I don’t have an official Things To Do Before I Die list but if I did I think attending an Indian/Hindu wedding might have been on it. I’m not a fan of weddings as they tend to be extremely boring boring BORING but if television and movies have taught me anything it is that Hindu weddings are huge, colourful affairs with tons of dancing. Last weekend Amanda and I had the chance to see for ourselves if Holly/Bollywood has been lying to us all these years as we attended the wedding of one of Amanda’s closest friends in glamourous Campsie.

Despite the fact that I had no idea what was going on (although an informative program did help) I had so much fun at this wedding. Arti, the bride, was absolutely gorgeous and it was a total trip to see her the center of such an extravagant celebration when only a couple weeks before she was sitting around with us exchanging Christmas gifts. The wedding was HUGE (around 400 people) and we sat at a table with Amanda’s work friends (that’s how we know Arti). So our table was completely seated with people not of Hindu culture but the MC of the whole wedding would come on the mic every now and then and let us outsiders know what was going on. We took to calling him Richie after legendary cricket commentator Richie Benaud since he provided such nice commentary. He even cracked a couple jokes that pretty much only our table seemed to appreciate:

“Tables 15, 22, 29, 38, and 44 will be going to the buffet first. And I assure you, my wife is not at any of those tables.”

Richie you’re killin’ me! But he saved his best for later…

“Just to update you on the dinner situation. There has been an incident as some curry pots have gone missing. Just joking, dinner is only slightly delayed.”

COMEDY GOLD

The night was a total success…at least from my point of view. I tried some Indian food, I learned a lot about Hindu weddings, and I actually had a great time at a wedding. Sadly, and here Bollywood let me down, there was no dancing at the end of the night! So that disappointment aside I must say this wedding was miles better than any church wedding.

Photos were taken by Amanda and you can see more here.

This wedding also kicked off 2007: The Year of the Wedding. I will be attending at least 2 more weddings in July…in different hemispheres…on back to back Saturdays. And one of my oldest friends got married yesterday back in Vancouver. Congratulations Chris!