As we would be attending a religious service in the presence of the Sikh holy scriptures, we had to cover our heads and remove our shoes. I was loaned a tan scarf that matched my skirt, but James and Mark didn’t blend in as much with their orange handkerchiefs.
The family actually hired a security guard to watch over our shoes during the service.
We were extremely impressed with what we saw when we arrived at Davinder’s uncle’s on Sunday morning. The big tent was finished with one half set up for a religious service, as shown above, and the other for a luncheon for 100 guests, as shown below. We were extremely lucky with the weather as this tent would not have offered any protection from wind or rain, but that wasn’t a worry as it had warmed up just that week and was perfect for an outdoor event. 
Since Friday night, we’d watched a much larger tent being built directly next to the tent we’d already had three meals in. We’d heard that the workers would be there through the night to finalize everything for Sunday morning, but yet were still surprised at all that had been accomplished. The above photo shows the workers still have a long way to go. The below photo was taken Monday morning after the enormous tent was dismantled and the park was being swept clean.
Soon after we arrived back at the tent, a singer and band started performing. The women were told to sit on the chairs in the front of the room. Shawn’s mother tried explaining what was happening, although some of it is still a mystery. Much of the ceremony revolved around a variation of the money dance (the money was actually given to the band rather than the bride and groom, mostly in $0.25 increments) and feeding the groom (a sweet concoction of flour, sugar, butter and water—all that you need to sustain life).
I’m afraid that I never did find out what this particular tradition signified. One of Davinder’s aunts started carrying this pot with lit oil lamps on her head from across the street. Different women took turns walking into to the front of the room, then all the rest of the women took a turn. I was surprised when I was called up for a turn as well.
One of the difficult things about visiting a developing country like India is obviously the large difference between those who have and those who don’t. We heard that some folks are actually able to live on just 1 rupee a day which is just a little more than $0.02. While these same gaps occur throughout the world, it was quite evident that this wedding was for well-off foreigners. Some of the local kids hung out near the tent and at one point a few of them even broke in. Earlier in the day, a hand had reached under the tent and taken some sweets off of the buffet table. When the bands played at various events, the players would scramble for the 10 rupee notes ($0.22) that were given away. We then felt guilty that we weren’t handing out 10 rupee notes everywhere we went.
When the henna first goes on, it’s brown. Then as it dries, it becomes an even darker brown before the outer layer starts to peel away after about two hours. Then it turns bright orange until it once again darkens overnight. The darker it is the next morning, the more your mother-in-law is supposed to love you. Mandy’s was very dark; she hopes that means there’s a mother-in-law just waiting to love her, but that she just hasn’t met her yet.
