We went to the wedding reception at 9pm. By now, we are pretty good at the whole being pretty and hair and make-up and jewelery thing. So four pretty sisters and (total) 7 pretty cousins showed up at the reception (including the bride..). The bride looked like an ancient princess, elaborate gold stitched onto her clothes, her hair partly covered. Look at the pics! (in the photo gallery section)
This is the more formal occasion. It is a sit-down dinner, where there is ample time to talk and socialize before and during dinner. After dinner, most guests go home, except for close family. This is the part, where th bride moves out of her family, in with her husband. But first - there is the shoe! If you are wondering what the shoe looked like - see the pics. If you are wondering where I am going with this - bear with me:
One shoe of the husband was stolen (to be honest with you: how a shoe can be stolen from your feet is beyond my imagination, but lets just say it is missing..), by the bride's family. A bargaining negotiation between the two parties determines the price the husband and his family have to pay to get it back. There was much shouting, bargaining (we even changed currencies "1000"-"If you are talking about 1000EURO we are fine with that.." "no 1000 yen"...). It was fun, funny, confusing (mostly because they changed to Urdu in the midst of the excitement)..we (the cousins and friends and I think the groom and his friends, too) will take the money to all go out and have a great dinner.
Then the bride (who was sitting with the groom on a stage again) walked out and said bye to her family (actually we are seeing her again today, but symbolically). They slept at the hotel, not here. She is leaving to Lahore, her husband's family, today.
Well, now there is time. At least for a few days, just for us, time with my family, time to relax, go shopping, talk. I am looking forward to that, too! We are having so much delicious food, too. And, I am proud to report, haven't deviated from vegetarianism:) Even though most festive meals are with meat...just not appealing to me, still. Outside I hear crows shouting, Dom, the dog, is lying next to me, sleeping on his back stretched out like a baby, a persistent fly is buzzing...I think its time for a post morning nap (that's the one right after breakfast).
