Wedding Bells...

This is dedicated to all the lazy people reading this who hate organizing anything but do enjoy almost anything served ready on the table – whether it’s a picnic, a party or even a meal. A famous saying comes up to my mind here “You can’t always have the cake & the icing too”. I have enjoyed my fair share of readily organized treks, parties & outings.




Once a friend of mine who was supposed to travel to his hometown with his brother had his bro cancel out & so a custom made travel itenary fell right in my bucket. I worked in south mumbai & he called me @ approx 6 pm...i left office in d next few mins, got home aftr dat never endin local train journey arnd 8ish... told my parents, packed my bags, bathed, prayed & had dinner - all of this in jst 45 mins..our train was scheduled to leave @ 9:30...got out of home & made a mad dash to the station... i did all this & reached even before him :-)



Back to the subject of the day – Wedding bells. Na don’t worry I am still single but just recently my sister got married. My family has just me, sis, mom & dad. My dad’s an Arab & hence not fit for the designated “Wedding Planner” position. Mom’s already pretty caught up & hence d coveted title fell in my bucket. Lemme clarify that I do not intend to scare any of d bachelor’s in reading this but there’s a whole tv series I intend to start called “The great big fat Indian wedding”.



Let’s start with the wedding date – unlike other places (outside mumbai) where you choose your auspicious wedding date –in mumbai you are at the mercy of a receptionist in most wedding hall’s & their dreaded diary which has all the bookings listed. I once attended a wedding where I kinda liked the venue, so I took the liberty to check out the availability in case of any new surprised in my life & d guy I spoke 2 der casually told me “yes sir we would be glad to host your wedding. You may pick any date in 2011”. That’s mumbai for you!



Moving on – next on my list was shopping. Now shopping to me is like opening Pandora’s Box. People with heart problems can shut their ears off for a while – A decent wedding dress costs between 15k to 30k. Yes that’s for 1 special night. Now shopping comes with it’s own sets of benefits too – for those of us who haven’t explored the city you live in – this is your perfect chance. Because shopping is bound to take you to unknown, unheard of markets you never thought existed until it was time to get married! It’s d perfect opportunity to gain experience on the streets & become street smart (if that’s even a word)



Now d guest list (notice shopping had to begin even before you thought of d guests or anything else)! No matter hr hard u try u r defnitely gonna miss sum remote aunt/uncle who is gonna grumble abt d weddin in every encounter thru out our lives..so save that we had a list of almost 400 people ready...

nw der was alwayz sum hulla gulla goin ON till d D day... it had finally arrived...i thought i wud go 4 a swim to ease down my nerves a little.. bt yeah... my imagination runs pretty wild at times... 4get swimmin i cudn't even take a bath till almost d bride leavin home part... i had 2 take a shower then or my family wud dis-own me... :-)

1st was d Nikah ceremony which went off pretty well.. den d groom & bride both had to go & change to come back 4 d reception...the official weddin time on the cards was frm abt 7:30 - 10:30pm but we had guests even at 7 pm & no one to greet them...so lesson no. 1 - alwayz keep sum1 posted at the weddin hall well in advance...d clock kept tickin & both of them were runnin late..guests were pourin in & believe me entertainin them is no piece of joke.. i had to cuddle kids who njoyed kickin every part of my body, recvd 100's of kisses frm aunts & uncles, kissed a 1000 people in return...shit happened..Finally the couple arrived & boy jst that sight of my sister lukin mesmerising in her weddin gown was enuf to drown all my sorrows in.. dey got on stage..

no sooner than 5 mins post that - we began catering & i had my 1st sip of water all evenin... hadn't even drunk 2 sips b4 d caterer came runnin up 2 me sayin sum drunk guy is askin them to stop servin food or he'll bash them up...Oh BOY i m still on the lookout for that guy ! i assured d guy mnagin caterin dat nothin ought to stop until i say SO..itz moments like these when u can experience ABSOLUTE POWER... :-p

any guesses on d no. of guests that showed up - well we had almost 600 guests...d saddest part is bcoz of all this un-preparedness - we weren't even able to get 1 complete family photograph of both families togther.. therz tons of spices i can keep addin... bt u've got 2 experience it once 2 njoy it... i provide weddin plannin assistance...pls feel free to call me :-)