is a picture of the bride receiving her maangalyadbaarane from her new husband, the most important part of the ceremony according to our teacher.

Before the ceremony, however, we were treated to breakfast - chutney, dolsa, and chai tea - all served on a banana leaf. Noah's expression doesn't really tell the story. Despite his face, he did like it and probably ate more of it than any of us (Elizabeth, btw, was not there today. She spent the night with a friend last night, but she had her "wedding moment" 2 weeks ago when she went to a wedding with some friends).


Emma and a new friend she met after breakfast...

Hanging out just as the ceremony began.

Some of the offerings that were presented during the ceremony...

The bride and groom with their fathers....

The bride and her beautiful smile....

The bride and groom along with their parents and other family members were "bound" together with twine to symbolize family unity.

The kids were taking it all in....

The groom placing the toes rings on the brides feet. According to our teacher, this is the only time the groom will ever be allowed to touch the feet of his bride.

Husband and wife....

We certainly didn't plan on a front row seat, but this is where we ended up!

So many nice people there ... many from the U.S. that flew in just for the wedding, such as the two ladies below.

The mother of the bride (2nd from the left) ... also one of our language teachers.

Noah introducing himself to the father of the bride....

Being escorted to the stage to present our gifts, only to find out that it wasn't quite time to present our gifts.

With the parents of the bride....

With the groom....

Now's the time for presenting our gift!!

We were served breakfast, and after the wedding ceremony, we were also served lunch. We got new banana leaves and the servers came along and placed food on each of our leaves. We were told that the top half of the leaf is where the protein is placed while the lower half contains the carbohyrates/fats/sugars. We've got to give our kids props for taking part in this ... spicy, no silverware, on a banana leaf. They were troopers!!

Our new friends ... he's a surgeon, she has her Ph.D. in English. We exchanged numbers and hope to meet up with them soon.