My Big Fat Hindu Wedding

Beautiful silks, gold drapes, tiny little men, wagering on the outcome of the day... no, I'm not talking about the Ky Derby. That's the May wedding! I'm talking about the 500 guest Hindu wedding I worked last night. I know many of you were wondering how it would go. You ready for the story? It could be long! The beautiful silks were worn by all attending the two hour ceremony. I don't know how they told the American guests where to find the saris and dhotis, (A sari is a woman's robe/wrap and a dhoti is a man's clothing) but everyone who would go inside the ceremony room had to wear traditional Indian clothing. I actually saw one woman escorted out and since she was the only person in American clothing, I assumed that was why. And I know they wouldn't think twice about kicking someone out- especially a stupid American. Of course, most of the Indian women kept their saris on for the reception but most everyone else changed into western clothing after the ceremony. The gold drapes were on the area we would call an altar. There is no way I can effectively describe what I saw when I opened the ballroom doors, so here are a couple of pictures.









Tiny little men, do I really need to say more? The family of the groom was really responsible for this wedding. In fact, I was the only person hired by the bride. All other vendors were hired by the family of the groom. Thats kind of a problem for me because typically my job is to coordinate with all of the vendors to make sure everyone is working together. Because I was hired by the bride, I had to be responsible to her and carry out her wishes. Because everyone else was contracted by the groom's family, they all had to be responsible to them. And we all had different instructions.... and that leads me to the wagering on the outcome of the day. There was one point in the day when I really didn't know if Katie, my assistant, and I would even be allowed inside the ballroom and I thought the poor banquet manager (for the Marriott) might actaully have a heart attack. The mother of the groom scolded Katie and I for placing the programs in the chairs before the ceremony (as the bride had told us to do). Scolded might be a nice term for what happened, but that's not all THAT important. It does set the tone for the rest of the day, though. Basically she kicked Katie and I out of the room. So we went down the street and got a cup of coffee and tried to figure out what we would do if we weren't allowed to work. I hate standing around at a wedding anyway, and at that point I hadn't been allowed to do anything. Well the ceremony commenced and was shortened by one hour to give the family of the groom time to decorate for the reception. I've never seen a family less concerned about seeing the wedding ceremony of their relative. At one point I saw the family skirting a buffet table. This is a full service hotel. Guests DO NOT do set up. Its a matter of good customer service AND a matter of quality control. Truth be told, its more the latter. The banquet manager I worked with on this wedding actually had my job at Gaillardia after I left and I've worked with him on weddings before. I actually thought his head just might explode when he saw them doing that. I was SOO glad it wasn't my job to confront those women!! Katie and I went back outside to 'look at our notes' while that confrontation happened. I never spoke to the mother of the groom again but the father of the groom requested that I come speak to him. I can't remember exactly how that went but I was definitely summoned. I was supposed to have had a meeting with him the week before the wedding but it never happened- I never was told when or where to meet. So he says to me, 'I wanted to meet with you before the wedding today but that never happened so I need to see your schedule for today. This is a big deal. It is very important that nothing go wrong.' This is about 5 minutes before 500 people find their seats in the ballroom. Way too late to make changes if there are any. So I smiled and said, I understand. Here is my itinerary. And, lo and behold, it was exactly what was supposed to happen. At the right times! I asked my questions (that I already knew the answers to) and he asked his (that I had the right answers to) and I went on my way. The only thing that went wrong was the caterer was 30 minutes late with the food. OK thats not the ONLY thing but its the only thing that family cared about. I actually got smiles from the family of the groom by the time everything was over and I heard a quiet 'thank you' from the father of the groom. The bride was happy- the wedding was over. The bride's mother was happy- she was drunk. I was happy- I survived!