Diggin' Dhaka: Bangladesh Wedding

Shane and

I attended the wedding reception of the daughter of a consultant working for Shane's organisation recently and it was a really lovely event and very different to how we Aussie's celebrate weddings. It is the second wedding we've been to, this time only about 500 guests which made it a bit cosier than the first wedding, 2000 or so guests that came, sat and ate in waves. The wedding was held at the Army Golf Club in Dhaka in pretty much a standard convention centre hall with the stage all decorated with flowers, lights and a couch (there's probably a fancy name than that) for the happy couple to sit on. The event was actually the reception for a wedding which had taken place a year ago and it was not an arranged marriage. Bride and groom had too many other committments at the time of their wedding to do the reception and honeymoon thing so hence, the reception that we were invited to.

The bride arrived first and was escorted on to the stage by her father and one other man (she had mega heels on under her long dress and had to negotiate the stage stairs). The bride remained on the stage and was photographed and filmed (by professionals and family/friends) for almost the entire time it took for her husband to arrive. The groom was held up in good old Dhaka traffic and took easily two hours or more to get to the reception. Once the groom arrived, he and his entourage (amongst great fanfare and beating of drums by drummer/dancer troupe of four men) had to pay money to be allowed into the reception hall. Enough money had to be paid for a barrier (made up of a string of small shell type decorations) to be removed so that the party could walk through. There were many bundles of two taka notes handed over - all done in fun and pomp and ceremony. Finally, the bride's family who had been barring the groom's entry allowed the groom inside the reception hall and everyone cheered in good humour etc. The entourage and drummer/dancing troupe (still beating a very loud and exciting rythm on the drums) guided the groom up on to the stage where the bride had been and still was, sitting. The groom's family members trailed behind and had the chance to greet the happy couple and then a crowd of friends/family went on stage to take more photos - amongst the professionals who were also filming the happy couple.

Eventually, everyone sits down and eats apart from the bride and groom who remain on the stage. What sustains the bride, I'll never know, they can be a mere object of beauty for (from what I've been told) around 1 to 3 days. The food is traditional Bangladeshi wedding fare (apparently they don't deviate). We were served; plain tomatoe/cucumber/onion/carrot salad with chutney on the side, mutton biryani and some kind of spiced chicken (I call them spatchcocks due to their scrawny size), sweet rice for dessert and a special packet of beetle nut leaf enclosing some spices to chew afterwards - all swallowed down with a drink of lassi to aid digestion. The bride's father was a charming man and our table was full of mostly Shane's section heads from his work who came without their wives. Three of these men have 2 daughters each and all nearing marriageable age! In response to my questions, they are all putting money away for the costly weddings that they will have to provide! All three men also said that they will be arranging their daughters' weddings and that weddings like this one were rare.

Here are some photos. The bride is breathtaking and the groom very handsome.