One More Party

As a thank you to all of their friends, Srikanth and Keerti had a cocktail party the day after their wedding. The reserved a private room at Touch (Keerti's aunt's nightclub) and invited all of their friends. I was exhausted, but it ended up being one of the most fun nights of our trip. By this time, we knew most of their friends quite well, so everything felt very comfortable.

The funny thing about Indian parties is that they serve a full meal at 5 in the morning. By that time, all I want is sleep! I got out my camera for this party, since it was the last one, and people sort of went crazy. Everyone was hamming it up for the camera. It was hilarious!

It is never good to see a picture of yourself dancing! Nevertheless, I have posted one of Matt and I here.

These are Srikanth's beautiful new wife and his sisters. Poor Keerti has to move in to Srikanth's family home with everyone! No matter how nice your in-laws are, that has got to be awkward at first. Srikanth's sisters are Extremely nice though, they were so welcoming and hospitable the whole time we were there.

They had a Brazilian dancer put on a little show during the party. She was an amazing dancer. What a crazy life she must lead, touring India dancing at nightclubs!

One of the most memorable parts of the night was when Srikanth took the microphone and announced to everybody that Matt and I were engaged. Everyone sort of went crazy and surrounded us and were toasting us and cheering. Then they made Matt and I dance in the middle of everyone. It was lots of fun! Also, weird that all of these random people in Huderabad knew we were engaged but none of our family did. I made them all promise to come to our wedding but I think it probably won't happen!

This trip to India was expensive and probably not the wisest decision, considering that Matt had to miss work and I had to miss school. However, I am SO glad that we went.

Srikanth and Keerti's Wedding Day

Srikanth Nori and Keerti's actual wedding day seemed almost anticlimactic affter all of the events that had been leading up to the wedding. The wedding was held in a huge warehouse type of builiding because there were 3,000 people there! Both Srikanth and Keerti's dads are very successful men, and they both invited all of their colleauges from work. Keerti's dad is the tax commissioner for the state of Andhra Pradesh, and so the governor of the whole state was there! The thing was huge, so basically Matt and I ate food, chatted with all of our new Indian friends, and then left. Oh, and I had another conversation with Srikanth's dad about Matt and his tight trousers and how he needs to do yoga. Haha!

The ceremony lasted for hours and hours. It seemed like chaos. No one was paying attention to what was going on in the ceremony, everyone was just chatting and eating and being noisy. There was live music as part of the ceremony, and that was cool. The singing was really cool also.

The family stood on stage throughout the ceremony, but wandered on and off because it was so long. Keerti and Srikanth looked bored for a lot of it. Keerti's outfit was intricate and amazing, and she had an outfit change about half way through the ceremony to a new, even more intricate outfit.

The Brahmin priests that conducted the ceremony were young and jovial. They were on a break when I took this picture of them, and I was surprised cause they started asking me all sorts of questions. They wanted to take a picture with me but then they decided it would be disrespectful for the wedding ceremony. They made e promise to meet up with them after the ceremony for pictures but Matt and I left early cause it lasted so long.

At one point, everyone made a line to give the couple their wedding gift. There are special envelpes for wedding gifts, and you fill them with cash. Luckily, one of our new Indian friends brought us an envelope so we could follow the tradition.

Banana Leaf Lunch after the Groom is Prepared

After the Srikanth was officially "prepared" to be a groom, there was a yummy delicious lunch served on a banana leaf. It was delicious. We ate lunch in the traditional way: no silverware and sitting on the ground. Matt and I are usually very enthusiastic about doing things the traditional or local way. However, in this case, doing things the traditional way conflicted with the famous Indian hospitality. To me, it was hilarious. As Matt's future wife, I should probably be a little bit more sensitive, but I just can't help but laugh!

Basically, Matt is probably the stiffest person on the earth. It comes from the Massey family genes, his love of soccer, his tight pants, and his refusal to come with me to yoga class. Apparently, according to Marti, Matt had stiff legs even as an infant.
As you can see from the picture above, Matt can't sit cross-legged. Being the good sport that he is, Matt was willing to put up with the discomfort in order to eat with the family. However, Srikanth's family was appalled by the site of Matt sitting in that weird way, with his knees up to his chin. I myself felt uncomfortable just sitting next him! Matt kept insisting, and still insists to this day, that he is not uncomfortable sitting cross legged. It is hard to believe that, but whatever.

Srikanth's dad insisted that Matt move to his own table behind the family. I decided that I didn't want Matt to sit alone, so I moved back to sit with him. Then Srikanth's dad and I got into a discussion about Matt's tight trousers and how he needs to do yoga. Haha! I couldn't stop giggling. I am a horrible girlfriend. I wasn't giggling in a mean way, it just looked funny and I couldn't stop, especially as Srikanth's dad kept going on about the tight trousers.

Matt did much better with eating the lunch though...I hate eating with my hands and so I asked for a fork. How un-festive of me!

On another note, just to embarrass Matt further, I think he looks really cute in these pictures!