Weddings are celebrated differently in different places, everyone knows that. But after growing up in Pakistan (and having a Pakistani wedding), every time I see a western wedding. I can’t help but be reminded afresh of just how different those two types of weddings are. For instance:
1) Not only can you wear the same color as the bride. But you can also wear your actual wedding dress to the event without eliciting any reaction. In fact, if you have been married less than 5 years or the wedding is that of a sibling or close cousin, you are expected to re-wear your wedding dress and people will ask you why you’re not wearing it if you don’t!
2) Speaking of the wedding dress, you have not one but two proper wedding dresses and you don’t even pick the second one. Technically, with the wedding spanning anywhere from 3 (the minimum) to 6 or 7 events, you actually have several ‘bridal’ clothes, each different according to the traditional clothes of each event. The dresses for the last 2 events though are the ones that are full-on wedding dresses, the first you choose for yourself while the second is chosen and paid for by the groom’s family.
3) The actual ‘exchange of vows’ is not given too much time or importance, it often happens before the actual event (or is a separate event on its own) and is usually witnessed by a minimal number of people. Oh, and the bride and groom are not even in the same room during this exchange of vows.
4) The wedding is stretched over several days instead of hours with elaborate rituals, clothes, colors, decor, etc particular to each day.
5) The first morning after the wedding, breakfast is brought over by the bride’s family who then stays to help eat that breakfast. Which of course can get embarrassing if they arrive before you’ve woken up and you have to scramble to get all dolled up before joining them.
There are many many more differences of course, but these were the first 5 I thought of and 5 is always a good number for a list, don’t you think?
Interested in knowing more? Leave your questions in the comments!