My good friend is marrying a hindu girl in a month or so. I have to be best man, because they don't allow blood relatives to do that.

What should I be expecting? It seems he is almost as in the dark as I am about this. I don't need to write a speech, however. It is at her parent's house and will be very crowded...

 

White boy, been to 10+ hindu weddings, including one in India. I'm sure i'll misspell some of the names, but you'll get the general idea:

It's generally a several day affair.

Mendhi party -- Where the girls get the henna tattoos done. Very relaxed, usually just food / drinks for the guys, if you're invited at all.

Garba -- basically a big dancing event. often no alcohol at this event, but everyone will do 'car bars', keeping the liquor outside of the actual hall or wherever it is. As best man, it's your duty to keep a flask on you for the groom.

Ceremony itself will start with the jaan (but they may skip this if he's white and his family has no idea whats going on). Basically that's how the grooms side approaches the wedding area. Traditionally on horseback, sometimes riding in someones convertible for the modern touch. It's led by a small band, you stop every once in a while to dance on your way there.

Once you get to the altar, prepared to be bored for 1-3 hours. The ceremony is mostly in sanskrit, no one, even the hindus in the crowd, really has much idea what's going on. This is usually in the morning, followed by a lunch.

Reception will be similar to most you've been to. Cocktail hour, dinner, dancing, etc. No major surprises here except for the indian food and music.

Surprised you don't need to give a speech, all the weddings I've been to have had several speeches, including best man and other random friends.

They'll probably skip a lot of the small details if his side is going to be all white. But best to ask her exactly what she has planned.

Any other questions let me know or wait for someone else to chime in.

 

Yea we are white boys, haha. I have to pick him up beforehand (the morning of). He said he has to dress in some "dress". At least he'll be riding in style in my acura

I was like "what do I have to do?" He said "just stand there, be there for me." uh, ok bro. hahaha.

Sounds interesting. I'm cutting my vacation a day short for this, so he better appreciate it!

 

The wedding outfit isn't that bad. It's glorified pajama pants, so it's fairly comfortable. Just stay at least moderately intoxicated the whole time and you'll have fun. There's really not much for you to do. The most they'll ask you to do during the ceremony itself is sit next to the groom to keep him company. Seriously.

I cannot stress enough having a cooler of beers in the car, and a flask on you. There are certain parts of the wedding that are non-alcoholic, but all of the young family members, and most of the older uncles will all be sneaking off to their cars to drink.

 

Yes, they are long and boring.

 

Phew, at least you can drink. This sounds terrible.

 

....and I thought typical "western" weddings were long and drawn out.....oof!

 

Agean nailed it.
They'll usually have the every step explained...why they do what they do...which tends to draw out the process some more, so...
Liquor up!

 

I haven't been to one but know many Indians. These are multi-day events and they invite an incredible amount of people, hundreds. Is he going to ride in on an elephant?

 

they are pretty comfy though, hard to hide stuff in though if the pants don't have any pockets, and reaching under the shirt to get to the pockets is clearly visible

 

Not legal in Jersey without all kinds of permits. I've had several friends try

 

 

do you have to have a red dot on forehead?

 

I've been to a ton of them since I'm Hindu. Personally, I never really liked them a lot. Too long and too busy. But a lot of people I know tend to have a lot of fun at them.

 

X2, You won't have to do much, just sit there and look pretty

 

me bein hindu as well...and they suck balls! haha to damn long and alot of work not including exprensive as hell! but for ppl not having to do work its pretty boring since you just sit there forever!

 

Agreed, and I'm Indian.

 

Oh man, I saved you a day of agony by not inviting you to my wedding. That's the truth.

 

i'm not indian but i have been to a lot of hindu weddings. i agree they are very long and boring but the food (as long as they aren't vegetarians) is great

 

Oh great now you've went and pissed Sly off. I would recommend running before he logs in and puts you in your place

 

pics of said couple, groom optional

 

Pics of dancers. There tend to be a lot of those at Hindu weddings.

 

:shakehead

 

I don't know....some of the food is good.

 

I was shaking my head at the non-vegetarian comment

Hindus aren't supposed to eat meat, but I'm not going to get into that argument.

 

Not entirely true, but I'm not a good Hindu.

 

Well Hinduism and Jainism (which is my religion) both preach ahimsa, or non-violence, to all higher life-forms. That is the root of their vegetarianism.

I'm not trying to preach or anything, because I am definitely not a very devout Jain, but to say that vegetarian Indian food is not tasty is surprising to me.

 

O_o i thought i was the only one!

but ya those weddings are long...the last one i went to had ADD (not really) bride and groom, so they made sure the wedding was pretty short, and the priest explained what was going on in english so people weren't just sitting there...if you go to the mehndi party don't get anything elaborate or ppl will give you shit about it until it wears off

 

when do guys get medndi put on? lol

indian food is tasty when made properly and it sure as hell isnt tasty if you eat it 2 or 3 times a day lol

 

this is why i hate being hindu... hindu weddings are boring as shit! but hey, you can always meet some cute ass girls that are hella distant family now.

 

^^^i agree haha every damn girl you meet you GOTTA do a background check!

 

Do what I did....date white chicks.

 

Ok so it happened on saturday. I picked him up and we drove to her parents house. About 20 people came over to my car like paparazzi and the brides mom did some religious gyrations and then he was able to get out of the car, then I parked and went in. The ceremony was only an hour and was mostly english. Tons of people from her family, probably ~100. Food was all vegetarian, ugh.

Live drums, some dancing, that was about it. It was a very hot day, ~ 90 so it wasn't great sitting around, but I did what I had to do.

 

Did you have fun? Get an crazy indian girl's number? (they all crazy btw)

 

Wasn't that much fun, and I didn't like the food. Hope his jewish wedding reception is better...

 

^I can't stand food from the Indian region. My best friend is Indian and all they eat is weird mushed bread and spicy ass paste

 

If he's your best friend, at least learn the names of the dish he eats.

 

His family eats it, he doesn't.

Plus which he was involved in a terrible accident and has been in a coma for the last year. I haven't really been able to talk to him. I visit him once a week and it's more like a one way conversation.