Circling the Fire (Part 3 of Our Buddhist/Hindu Ceremony)
July 15th, 2008 @ 4:59 pm by Mrs. Margarita
I’ve been dragging out these ceremony posts (1 & 2), so here is the third and final installment of our ceremony. We’ve ridden elephants, been through a parade of drummers and dancers, and now we are about to light a fire.
Mr. Marg and I haven’t quite figured out how to make a smooth transition from the Poruwa ceremony to the Hindu ceremony, so I’m just going to jump into the components of the Hindu ceremony we decided to include. If anyone has suggestions or ideas on transitions, please let me know!
Sankalpa
Mr. Margarita and I will say these sacred vows together, promising to:
- Always have faith in the divine
- Always treat each other with love and compassion
- Keep the mind pure and virtuous
- Be strong and righteous
- Show good-will, respect and affection to our parents and family members
- Raise our children to be strong in mind and body
- Always welcome and honor guests who come into our home Read more…
Best MOH ever!
July 11th, 2008 @ 3:11 pm by Mrs. Margarita
I’m headed off to my bachelorette weekend extravaganza but I couldn’t leave without writing about my amazing and thoughtful best friend/MOH. She surprised me with this little puppy as a late birthday present:
Bridesmaid and Flowergirl Loot
July 10th, 2008 @ 3:15 pm by Mrs. Margarita
I thought I’d interrupt my posts on our ceremony to show the hive my bridesmaids and flowergirl outfits and their associated bling. My Mom and I went to Mumbai in December for one insane week of shopping and picked this all up in addition to 4 entire suitcases of saris, gifts, jewelry, etc.
I wanted to find four matching saris for my bridesmaids in a deep purple/plum color. Turns out it is insanely hard to find four matching saris and even harder to find them in a deep plum color. We were nearing the end of our trip so I decided to buy enough plum colored silk for four saris and four flower girl outfits. I also purchased some matching beaded borders. My Mom and I then took the fabric and borders to Sri Lanka to be custom made. I’m glad we did this in retrospect because I didn’t have to settle for a random color or pattern I didn’t like.
Here Comes the Bride (Part 2 of Our Buddhist/Hindu Ceremony)
July 8th, 2008 @ 6:05 pm by Mrs. Margarita
I ended part 1 of our Buddhist/Hindu ceremony with the Ganesh Puja. Since it’s been a little while since the last post, let me set the scene.
Mr. Margarita will be standing at the front of the Mandap/Poruwa (platform) on the left side (from the audience’s perspective). Mr. Margarita’s immediate family and the Hindu priest will be seated on the left side of the Mandap/Poruwa. Mr. Margarita’s four groomsmen will be standing to the left of the platform facing the guests. My immediate family (minus my parents) and the Sri Lankan officiant will be on the right side of the platform. 400-500 of our family and friends will be seated facing the Mandap/Poruwa and waiting for the ceremony to begin.
The Procession
My four lovely bridesmaids will then make their way down the aisle and stand to the right of the Mandap/Poruwa. Following them are our four adorable flowergirls (ages 1 1/2 - 4 1/2) who will hopefully make it all the way down the aisle without crying or fleeing at the sight of 400-500 faces.
Read more…
Bachelorette Dress
July 3rd, 2008 @ 12:55 pm by Mrs. Margarita
My bachelorette is next weekend in NYC and I am having a hard time choosing a fun dress to wear on Saturday night.
Option 1 - Black Nanette Lepore dress from http://www.shopbop.com/
Front
Is That a Margarita on an Elephant? Part 1 of Our Buddhist/Hindu Ceremony
July 2nd, 2008 @ 4:18 pm by Mrs. Margarita
As I’ve mentioned before, our wedding ceremony is going to be a combination of Buddhist and Hindu traditions. A few months ago, Mr. Margarita and I reviewed the details of our ceremonies/traditions and came up with an integrated ceremony. Buddhist ceremonies are about 30 minutes long, while some Hindu ceremonies can last for over two hours. Mr. Margarita and I, however, would like to keep our combined ceremony to 1.5 hours. It’s still a pretty lengthy ceremony so I am going to break it up into three posts.
Baraat
An important and festive component of the Hindu ceremony is the baraat, or arrival of the groom. The groom generally rides in on a decorated horse or elephant and is accompanied by his family members, relatives and friends in big procession with dhol player(s), and dancing.
Mr. Margarita will actually be riding in on a elephant from Have Trunk Will Travel. Mr. Margarita’s younger cousin (if he will cooperate) will also be riding the elephant.
Image courtesy of Andrena Photography
Ranking Your Love
July 1st, 2008 @ 8:23 am by Mrs. Margarita
The modern Sri Lankan wedding often borrows heavily from British traditions. We wear white/ivory colored sari’s, veils, and carry bridal bouquets. The picture below is of my parents on their wedding day almost 39 years ago!
How hot is my Mom? She rocked the beehive hair-do under that long veil 
Wedding Favors!
June 29th, 2008 @ 11:31 am by Mrs. Margarita
I’ve been thinking about wedding favors for some reason from the moment we got engaged. I think it’s because my sister in law gave me the idea to give away pashmina shawls. We were going to order a bunch of them and then tie them on the back of chairs to look like ribbon/chair decorations. Then at some point in the night, we’d tell our guests what they were and to take them home as gifts. I was even going to get little labels made with our names and wedding date sewn on them. I eventually abandoned this plan as the numbers grew to 450-500. Also, I was feeling bad for not even attempting to include the men in the favor.
So, one day my mom and I were talking and we came up with the idea of doing something with tea. Sri Lankans and Indians alike are obsessed with tea so this seemed like a pretty perfect idea. Then Mrs. Onion posted about using adagio tea samples for wedding favors. I went on their site and ordered some samples, and they were adorable. I came up with this idea to do a Ceylon tea (Sri Lankan tea) and a Darjeeling (Indian tea) so it brings the two cultures together. I think I’m going to stick little Sri Lankan and Indian flags on them or something like that to make the idea clear.
Read more…
Choosing STDs and Team Margarita
June 27th, 2008 @ 11:28 am by Mrs. Margarita
I’ve also been MIA and I’m so sorry for the delay in posts. I’m in California right now with Mr. Margarita doing a crazy amount of wedding things in a short amount of time. I really can’t believe we are two months away!
So, I introduced my color scheme and invitation mood board in my last post. With my color scheme in mind, the first thing Saima designed was our save the dates. I didn’t give Saima much direction initially except that I wanted to include lotus flowers somewhere in the invitation suite (save the dates, invitations or both). I grew up Buddhist and I was an eastern religion major in college, so lotus flowers hold special meaning to me. There are many interpretations of what they can mean, but the one I like the best describes the lotus flower as the progression of the soul. The roots of the flower start in the mud of materialism and suffering, the stem travels through the water representing experience and growth in life, and finally the pristine flower lies above the water signifying enlightenment.
Here are the beautiful designs she came back with:
Option 1:
How the Color Plum Became a Huge Part of My Life
June 24th, 2008 @ 10:28 am by Mrs. Margarita
After a few weeks of engagement bliss passed, I started the wedding planning process. It started harmlessly with a few wedding magazines and wedding TV shows, but pretty soon I was spending hours every day perusing wedding websites and blogs. With so much information and inspiration I couldn’t help but get excited and maybe a little carried away. I had no idea you could have bird cake toppers, trees for centerpieces and gobos with your own design. Actually, I didn’t even know what a gobo was until I started planning our wedding.
A few weeks into wedding planning, my friend linked me to Nirali Magazine’s wedding section. I think it is one of the best sites for anyone planning a South Asian wedding in North America. I used their shopping guide when I was in India looking for bridal outfits, and was comforted reading their article highlighting interracial marriages. It was also Nirali that led me to my color scheme and invitation designer. I opened an article on invitation trends featuring Saima Khan’s work and was enthralled. (If Saima’s name sounds familiar it’s because she also happened to be Miss Jasmine’s invitation designer.)
One of Saima’s wedding suites:
Miss Margarita, Boston/Los Angeles
Age and Occupation: 26, Healthcare Consultant
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Doctor
Engagement Date: March 21, 2007
Wedding Date: August, 2008
Blogging Since: June 18, 2008
Venue: Saddlerock Ranch
About Me: I grew up in Southern California, moved to Boston for college, New York for grad school, back to Boston and now I travel the northeast every week for work. When I'm not on the go, I love to read, draw, shop, sleep and spend quality time with my fiancé, family and friends. We're long-distance planning for our "big fat brown wedding" in California and are excited to unite our Sri Lankan and Indian cultures and Buddhist and Hindu religions in a unique and modern way.
