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Mrs. Ant, New York/Jamaica Age and Occupation: 25, PhD Student Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Finance Engagement Date: July 26, 2005 Wedding Date: November 18, 2006 Blogging Since: February 15, 2006 Venue: Rockhouse Hotel About Me: I live in New York but I'm planning a destination wedding in Negril, Jamaica. My fiance and I are high school sweethearts!
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Garba Raas!

January 31st, 2008 @ 4:42 pm by Mrs. Ant

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As Miss Jasmine has shown us, Indian culture is incredibly rich, colorful, and vibrant. Last summer, one of my best friends married his beautiful wife with a 4-day long celebration full of Indian traditions and lively dancing. I’ll share some details of the Gujurati garba-raas event, which took place the night before their ceremony and reception. It was amazing to watch and even more exhilarating to be a part of!

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The bride and groom started off doing a simple 4-step garba with their immediate families.

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More and more friends and family started to join in…

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Soon, hundreds (seriously, hundreds) of people were dancing the garba and the entire room was a whirlwind of swishing colors, bouncing steps, and joyful energy. Mr. Ant and I joined in for a while too!

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Here’s a video of the 4-step garba. Later on, some groups moved onto more complicated 6, 8, and even 12-step garbas!

Eventually, the dancing switched to a raas, another Gujurati dance with sticks.

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I’ve always loved how Indian dancing is fun for all ages, no matter how young or old.

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I had soooo much fun learning and dancing the raas! Check out my cool new moves. What do you think? Bollywood material? winky047

Haha. As you can see from my expression, I got pretty excited when the groom joined our raas line. laughin079

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Here’s a video of the entire room dancing the raas. Some raas lines are doing really advanced moves!

The groom was one of my oldest and dearest childhood friends. And now he’s blissfully married to a lovely woman who actually gets his quirky sense of humor. Don’t you love it when great things happen to people you care about? I couldn’t imagine a better matched couple! happy058


On a tangential note, the beaded, orange salwar-kameez I wore is actually a gift from the groom many years ago. He picked it out for me while visiting India. Isn’t it stunning?! I felt like I was wearing a work of art.salwar kameez 400

15 Responses to “Garba Raas!”

1.
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Mrs. Bluebell says:

Wow this looks like sooo much fun!! I’ve only been to one Indian wedding and we had no dancing. :-(

2.
cindee says:

oooh i’ve been to two indian festivals before and i’ve done the 6 step garba and raas thing before….SO MUCH FUN! this post definitely brought back some memories :]

3.
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Miss Toucan says:

THIS LOOKS AWESOME! So FUN! I want to go to an Indian wedding now! :)

4.
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Miss Canary says:

That is so COOOL! Anyone wanna teach me???

5.
Atomickittyn says:

what an amazing wedding, it looks like so much fun!!

6.
Ask Wifey says:

Wow! How beautiful! The colors look so vibrant and everyone looks like they’re involved and having so much fun.

7.
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Miss Jasmine says:

Aww, it looks like you had such a great time– just seeing this is getting me so excited for our own wedding events. I wish we were having a garba-raas!

That orange salwar kameez is *gorgeous* on you— orange is definitely your color!

8.
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Mrs. Butterscotch says:

That looks like so much fun! I love the orange on you!

9.
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Mrs. Onion says:

thanks for sharing. i’ve never been to an indian wedding but now i want to go! the color does look beautiful on you :)

10.
almostmrslucas says:

what a stunning bride! what i wouldn’t give to have skin like that!!!!!

11.
GetMarried4Less says:

this looks like such an amazing time! i love how everyone is up and dancing and enjoying themselves. what a wonderful way to celebrate someones union! now i want to go!

12.
mlle sarah says:

yay mrs. ant! it’s been a while! i just remember i started reading weddingbee around the time you got married! love the color of your outfit! very you!

13.
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Miss Tulip says:

Oh my goodness, that looks like so much fun! Love all of the bright colors…. INCLUDING your dress — you looked stunning!!

14.
bearbride says:

that is soo cool! and his wife is freaken STUNNING!

15.
ipakster says:

this is completely unrelated, but i found out you used tony yang. do you know how i can reach him besides through his website messaging system?


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Mrs. Ant Mrs. Ant, New York/Jamaica Age and Occupation: 25, PhD Student Fiance's Age and Occupation: 25, Finance Engagement Date: July 26, 2005 Wedding Date: November 18, 2006 Blogging Since: February 15, 2006 Venue: Rockhouse Hotel About Me: I live in New York but I'm planning a destination wedding in Negril, Jamaica. My fiance and I are high school sweethearts!