south asian weddings: UNVEILED seminar

By: Kim Choy

All of our beautiful Mehndi (Henna)

On Sunday May 15, I woke up early and drove myself to Brampton, Ontario to Chandri Gardens to meet with Jagdish Brar, of My Big Day Event Planning & Design, and other WPIC Alumni to learn all about Sikh, Hindu and Muslim Wedding Traditions and Customs.

The group of us that took the Seminar!

Prior to attending this seminar, I tried to read a book about Hindu Wedding Ceremonies and Traditions. The book got me so lost in what was what and what happened when, that I had to stop after page seven. However, Jag made it so easy to learn and understand!

Jag taught us all about the different ceremonies and parties that can take place leading up to the actual wedding day itself. I never knew there were so many!

There are so many formal engagement rituals, pre-wedding ceremonies and post ceremony rituals in addition to the actual ceremony and reception itself! Sometimes these ceremonies and rituals can start a week before the wedding.

Shobana from Amplified Soul, and her mother, showing us how to tie a saree

In between the seminars Jag had set up other speakers and entertainment. Before lunch we had a makeup presentation from Shobana Lakkavally from Amplified Soul. She and her partner specialize in South Asian Wedding hair, makeup, jewellery and dressing of the bride. She talked about the services her company provides and the way it usually works on the wedding day.

Janis Martinello, Jagdish Moondi-Brar and me during our saree instruction.

Shobana showed us how to tie a saree, and we were each able to practice on our partners! They were beautiful and so comfortable!

She dressed Lindsay Laur, WPIC Alumni, in a traditional South Asian Wedding Outfit. Lindsay was adorned the hair jewellery, bracelets, necklaces, and a dupatta (also known as a chunni).

During lunch there was a performance by Toronto’s All-Star Girls and the Sonay Gabroo Punjab De. This dance group and dohl player really got the energy in the room to a high. Everyone felt like getting up to dance!

The dancers performing

After lunch we enjoyed the Mehndi Presentation. I think that was the part of the day that everyone was looking forward to the most! We were explained the prices, the designs and the meaning behind some of the designs that are applied to the bride’s hands.

Rose Dupont getting her Henna done

Did you know that it takes about 4-6 hours for the bridal mehndi to be applied?? Some traditions of bridal mehndi are the artist scatters the groom’s initials on the arms and legs of the bride for him to find after the wedding. This was used as an ice breaker between the bride and groom after their wedding to get to know each other better!

The designs that were put on our hands were very “simple” designs to the henna artist, although I would never be able to come up with those designs as fast as she did. She showed us some of the more complex designs that are usually reserved for the brides. They were stunning! One of them had the bride’s side profile and the groom’s side profile on both hands so when the hands were put together, the bride and groom were looking at each other!

My henna art. It got really dark, and is slowly starting to fade now.

There was a fashion show displaying the various wedding outfits of brides and grooms.

At the end of the day we got to tour a Gurdwara. It was amazing to see how much community involvement is put into the Gurdwara.

I am so glad that I was able to attend “South Asian weddings: UNVEILED”. I learned so much, and I will finally be able to read through that Hindu wedding book and understand what is going on!

I am coordinating a Hindu wedding in September, and now I feel like I am somewhat prepared, or at least on my way to being the best coordinator I can be for that wedding!