Rituals of Wedding Ceremony

Nichayathartham is a pre-wedding ceremony, where the groom and the bride commit to each other about the marriage vows they are about to go into. The would-be groom and bride exchange rings which bears witness to their commitment and promise to their betrothed.

Applying mehendi is one of the most important beautification rituals among the many traditions that are infused into Indian weddings. This ritual is combined along with sangeet ceremony where there will be more music and dance performances happening. Mehendi experts are hired and it is applied on the hands and feet of the bride to be and sometimes it involves the groom as well.

Applying haldi religiously followed in several Indian weddings, simply as mehendi signifies beautification, Haldi ceremony symbolizes cleanliness. Haldi holds a special place of honor for Hindus and they believe it will ward off all bad things that affect the bride and groom. Simply said, it marks a promising and auspicious start to a new life jointly with a pure heart and soul.

Panda kaal muhurtham is a wedding ritual that’s held three days before the wedding or on the day before the wedding. It takes place at both the bride and groom’s house, to invoke the family God (represented by a bamboo pole) so that the wedding proceeds without any hassles. The bride and groom are usually not allowed to leave their home after the Panda kaal muhurtham ceremony.

Panigrahanam is an important ritual that takes place after maangalya dhaaranam where the bridegroom enfolds the right palm of the bride reciting mantras. The closed fingers of the bride denote her heart and this ritual means surrendering of bride’s heart to the groom.

Pada puja the origin of this rite is deeply rooted in the history of Vedic tradition; where the bride's mother washes the groom’s feet with water, milk, sandalwood paste and amidst a lot of teasing, the couple exchanges garlands thrice.