Hindu weddings are some of the most vibrant, colourful and interesting weddings around. There are a host of events, each filled with sacred tradition and meaning where not just two souls are joined together, but it is also the union of two families. For the uninitiated, it is easy to get lost in the rituals but since our team has experienced quite a few Hindu weddings, we’re here to help you find your way around if you’re ever invited to one!
There are a few important stages, which are the key elements of the Hindu wedding ceremony. The whole thing usually takes place under a canopy called a mandap. It is always beautifully decorated.
To have a smooth wedding ceremony, Ganesh Poojan is performed a few days before the wedding or even the night before. This is when the priest offers a prayer to Lord Ganesha (the elephant headed god) to remove any obstacles so the ceremony can proceed without hindrances.
The groom is welcomed as he makes his entrance during the Jayamaala or Vara Yatra ceremony, amidst much singing and dancing. In fact, music is a key component throughout the Hindu wedding! The bride’s parents, family and friends greet the groom and his party while blessing the groom with rice, applying tilak on his forehead and placing a garland over his head. He is then led to the mandap to await his bride-to-be.
The bride is then offered in marriage to the groom in a solemn ritual called Kanyadan, which means “gift of a maiden”. It is often accompanied by the giving of a dowry. In this ritual, the father places his daughter’s hands into the groom’s, signifying that she is separated from her family and incorporated into the family of her husband’s. Speaking of hands, the bride’s hands are usually decorated with intricate henna designs.
The groom takes his bride’s hands in his to signify his acceptance of the bride as his lawfully wedded wife and ties the first knot of the mangalsutra around the bride’s neck. His sister ties the other two knots symbolizing acceptance into the family. The mangalsutra is a holy thread with gold pendant, a symbol of marriage and the sacred bond between a husband and his wife. This is considered one of the most important rituals of a Hindu wedding.
The Saptapadi is the main and legal part of the ceremony. A marriage knot is symbolized by tying the end of the groom’s scarf to the bride’s dress. The couple then takes seven steps around the fire, representing the seven vows exchanged between them – for nourishment, strength, prosperity, health, happiness, progeny and harmony – sealing their marriage forever. No ceremony is complete without this.
The wedding ceremony ends with a benediction by the elders and priests in the Ashirvada. The couple is blessed for a prosperous married life ahead of them.
When the rituals are over, then comes the food and more dancing and singing! Everyone really gets into the groove, whether young or old. That’s one of the reasons why it’s simply so fun! Of course, there are a few variations to the customs and some additional ceremonies. Each one is timeless. Each one presents a wonderful photo opportunity and we love being a part of it!
If you’d like to see the ceremony in action, have a look at Jason and Seetha’s wedding ceremony here:
Contact us if you would love to have our team photograph your Hindu wedding ceremony.
When Poornima first met Puvan, she barely glanced at him. To her, he was just a typical, carefree teenage boy. It was only after 4 years of being batchmates in college did his true heart reveal itself to her. At this point, she kind of felt that he was the one for her, but they were studying in India, and after coming back to Malaysia, they were working in different states. The lack of time together and long distance proved to be much more of a challenge than they thought and it made them grow apart.
But during that 1.5 years apart, their hearts were still ‘together’ which lead to the clarity of their minds… that they will never find a better companion apart from each other. So they broke up as kids, but got back together as adults. Adults who are ready to move on to a better phase of life.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful wedding day with us, Puvan and Poornima, including the Ponnurukku ceremony. What I enjoyed most about your wedding was seeing some of our older clients there at the wedding, and not to forget, jumping out of my car in the middle of Brickfields traffic to photograph your bridal car that broke down. Thank God everything went well after that! Looking forward to our years of friendship! May you be filled with beautiful memories from these images years from now.
If you love whirlwind romances then you’ll certainly love the story of Jason & Seetha. They met while waiting to catch a flight home after a marathon in Penang and found that they were seated in the same row once they got on! Jason wasted no time in texting Seetha once they got into their own cabs and sent her flowers just three days after they met. They had their first date a week later and after only 21 days since meeting each other, the three precious little words “I love you” sealed the deal.
They love each other fiercely, but it doesn’t stop there. Their love extends to traveling (they have covered 15 countries over 2 continents!) as well as to leading an active lifestyle together (which includes marathons, duathlons and Mount Kinabalu too).
Jason and Seetha are genuine and generous in their love for others too. It’s not difficult to feel their enthusiasm for life rubbing off on you through your interaction with them. We have enjoyed being a part of their wedding and wish them both the very best life has to offer!
We want to also thank the couple for a beautifully written testimonial!
“I have known about Stories.my for many years now but I did not dare contact them as I thought they would be totally out of our budget. And because my husband and I had so many things going on at the same time, I almost did not hire a videographer at all. Not sure what got into me at the last minute, I finally contacted them a month before the wedding, they were available (thank god!), their pricing was a little pricey but acceptable and reasonable considering we did not have much time left and also the number of people working (3 videographers) for 2 days, and the amount of work they were putting in. It was definitely worth it!
A few points to note.
1) The team from Stories.my were the MOST professional team of all the vendors my husband and I worked with. They had a contract (No other vendors we liaised with had a contract). They replied FB messages promptly/immediately. They replied emails promptly/ immediately. They answered all our questions. They chased me and my husband for details they wanted. They had a questionnaire to understand our entire wedding process/details (tedious but very good because they want to know exactly what’s going on!). They set up a conference call with us to speak to us face to face because we are living overseas. They also set up a whatsapp group chat to chat with us and make sure everyone was in the loop. They really know their job & what they are doing, they are a bunch of very young hardworking true to their job sort of people!
2) After dealing with some diva vendors I was really afraid that the team at Stories.my would be a bit diva to me which I really cannot handle, but it turned out, they were the nicest, sweetest people ever to work with. Nick, Joel and Chi Yin were like the kindest people ever. I can’t remember if it was Nick or Joel, but one of them said to me, “I really love you guys” at the end of our wedding dinner, that was really heartwarming to hear.. It’s so nice to work with such sincere people who genuinely love their job!!.. and I have a strong feeling that it will reflect in our wedding video. I remember, after the dinner, I gave Nick, Joel and Chi Yin a hug before saying good night and good bye. Chi Yin even sent me a text the next day to say bye and that they were leaving to go back to KL. As you can see based on my review, these are really nice, kind, sincere, genuine people. It’s not easy to find such people these days. And I feel so lucky to have such passionate young people provide their services on our wedding day.
I definitely highly recommend them and in my opinion, they were really worth it.
Thank you so much Nick, Joel, Chi Yin, Grace and Yu Ming. Wishing the team at Stories.my all the best in your future endeavours. Take care and till we meet again!! Cheers!!”
Credits:
Videographers: Chi Yin, Nick & Joel
Wedding Ceremony Location: Sri Suntharamoorthi Vinayagar Temple, Melaka
Dinner Reception: Hatten Hotel Melaka
Groom’s Attire: Gayathri’s Silk, Little India, Klang & Zara
Wedding Gown: Red Bliss, The Perfect Group
Evening Gown: Gayathri’s Silk, Little India, Klang
Make up & Hair: Kannan Raajamanickam, Apsara Asia Bridal (Temple wedding) & Fernisher Makeup Hair Studio (wedding dinner)
Temple Decorations: Thillana Productions
Dinner Decorations & Cake: Hatten Hotel
Stationery: Amazon Kad Kahwin, Print Expert
Dinner Entertainment: The Shearmanlian Band
Photography: Sean Lim Photography
The first time Arvind met Dhanya, she was probably about 2.5 feet tall, a petite little girl running around in a Malaccan kindergarten. It was years later at a tuition class when Dhanya was taller, that Arvind met her again. Six years later, they bumped into each other again in Malacca while hanging out with different groups of friends. Fate had it that Dhanya had to travel to India to complete her final year in dentistry school while Arvind had to leave on a sailboat for work. His 6 month sailing voyages meant that it was difficult to initiate contact with Dhanya but every now and then, she would get an unexpected satellite call and email. Despite the long distance relationship, love bloomed.
Their wedding ceremony was held in Malacca (naturally!), the city where they were born in. Since it was a marriage of two faiths, Arvind and Dhanya had two different wedding ceremonies – a Christian and a Hindu wedding. I had never been to this temple in Malacca before, but the beautiful blue walls with lovely doors enchanted us. We’ll share the photos from the church wedding (and video highlights) in a separate post. Enjoy the photos!
