This afternoon was PACKED with events. We were all excited! Dressing up in traditional Indian outfits was part of the fun! While I was getting my hair done, the boys got to participate in a turban tying ceremony. All men and boys got to wear turbans, although Mark and Petrusik opted to get a lollipop instead.
Alex really got into the whole dressing up thing. Despite the fact that the turban was quite tight on his head, he wore it like a champion.
Here are our four little princes, all ready to party! I love this picture!
Oh, but this is only the beginning. What could be better than wearing a turban for a boy at an Indian wedding?
Riding a HORSE!
I cannot believe that I let Mark go on a horse without any sort of helmet or protection…but then again…I was not even there and when in India, you do what Indians do, right?
Well, these boys had the time of their lives and Mark still talks about how cool it was to ride a horse.
Meanwhile….just to the side, the older men were dancing like crazy!
Here is a good picture of Robert’s turban-haha. And that’s my uncle having a good time on the right.
While this whole procession was happening, I was at the hotel, helping my sister while her last minute decorations were put on her. This is not an exaggeration…it was taking her almost an hour to get everything on.
Bracelets, rings, earrings (they were super heavy although Saumya’s mom said they were the lightest ones she could find for the wedding), necklaces, toe rings. I mean, she was sparkling with all this golden jewelry.
And then she still had to get her hair done in an Indian way by a lady who’d never done hair for a European lady (my sister was quite frustrated with her…).
I think this is my sister’s frustrated face-haha.
It was also kind of funny that since we don’t have a clue how to wear these traditional gowns, both, she and I put on our top parts backwards. So we had to get changed very last minute to avoid major embarrassment. Her red dress was beautiful. I am sure we’ll get a lot more pictures of it once their professional pictures come back.
I cannot forget to show my little Katya to you, who was as gentle as a flower in this outfit, our one and only little girl
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Finally, I went outside to join the procession, while Lyena was finishing getting ready. I found this major party on the street!
And Lyena’s prince in a fancy wedding carriage!
My role, as the person “giving away” the bride was very important. I had to be standing in the “bride’s tent” with all our relatives and friends and basically inviting and hosting the groom’s family. Obviously, there were a ton more people from his side.
We are not sure whose side this horse-man was on, but he was with us in a tent.
Finally, Saumya, the prince, on a white horse wearing a turban, but no shining armor, arrived to our bride’s tent. I had to come up to him and give him something (it’s a blur in my memory now) with that ornate “beehive-pyramid” over my head. 
I must put a disclaimer here…I know all this sounds so ignorant because I don’t know proper names of the objects or even what all the traditions mean. By no means, do I want to show disrespect for any of the parts of the wedding ceremony. So bear with me.
. So bear with me.
After the groom arrived, and then finally, the bride, we all moved into a huge tent that had two stages, seating and tables set up. Originally, the whole ceremony was set up to be outside on hotel grounds, as it rarely rains in Agra in February. As it was getting closer to the wedding date, the weather forecast was getting more and more promising of rain and thunderstorms. Although it cost them a fortune, Saumya’s family decided to not take any chances and ordered the cover to be built for the event. Let me tell you…it would have been a disaster if we did not have a roof over our heads! It was hailing and raining like crazy right in the middle of the main part of the fire ceremony! So we were lucky!
Since Robert and I were right in the middle of all the action during the fire ceremony, we could not take any pictures. My mom was there, on the small stage, as well, so we did all the cool rituals and mantras together.
Again, I am hoping when our professional pictures come back, we can share them as well.
The ceremony lasted about an hour and a half. Our Ukrainian family was sitting right in the front, but they could not see much because of the photographers. Nevertheless, they were very-very reverent and observing the whole event with great interest. Even our kids did amazingly well!!! Katya helped to take care of Mark who somehow took a quick nap in the middle of it all. We were so glad it all turned out well with them, as I was a bit concerned of how my kids will act while I am involved in this lengthy fire ceremony.
A few words about the ceremony. It was amazing to watch and listen. The words of the priest about marriage, respect, family, bride and groom, were very insightful and a great advice on how a loving marriage should work. Music, fire and mantras all added to the magic of this amazing ritual.
After the ceremony, we all got to congratulate the new couple, give gifts and take pictures for a few minutes before the garland ceremony (yet another tradition-haha).
The way the garland ceremony works is that, let’s say, uncles from the bride’s family give garlands to the groom’s family, same goes for cousins, brothers, etc. This is one of the sweetest pictures from the wedding—Mark and Petrusik “tied” with the garland. Love it!
The next part was completely an improvisation by us, Ukrainians. As many of you know, our family is very musical. My grandma, uncle and aunt are professional musicians, my cousins and I play musical instruments and sing. Of course, we had to show off our awesome Ukrainian talent-haha!
First, my aunt and uncle dazzled us with a few beautiful violin pieces, bringing tears to my eyes because they were so sensitively done.
Then Mika, my nephew performed a couple of piano pieces, followed by Katya who played her March Ala Turca. After that we were all simply wowed by my cousin’s solo performance (I’ll have to add a video later). Finally, we ended up all singing our favorite folk song from when we were little! It was a blast. Somehow with all that Ukrainian music, even Robert got to show off HIS Ukrainian dancing skills. Just imagine, an American guy, wearing an Indian outfit, throwing some crazy Ukrainian dance kicks on the floor in Agra. It was as great (and funny) as it sounds!
After our Ukrainian concert, it was time to dance and eat!
My beautiful Katia, the cousin.
Dance without care!
We were so busy and having so much fun, that this turned out to be the only family picture we got! So now you see how Indian we all looked-haha. Saumya’s mom gave me this beautiful sari as a gift. I love that color!
As an attempt to throw in some Western traditions into this wedding ceremony, we ordered a wedding cake for the couple.
And of course, they had to feed that cake to each other….nicely..
sort of…
We danced and ate well into the night. I was STUFFED! I loved their food---all vegetarian and so flavorful. But I did have to be careful about the spiciness level-haha. I tried so many foods I never knew even existed!
Just a glimpse of what our catering looked like. There was A LOT Of of food and choices.
After midnight, I was exhausted, but I think everyone just kept going, dancing and dancing…I still needed to pack everyone for the next day’s flight to Kokata. So around 1 am I finally went to our hotel room.
What a fun wedding it was! Now writing about it, I am thinking how much more food I should have eaten-haha! And how much more I should have danced!
All right, long post, but there was lots to cover. Hope you enjoy looking at all the colorful pictures.
Lyana.
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