Indian Wedding Conclusion

This is the conclusion of the Indian wedding extravaganza I attended over Memorial weekend. If you haven’t already, you can read about parts 1 and 2.

The final event I attended was the reception. The pre-wedding event and the ceremony each had about 150 people in attendance.  The reception was much grander. There were about 400 guests! Imagine the amount of food needed to feed so many guests…

The reception took place at the Sofitel Hotel in Redwood City. First, there was a social hour, where there were some light appetizers and drinks.  The first thing I noticed about the reception was that it was the first sign of the influence of Western culture. So far, everything had been so traditional.  And while the women continued to dress is beautiful Indian clothes for the reception, the men were now dressed in regular suits instead of the Indian clothes they had been wearing for the other events.

The drinks included a strawberry lassi and a green drink which tasted like pickle juice. There were platters of fresh fruit, which I heaped up on since it was so hot out.

I also enjoyed these canapes: crusty baguette slices with some sort of spread.

There was this one dish which looked a lot like orange chicken, except the inside was cauliflower and cheese. Like all the other meals served, this one was vegetarian as well.

There were also these fried appetizers. I don’t remember what they were filled with anymore.

I also ordered a chocolate cocktail that was quite tasty.

Boyfriend ordered this orange cream drink that sounded a lot better than it tasted.

The wedding was decorated with these peacock wedding favors. Peacocks are supposed to give good luck and wealth. Every guest got take one home. Here’s hoping mine works *crosses fingers*

The reception food was served buffet style. It was incredible how much food there was. At other buffet weddings I’ve gone to, once the food is gone, it’s gone. Here, the food was constantly refilled for the next few hours. I wish I had room to eat more. Out of all the meals, the dinner was definitely my favorite. Even though I was eating all new items, a lot of the foods tasted more like ones I’m used to eating at Indian restaurants. Also, the food was less spicy too.

I loved almost everything I tried. And to my delight, everything was labeled!

First was a grilled vegetable platter.

Then there were some curries

The green cilantro rice was so pretty. The cilantro taste wasn’t too strong. Loved it.

I didn’t get a good shot of this sprouted Moong salad, but it was really pretty. It tasted good too.

After I finished my food, I really wanted seconds. But I simply didn’t have enough room. I needed to eat dessert.

The dessert also showcased some non-Indian food for the first time also. There were some adorable petite desserts like red velvet cupcakes, chocolate tarts, fruit tarts, chocolate covered strawberries.

I really liked the red velvet cupcakes. They were surprisingly moist. I ended up eating quite a few of these.

However, I was most excited by the Indian desserts. By this time, I had gotten used to how sweet the desserts were. I loved how beautiful and colorful the desserts were.

Despite not having room for more food, I somehow managed to have room for more dessert. After trying one of everything, I got a second set of just the Indian desserts.

These clear/white pieces were the talk of the table. When I first saw them, I thought they looked a lot like the winter melon candy that is eaten over Chinese New Years. My friends were really intrigued by the strange texture and taste. I bit into one and was so excited to find that it was winter melon candy. For once, I knew what something was!

I absolutely fell in love with these little pea like desserts. They looked like peas and carrots and corn with the colors. They were super sweet, had a bean like taste. I think I loved them mainly for how they looked. I got seconds of these. I also liked this orange paste which was super sweet too.

This foil item was served for the conclusion of the meal. There had been a foil treat at the pre-wedding event which I hadn’t loved. I wasn’t really a fan of this either. Inside is a paan leaf and inside the leaf is a bunch of different strong herbs and spices, which are meant to help aid digestion at the conclusion of a meal.

For the most part, the reception followed the tradition of most of the American weddings I’ve attended. There were speeches.  There was the first dance by the bride and groom (though the dance was a beautifully choreographed Indian dance.)  Also the bride and groom’s friends danced for the bride and groom as well, which was really fun to watch.  Two notable differences was that there was no wedding cake and no kissing!

After everyone had all their food, the dancing began! By this time I was so exhausted. I don’t know how the bride and groom had so much energy.  The full on dancing didn’t start until almost 11pm. I ended up leaving shortly after that. Not sure until what hours into the night the reception lasted.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience. So much to learn and watch. So much entertainment. And so much food!