Jeev's Wedding Part 2

We were super excited for this wedding, partly because it was in New Orleans and we wanted to see our friends, but mostly because we had never been to an Indian wedding before.  Raj took us shopping so we could get super cute outfits for Skyla and me.  One of the most fun parts was getting ready with my mom (in case you didn't know, we treated my folks to this trip as a thank you for letting us stay with them all this time and also so we could have babysitters for the second part of the wedding at night).  Skyla was very patient as we got her dressed.  The results are fabulous, even though the outfit is ridiculously big on her:

I really loved the outfit I got for the wedding too.  The experience of shopping for it was a little daunting, as it was my first time buying clothes post-baby, but the salesladies were really nice and helpful.  They even altered the clothes several times for me in the store to make sure they fit right.  I have to say it's a small miracle that I was able to get all dolled up after traveling all day with an infant and getting about three hours of sleep!

We had to get ready by 9 a.m. because the shuttle was taking everyone to the baraat, the party in the street that they had for the groom before the ceremony began.  I knew this would be one of the coolest parts of the whole weekend, so we got up as early as we could to get ready and made it onto the bus about two minutes before it left!  The bus took us to this really cute neighborhood that reminded us of the West Village with its outdoor cafes and cute boutiques.  We were dropped off at the Nirvana restaurant and Skyla finally got to meet uncle Nan. 

We walked around the corner, where they had blocked off the street for the party.  There was a car blasting loud music and drummers banging a beat, who encouraged us to dance (he said, "White people too, not just the brown people!")

Below is Tory looking dapper and enjoying a complementary mago lassi.

Jeev with his family lookin sharp and enjoying his last few moments as a single man.

I took this picture because I couldn't believe Skyla was sleeping with the super loud music and drumming.

One thing I was really looking forward to was Jeev coming in on an elephant (and I may have told one or two people it was going to happen).  Raj told me something to that effect and I was trying to imagine where the hell they would get an elephant inside the city limits of New Orleans.  It turns out, they do that sometimes in India but most of the time they use a horse.  Oops!

Skyla was a big hit in her outfit.  However, I guess since she was wearing blue some people thought she was a boy!  One douche said, "Hey little man" when he saw her on the shuttle, and another psycho lady came up to me and said, "I'll take him off your hands whenever you get tired of holding him."  Not likely!  Here she is enjoying the show with Uncle Raj and then looking beautiful with her mama:

Eventually we headed into Nirvana restaurant for the Indian ceremony.  It was really really long and almost entirely in Sanscrit.  Plus, again, I had only had about three hours of sleep, so there were a few moments where a long blink almost turned into a nap.  A few cool things to point out: they put up a white sheet in between the bride and groom so they couldn't see each other until the priest said to lower it.  If they approved of each other, the ceremony could continue.  I assume this tradition comes from the practice of arranged marriages -- pretty cool!  There was also a really great moment where the priest introduced the bride and groom to the guests.  One thing I didn't get on camera but that I will always remember was when five of the bride's female relatives came up to her one at a time and whispered marital advice in her ear.  It was really sweet and special.

After the ceremony they had an awesome Indian vegetarian buffet so Tory and I were in heaven.  The shuttle picked us up promptly at 1 p.m. so we could go back and rest before the evening ceremony.  I napped with Skyla and Tory got some quality football-watching time with Jeev, Nan, and Raj.  We kept saying that it had already been a great wedding and it was only half over!