Amrit & Nalini reached out to us six months in advance to plan their wedding and we were thrilled when they made their choice & trusted us to capture their big day, Their wedding was set to be a traditional punjabi wedding and the celebrations kickstarted with all the traditional Sikh (or punjabi) wedding rituals. The first of the events was Mehendi/Sangeet (or Jaggo) Night at the Sakoon Banquet hall in Fremont, California. The event included multiple punjabi pre-wedding rituals described below.
Mehendi
An absolutely vital part to any Sikh wedding ceremony is the Mehendi ceremony. During this romantic and celebratory event, the bride sits down and gets intricate Henna paste designs painted onto her hands, arms, feet, and shins. It is a Punjabi belief that the darker the henna prints are upon a bride’s skin, the more love she will receive from her husband to be & in-laws.
Kurmai or Sagai or Engagement Ceremony
During the Kurmai, a priest (or Granthi) will offered a prayer to start off the event. Following this prayer, the bride’s family presents the groom with gifts, a Kara which is the steel bangle that Sikh men wear.
A scarf is placed on the groom’s shoulders/lap while some dried dates are placed into his hands. Nalini's (The Bride) Grandmother offered her blessings by feeding these dates to Amrit (the groom) per the Granthi’s instruction. With celebratory congratulations, the now engaged bride and groom will exchange rings, thus completing the Sagai and making the match official!
Chunni Chadai ceremony
The mother of the bride symbolically covers the bride’s head with a chunni. His family also gifts the bride with clothes, jewellery, etc.
Chooda Chadana (Kalire)
Similar to the American tradition of “something borrowed, something blue”, the Chooda Chadhana is a special event for the bride in which she receives a particular set of 21 red and ivory bangles. These are traditionally given to her by the eldest maternal uncle. Golden ornaments called Kalire are tied to the bangles.
Sangeet or Dholki and Jaggo Night
Literally translating to ‘Wake up’, Jaggo is a tradition where the relatives of the bride and groom used to go around the village (in the older times) dancing and singing with decorated pots with diyas on them. This was a way to invite everyone to the wedding.
The whole purpose of the Jaggo is to ensure everyone is awake & having fun until dawn and so not only are pots carried on the heads but long bamboo sticks are decorated and banged on the floor and chaj (bamboo tray) is hit on until it breaks.
Amrit & Nalini's Jago was a collaborated event with Sangeet night which was a giant gala where both sides of the family were invited to join together for a massive celebration filled with music, dance, good food, and laughter.