An Indian Wedding

We were invited to go to our first Catholic Indian wedding on Saturday. We know the groom well. He is a smart, handsome Indian fellow who finally managed to tie the knot with his longtime girlfriend, now blushing American bride. She looked smashing in a stunning bridal gown made of royal blue silk. Both of her hands were ceremoniously covered with an ornate Mehendi, a traditional Indian bridal henna tattoo, and she wore a bindi on her forehead and lovely gold bangles on her wrist.

This event had been a long time coming, and over a year in the making. They both seemed very happy and relieved to finally see this day come to pass. For many reasons they had chosen to wait to tie the knot. It was complicated - between his citizenship status and family living a world away, there was much to figure out before the ceremony could take place. The wedding and reception following at Studio 2131 was one of the most relaxed and enjoyable we had ever been to, and we KNEW the Indian food at the reception was going to rock.  We purposefully did not eat lunch in preparation for the feast that lay ahead.

You see like all good Catholic weddings we were invited to attend the ceremony at the church which started at 1:00 pm and ended sometime around 2:30 pm. Then you go into this odd void known as the "the Catholic wedding holding pattern" while you wander around town all dressed up and no place to go waiting for the reception to begin at 5:30 pm. Strange ritual for the guests, I have always thought. I hope the extra wedding picture poses the groom and bride get out of this deal are worth our monkey suit parade all over town. It worked out fine for us, once we decided we would definitely NOT eat lunch in preparation for the meal ahead. Instead, we found a perch to land outside and enjoyed the awesome day - talking about this and that until it was time to drive over for the reception.

The reception was a lovely affair full of Indian colors, flavors, aromas, decor, dancing and for the brave of heart, free henna tattoos, where you could choose your very own design and have it done right there. What a great idea! Everyone loved it, including me. I patiently stood in line for my henna tattoo behind great grandma's, grandma's, mothers, daughters, and small children too. Young and old, it seems, loved the idea of playing with a tattoo that would naturally wear off in a week or two.

I was watching the two ladies they hired to do the henna tattooing for the event. Aside from the fact that they looked like sisters with their long red hair, long hippie skirts and Birkenstock sandals, they both seemed to have had lots of practice with henna tattooing. The fact that they were able to take hands of all different makes and models and paint a picture of them that looked just like it did in the book, free-handed, was very impressive. I wondered what they did for a living? Henna Tattooing? They did look like they could (very easily) follow the Renaissance Festival for part of the season and then fill in with birthdays and weddings in between for extra cash.

They work from tiny henna bottles that remind you of a small puff paint bottle from the arts & crafts store. They do the design which does, oddly enough, have the consistency on your skin of brown puff paint. When they are finished they spray your tattoo with a little bit of hair spray. You are then expected to hold your (hand, in my case) hand very still to allow the paint time to dry. Once it is dry, then it will begin to flake off, which you will immediately feel panicked about.  Don't worry, the top layer is supposed to rub off to expose the lovely brown henna tattoo stain underneath.

Apparently, you can make your own henna dye and most people who do henna often make their own, however beware of black henna. It apparently does not exist, and some disreputable henna artists were mixing black hair dye and other things into their henna to get a more realistic tattoo look, with very scary allergic reactions.

The food, how was the food, you ask? Spicy hot and delicious. The happy couple hired a local caterer to do the standard American dishes, beef tenderloin, pasta salad etc. and the Indian food was catered from Ruchi's, which I think is one of the best places to eat Indian food in KC.

They had a grand display of both types of food living harmoniously together on the same table. The caterers had their hands full, as not only did they have to keep their dishes stocked, but they were also in charge of freshing up the Indian food as well from what had been delivered to the reception.

There was Ruchi's famous Butter Chicken, Palak Pakora, Rice with vegetables, Tandoori chicken and Naan bread . . .all of the food was really packing some heat, so you know the groom must have asked for it to be "Indian hot." It was worth the water and wine I chugged afterwards, because it was delicious.

So, congrats to the happy couple and for allowing us to share in your special day. We enjoyed ourselves, the decor, the dancing, the henna and the food . . .but most of all we enjoyed watching the two of you so happy together on your special day. Good Luck, friends.

P.S. I guess this will officially count as my first Indian Wedding ceremony, which means another item gets checked off my bucket list . . .for complete details see the bottom of my "About me" page.