Last weekend my family and I traveled to Goa for a cousin’s wedding. It was probably one of the craziest things my family has ever done or will ever do. The girl, who is my first cousin is a Zoroastrian, a set of people who migrated from Iran but have been in India for the past few centuries, was marrying a Goan boy, from a well to do Goan family in Aldona, Goa.

So this is what happened… We arrived two days before the actual ceremony began, as my mother had conveniently volunteered all our help, my sister and I were looking forward to a relaxing weekend hoping to drop by at the local market known for its clothes and bags, much to our surprise we were put on duty the night we arrived. The couple had mutually decided to have all the religious and legal ceremonies, which meant the Goan as well as the Zoroastrian functions, as well as the Court marriage.

After two laborious days of running here and there it finally began. The first was an official engagement for the girl’s side of the family where the boy goes and asks the girl’s father for permission to marry her. The couple then exchange rings and “Monu Mithu” themselves which means that they feed each other sweets to celebrate the Official engagement. The girl’s side then visits the boys side and does the same, where gifts are exchanged and a great spread of food is laid down for the ravenous.

After a most fulfilling lunch we followed with the traditional Siesta time and all slept for a good few hours to gain energy for the evenings events. The evening was spent celebrating with dance, beautiful lights and gorgeous Sarees and dresses to die for.

 Everyone let down their hair and drank to merryment, as tradition goes. The amusing part was that there were actually two different celebrations on the same evening. The Goan side of the family celebrate the eve of the wedding, whereas the Zoroastrian side were celebrating that their daughter had found a suitable partner!

As the next day was to begin early with a wedding mass at ten, the evening wound up ending surprisingly early, and the entire family went to their respective homes to prepare last minute for the next day. The day dawned beautifully with warm rays and a few clouds. The church was garlanded with orchids and white lilies on every window, and a four tiered cake lay waiting to be cut under a stark white canopy. The groom was surprisingly early, and guests began trickling in by the time the ten chimes rang out. The mass began, while the bride and her entourage of bridesmaids took their time getting ready. As the mass ended, the choir took their place as the groom took his place at the Alter.

The wedding march rang out and Lia in her beautiful white corset gown walked hand in hand with her father who affably gave her away to Robin. The ceremony was more than memorable, the wine and cake cutting brought tears to more eyes than countable, and best of all the lunch seemed to last forever. The exquisite spread of typical Goan and Zoroastrian food came as a surprise to the guests.

The couple danced their first dance, as did the mother and son and father and daughter dances take place, just before the beautiful couple dashed away to catch their flight to Mauritius. It was a tremendous effort on both the families to unite and provide exactly what the couple wanted, but they did an excellent job of it, and hats off to them!

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