Montego Bay, Jamaica March 19th - 22nd, 2010

A weekend trip to a foreign country has become the norm for us over the past two years. What isn’t normal though is flying to a Caribbean island for a long weekend to experience the spectacle that is an Indian wedding. After a long journey (with a stopover at the JFK Best Western hotel for nap) and then in Miami, we arrived in Jamaica to glorious weather and a very scheduled weekend ahead.

A friend of Eric’s from JP Morgan, who is from NY, and his bride-to-be, a London native, decided to host a destination wedding for 375 of their closest friends and family in Montego Bay. I’m not sure at what point we decided to attend, but I think we knew that by March, we’d be Vitamin D deficient and in desperate need of warmth. Throw in our first Indian wedding invite and we were on our way.

Upon arrival, we made our first faux paux. Because it had been a really long time since we had seen the bride, we had actually forgotten what she looked like! (shock, horror, I know). Upon arrival at the hotel, we noticed a petite Indian girl standing with some photographers and a videographer (who were likely there to capture the arrival of guests). I insisted to Eric that that was Harsha, but Eric wasn’t convinced so we did our best to avoid her just in case. In an effort to avoid her, we ran into a herd of Ohio State fans. I would have taken the run in with the ‘maybe bride’ any day over the OSU fans.

Many of the guests were milling about (probably because all 375 were staying at the Rose Hall Hilton Resort). Our room wasn’t ready so we spent a few hours reading by the pool and eating some pretty mediocre food. After a lazy afternoon and exploring the grounds, we got ready for the evening’s first event, a Jamaican Beach Party hosted by Bhavit’s sister and her family held at Sandal’s resort. The night was filled with a full spread of Indian canapés, free-flowing drinks, a reggae band, an enormous buffet of delicious Jamaican/Indian fusion followed by a gigantic buffet of desserts. I’m pretty sure there was some sort of edible sculpture thrown in there for good measure. Oh, did I mention that all of this took place on a private island off of the Sandal’s resort that required a 5-minute boat ride to get to? Yeah, if that was an indication of the type of weekend to follow, we were in for a treat. Because it was the first night, we didn’t want to overexert ourselves so we headed back to the buses transporting guests to the Hilton around 11. As this was our first Indian wedding experience, we wanted to make sure to attend every event.

Dolphins near the shore

The following day, we were up early, enjoying the jet lag and the buffet breakfast. Of course since it was a buffet, we figured we’d get our fill although a few hours later we sat before another enormous Indian buffet prior to the manglik prasang. This is a ceremony that sees the guests split into bride’s side and groom’s. The bride’s side has their ceremony in the morning, followed by lunch, whereas the groom’s side has lunch first followed by the ceremony. This event took place at a gorgeous resort called Half Moon Bay. It was more quaint and private than the Hilton or the Sandals resort the night before. They even had their own dolphins!
The ceremony itself lasted about 2 hours (where they fed us again in case after the buffet we actually needed more food!). Most of the ceremony took place on the floor at the front of a open-air room, with chanting and singing and a lot of talking (that we couldn’t hear). Eric and I joked that they needed one of those cooking demonstration mirrors above them so that we could see what was going on. The ceremony involved the groom, the groom’s family and extended family. They offered gifts (not sure to whom) and lit a fire. It was fascinating at first, but because we weren’t involved and couldn’t really hear, we lost interest a bit quicker than we should have. As soon as the bus arrived, we were on it and headed back to the hotel for a quick suntan, ride down the waterslide and a game of corn hole with some of the other guests.

The Friday night event called: was held at Raas Garba Each venue seemed to one-up the previous. The night began with cocktails and passed hors d’oeuvres. A rainbow of saris adorned many of the guests. The bold colors of the cloth are absolutely breathtaking. The glitz and glam of the accessories provide the perfect finishing touch to such elegant garments. The waiters soon showed us to the buffet of traditional Indian fare. Have I mentioned how much I love Indian food?! We filled up and entered the hall to await the evening’s festivities.

First up was a dance prepared for the bride and groom by the bride’s younger sister, Bhavita. No joke, that is her name (groom’s name is Bhavit). It was totally meant to be! Following Bhavita’s dance was a dance performed by Bhavit’s cousins, close friend and sister to the sounds of dj ‘Magic Mike’ who was flown in from NYC. The remainder of the night was filled with more dancing that involved the guests (circle dance with clapping and dancing with sticks). We gave it our best effort, but headed home around midnight as the party continued on.

Bhavit on his horse

Saturday’s wedding events started relatively early. After a quick stop at the gym (where we left an ipod behind, sad) and a late breakfast, we got ready and headed to the ceremony, taking place at the Ritz. Since we had already eaten and the official lunch for the guests started at 11, we figured we would get to the Ritz just in time for the ceremony to start. However, as we learned quickly during the weekend, Indian-time is about an hour after the scheduled time. We grabbed plates and tucked into yet another Indian feast. We ate quickly and headed upstairs for the procession of the groom.

Harsha on her...uh...chariot?

In true Indian tradition, Bhavit rode in on a horse (albeit brown and not white) while the groom’s guests lead him into the reception site. Back in India, when the groom marries the bride, this would be the first time that he is entering the bride’s village and the villagers lead him to her. Once we reached the entrance to the hotel, we proceeded into a ballroom for the ceremony. I don’t remember much from the ceremony, as it was about an hour and a half (which is about a 1/5 of the time of a traditional ceremony). The one thing I do remember about the ceremony was that when Harsha was carried in (on a plank like Cleopatra) held by her uncles, she looked exquisite. She wore a bright red sari adorned in jewels and gold accents. Her accessories were equally divine. Her slightest movement sent prisms of light and sparkle across the room.

Following the ceremony, we had a quick break at the hotel to relax, then headed to the reception back at the Ritz. We arrived at the Ritz to a sprawling buffet that included a carving station, mashed potato bar, cheese selection, pulled pork and chicken sandwiches, and more. Having learned from the previous nights that this was merely the canapés, we decided to save room for the main meal and enjoyed a few cocktails instead. After about an hour and a half we were ushered into the main ballroom, which was stunningly decorated. No detail was spared. The Saturday night reception was introduced for the Western wedding guests. Apparently, in Indian tradition Friday night is the main reception. This reception was very westernized. It had the traditional speeches, dances and heavy boozing by guests. The one surprising aspect of the night was the food. The main meal was actually quite small compared to previous nights. We weren’t stuffed, which was a surprise! And apparently some of the guests even ordered hamburgers and snuck them out onto the terrace! Not us, I swear.

The groom and two happy guests

After several hours of dancing and drinking, we made our way on the shuttle back to the hotel. Sunday morning turned out to be pretty lazy following such an eventful few days. As we sat at the airport reminiscing on the weekend, we started to compare notes. Some of the rumours we discussed: there were, apparently 375 guests at the destination wedding, the chef was flown in from India for all of the wedding events, the dj and his crew were flown in from NYC and had to rent equipment in Jamaica which cost around $30K, a videographer and photography ‘team’ were flown in from NYC as well for 5 days, a drummer (who had rumoured to have performed at 1200 Indian weddings) described this as one of the highest end weddings he had been a part of, the wedding weekend costs approximately half a million dollars. Some facts: each of the events were like a traditional Western wedding reception in terms of food, drinks, and entertainment and we had a phenomenal time.

We’re pretty sure we can’t go to another Indian wedding. There is no way it would live up to the expectations we would have since after our first experience the bar has been set incredibly high. Thanks, Bhavit and Harsha!