Summer Weddings: Dan and Preethi

Wedding season is upon us!

I just wrote that and kind of vomited in my mouth a little and am sitting here trying to think of some witty comment that will convey both my great love of weddings and my great disdain for being single while at weddings as well as all the emotional mishmash that comes with weddings. But I got nothin.

It's kind of like a love-hate relationship for me. I am a huge sap when it comes to weddings, and I have been fortunate enough to attend quite a few weddings of close friends or family members where I get all choked up seeing them so happy and aglow. And for the most part being single at the majority of weddings I have attended is just fine and dandy, because I'm still at an age where many of the other people (my age) are single. And included in these 'many other people' is often a large number of my friends. But still, the inevitable slow song comes on and the group-dancing is derailed and the singles leave the floor as the couples do their thang. You know, their coupleyness cutesywootsy thang.

But enough about my bitterness.

Over Memorial Day weekend my two friends Dan and Preethi, tied the knot in Mt. Vernon Virginia. The darling Meggers came up from Miami and so I got the added bonus of spending quality time with her in Washington, DC over the weekend. Excellent. Dan and Preethi are Mormon so they had a service in the Temple in the morning. But Preethi's family is Hindu, so they also had a Hindu ceremony in the evening, which all their friends and family could attend. Which I have to say was pretty darn cool. It's not every day that you get to witnessa Hindu ceremony. Unless of course "you" happen to live in Indian. Or are Indian. I am neither.

I have to say, they do it up right. They have props out the wazoo, all symbolizing this, that, or the other. Of course I have no idea what "this, that, or the other" symbols were, since it was all in Sanskrit. So I just watched attentively as Dan and Preethi were showered with flowers and rice and milk (the latter just on their feet) and more rice and more flowers, and then some red dye on their foreheads, and more rice. Though I haven't the slightest clue what actually went on, it was an experience I will never forget. And seeing Dan looking like Aladdin and Preethi absolutely stunning in her sari was simply wonderful.

A little flavor of the mandap (official term for the wedding tent), with Dan and Preethi (obvi) in the middle, his parents on the left, hers on the right, and all the various foods and what not they utilized through the ceremony in front.

Here we have D&P stopping at one of the 7 plates that had flowers on them, all laid in a row. I think it symbolized the 7 major steps in life (marriage??). It was cool.

Cute.

The ceremony and reception were held at the Mt. Vernon Inn, which was so beautiful and picturesque. Preethi executed the details fluidly and expertly, and everything was tastefully done. Simple yet elegant. Cute but not vomitous. Because she (and he) is just that awesome.

One episode I will not soon forget was dinner. For which we had the choice of the "normal" array of wedding entrees (you know, a meat or a pasta or a fish) OR and Indian meal. Now, I did a little thinking on this matter and decided that if she had family flying in FROM INDIA, the Indian food they were serving was probably going to be pretty darn good. So I decided that I could opt for beef or stuffed chicken at the dozens of other weddings that will have those options, and just go for the Indian.

As it turns out, I was woefully unprepared for this meal, either in my abilities to identify what I was eating, or to understand the new levels of hot (like spicy, not temperature) I would experience when eating a genuine Indian meal. Given that I was the only person at my table (with Preethi's HILARIOUS coworkers and a few other Penn peeps) who had ordered Indian, my meal was the centerpiece of conversation. And humor. Mainly because as I tried the various tidbits everyone would watch my face and water consumption to gauge the level of hotness. Now don't get me wrong, it was all quite tasty, and I don't think I have a particularly low tolerance for heat, but wow, it was an adventure. I have to say I should have known by the teeny tiny size of one particular item that I should have only taken a small bite to test the waters. Oh but no, in my bravado, I took a normal size bite of this little jewel, only to immediately discover that apparently someone lit a bonfire. In my mouth. And every sweat gland in my body did what they do best and started to try to cool silly Miss Liz off. I later rang the sweat out of my napkin. After I drank the water from everyone's glasses at the table.

But oh man am I glad I did it. Because why the heck not? I kept everyone entertained AND got to try some pretty rockin new food, AND gain sweet writing material. Even if my lame white self couldn't take the heat. So there you have it, my first wedding of the summer. I am thrilled to say that the four weddings I am able to attend this summer are all of friends I know very well, in four different cities, in four different states, and in all cases I know both the bride and groom. So basically a recipe for spending way too much money and loving every second of it. For now, I leave you with a few more pictures.

Me and the Meggers. True to form, she's wearing one of my dresses. Because we're sharers.

In between my two dear friends.

In my quest to find all of "the bests" at weddings (you know, mental notes of what I do and don't like for my eventual sometime-far-off wedding day. don't even judge me, you know you do it too.), this cake definitely shot to the front of the list for best cakes as far as beauty/elegance goes. It was so wonderful, I was sad to see it cut.

The happy couple, giving a few words of thanks.