Wedding Night a la India

We arrive to the grooms house covered in strands of christmas style lights and yellow flowers. This is to show the community that their is a marriage in the house. Being such an auspicious day there were over 5000 weddings in Dehli tonight competing for the most grand award.
The aunts and cousins help us in our saree and voila we were transformed into Indian Princesses. The family starts the ceremonies with a buddhist chant mixed with Hindu traditions. I can't tell which is which but they  feed the groom and place ribbons of money around him. Can I have one?? 

Downstairs the band is practicing on their drums and a white horse dressed in gallant horseware is waiting for us to come down. Boom bam boom we are coming down. Daman mounts his horse with his cute nephew ( tradition for a blessed marriage with children)and we start the procession slowly to the temple. Imagine a man followed by papparazzi, his mother, two sisters, cousins, out of towners, uncles, close family members and Gigi and I dancing to beats of the drum moving inches at a time then breaking into dance yet one more time. Each time we stop an aunt or uncle will take a stash of money and swirl it above the person who is dancing the hardest and then throws it up in the air. This is to ward off any spirits and also keeps the musicians happy.

These weddings don't obey traffic either. There we are in saree's following a white horse ( we are about 50ppl) in the middle of the street with traffic going crazy and who cares!?! Its a wedding people!!
After he rings the bell at the Hindu temple, and more money is thrown up in the air ( I could have bought another pashmina by now) we get into the busses for our 2 hour traffic ride to a "farm" that would put the Oscars to shame (except for the bathroom. Do indian women not pee or touch up their makeup? Especially for a 12hr commitment!)
As we drive up and awe at each wedding venue, we turn and see the grandest of them all and start taking pictures bc it was so so big. Yup, then the bus stops and looks like that is our wedding venue where I can easily say around 4,000 people were in there. We meet outside, the elders do another ceremony of the wifes family accepting him into theirs. A couple of delicious vegetarian hors d'ouvres  and Daman gets back on his horse and looks like we are dancing and drumming and throwing money all over again till we get to the main door. As we get closer I feel my body easing into the punjabi beat. One of the ladies tells me to keep dancing bc the party ends at the door. What do u mean the party stops!??
Walk in the door and queue Kenny G for the next 5 HOURS!!! Shoot me.

2am rolls in with the mosquitoes and we get to leave! Hallelujah praise lord Shiva. Then the ceremony starts and the 5k ppl has dwindled into about 75. We gather around a gazebo thingy and the Brahmen priest starts doing his rituals of burning ghee and  black smoke stuff. They walk around the fire 7 times and then we all come and throw rose petals on them. By now its 430am. I give a pleeing look to Gigi who thankfully says, "ok, its time." We have to leave for Agra in 3 1/2 hrs anyway. Shower. Bed.