Sushi:

There was a lot of mixed emotions going into the Epic wedding weekend. Excitement at being a member of the wedding party, our first BIG Indian wedding, getting to hang out with the towers crew. And then there were the fears of being discovered as a fraudulent brown person who knows NUFFIN about Indian customs, the constant worry of being chastised by Gramps for very minor infractions on my part (Mostly for delivering the whiskey over latter than he would have liked).

But I think the biggest challenge probably would have been the one on Shoaven’s and Mausmi’s shoulders of bringing this rag tag group of grooms men together to perform as one well-oiled dancing machine! I vividly remember our not so sober practice sessions and Adam’s ability to sing bachna ae haseeno word for word. But through sheer persistence Shoaven was able to get us to a respectable quality level with our performance.

Now we were set and awaiting for our cue to go on after the Baccha Walla dance. Waiting… waiting… waiting some more…. till we are getting signaled on by some worried aunties that the grooms men have completely dropped the ball on their cue to get on stage and do the dance. Now rushing to the stage in a scramble like fish flopping on the deck of the boat, with some crazy help from Krishna we all get our act together and get through the dance without any more drama (Sorry for my dancing face, hopefully the videographer cut that out during the edit).

In the end we did it and with all the practice had gained some muscle memory to the song too. Enough that the next day at the Barrat too the rag tag’s were able to perform the dance moves when the song came on. It was definitely a great wedding, with two beautiful individuals, and we couldn’t be happier that we can say we were a part of it. Congratulations on a year completed you guys make a great couple and we hope to see more of you two FOOOO SHOOO.

This is us trying to figure out how to get ready for the wedding!

Shu:

This was Shu's first real large-scale Indian wedding. And Layla's first Indian wedding in.her.life. The pressure was obviously on.

Shu got her yearly dolled-up treatment from Sushis Aunt and cousins, and then were informed that some Oriyas they'd met the previous year at an Oriya party would be there too. Sushi and Shu and especially Layla were challenged with the task of finding and greeting these Oriyas. Layla was especially squirrelly but loved playing with all the bangles. Shu and Sushi tried putting on a very ornate sari for the wedding reception dinner, and after over an hour of YouTube tutorials and sweating and Layla unravelling any progress...they gave up and outfitted Shu in a lengha. And collectively breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Layla went on a sleeping strike at the hotel but there was no shortage of people wanting to play with her. Layla accompanied Shu in the afternoon of the (forgot name of it, but it's the actual religious wedding ceremony after the Bharat) and Shu was wearing a pretty chiffon sari. At the mehendi, Shu and Sushi stood up Amanda accidentally because Sushi told Shu that all the friends wouldn't be going til later. Amanda had already left and we felt soooooo bad but Amanda used her awesome socialization powers and got some badass mehendi on her hands. At the mehendi, Jaya kissed Layla on the cheek and Laylee was MARKED!