A complete tour to South Indian Wedding ceremony

Do you ever wish to attend a south Indian wedding? Weddings in South India have completely different cultures, rituals, cuisine, outfits, and living standard. Our country is a bundle of various cultures along with holding a bunch of vibrant tradition, thus every Indian maintain the creed of their religion and that is why South Indian weddings are stacked with emotions. Indian weddings have drawn noteworthy attention globally delivering different cultures hence people offer their blessings and make colorful memories. If you have queries from where to begin and what makes a south Indian wedding and its rituals different from a normal wedding read this article till the end.

Well, listing all the south Indian wedding rituals would have made this blog too long, so we have selected the top 10 wedding rituals that cherish the southern part of India

Some popular rituals of south Indian wedding

Nichayathartham: This difficult to pronounce ritual is called engagement; yes you’re right, pre-wedding rituals, which begin with Ganesh Puja- a puja dedicated to Lord Ganpati without whom, one won’t be able to pass down any difficulty. The rituals include sweets and savories present to Lord Vinayaka, the groom’s family gifts the bride a saree and jewelry on nichayathartham.  The day becomes even more beautiful when the couple exchanges the rings as a sign of agreement for their marriage. At the time of engagement, keep notice the word ‘’Lagna Patrika which an invitation card printed traditionally, with the icon of Lord Ganesha.

Pandakkaal nadudhal: A few days before the wedding both the family arrange this event in their respective homes. Pandakkal nadudhal is a ritual where both families plant a bamboo pole at the main door of their homes. This sounds like an official message for all the near and dear ones that they have a wedding upcoming in their home. Another reason to do this event is to protect from the evil’s eye.

Haldi: It’s all about applying the paste of Haldi on the bride and groom’s body in their respective places before the wedding day. It is also a pre-wedding ritual. This ritual has a great significance for the anti-inflammatory property of turmeric that helps to fight dirt and outshine the glow of bride and groom. This Haldi ceremony is incomplete without songs and dance. 

Gauri puja: This ritual is actually celebrated in the bride’s family because it is all about Goddess Parvati. This is the sign of purity and every south Indian bride will complete this ritual before her wedding to get the blessing from Goddess Parvati. This is a colorful function where the bride receives a saree and other gift items from his uncle. According to Indian culture, rice represent prosperity and fertility as Gauri puja include a series of activities to be performed with rice and husks.

Mangal snaanam: This South Indian culture is called a purging bath. It requires getting up early morning. It is carried on the wedding day but some even prefer for a day prior to the wedding. It’s a holy bath where turmeric with pure oil is applied to the bride and groom’s body in their respective homes followed by a shower. This is done as Haldi has antibacterial properties that help fighting infection.

Kashi yatra: This one is the exciting ritual from the south wedding conducted on the wedding day, where the groom pretends to leave for Kashi as he doesn’t want to marry and leave the venue with a walking stick, umbrella, and some other thing for the journey. Felt heartbreaking and shocking right? But there is an interesting twist where the father of the bride tries to stop the groom and ask him to not leave the place for his beautiful daughter waiting for him. After appealing many times, the groom gets ready and accepts the bride so they advise exchanging the garland as a symbol of agreement, known as “maalai maatral’’.

Maalai Maatral: Garland exchange or we can say maalai maatral can be witnessed nearly in all Indian traditions even though the couple belongs either to the southern or northern part of the country. Back in history, queens also used to pick their prince through swayamvaram.

 Kanyadanam: This one is a popular ritual that is the epitome of faith in Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Vishnu, where the bride is treated as goddess Lakshmi and the groom to be Lord Vishnu. It’s an emotional kind of moment between a father and his daughter, do you know why? Because in this ritual the daughter sits on the father’s lap. It’s quite uncommon to see such kinds of rituals, well it’s the biggest sacrifice a father could ever make. Here as per the Vedas, the man offers his daughter to Lord Vishnu( the groom) along with that shlokas are recited while milk and sacred water are poured.

Mangalya Dharanam: All the above rituals that are designated as pre-wedding rituals have patiently waited to witness this moment. This is one of the important moments of a wedding when the groom ties the mangal sutra aka thali around the neck of the bride amidst the crowd. You can feel the vibes of excitement along with the Mangala Vadya in the background.

Saptapadi: Saptapadi is the post-wedding ritual and happens almost in all Indian weddings. Here, the couple circles the holy fire in seven rounds taking the seven vows of life. Along with this, the attires of the couple are also tied tighter before the ritual begins.

Things to remember before attending a South Indian wedding

Attending a south Indian wedding means you will get to experience something new than any other. As it said that before doing something new, homework is necessary to understand things. The same goes for a south Indian wedding before attending. Here’s everything you should know before you ready for a south Indian wedding.

• Dress code – If you believe, you know everything about south Indian culture and their wedding rituals since you have watched so many Bollywood movies then you’re wrong. The dress code for a south wedding is quite different as you have to wear a wedding guest dress, i.e. white shirt and a veshti (a silk Dhoti). A girl attending a wedding can drape herself with a silk or kanjeevaram saree, a festoon in hairs, and some gold jewelry.

• Get up early else miss everything – To not miss out on anything, get up early morning. Else if you wish to attend the wedding ceremony then you can be there by 4 pm to see the Muhurtham.

• Long day: The traditional south Indian wedding relies upon different traditions and customs such as with Telugu weddings; they used to wind up in 16 days! However, in recent years, this has come down to two or three days in South India. Each day indicates a particular theme and has a set of rituals and weddings can also be quite long depending on the status of the family.

• Gonna be loud: Indian weddings are meant to be louder and have full music, DJ, and all that just like Bollywood movies. But when you come to know about south Indian weddings and their rituals, they are different from the rest of India. Hence in the south wedding, they usually play a nadaswaram accompanied by a mridangam along with some thumping instruments like a shehnai played in north Indian weddings.

• Eat with your hand: This is going to be tough for the western people as it’s not less than a task to eat with your hand as there is no use of spoons. Hence it’s all a traditional style in the south. They usually serve the meal on the banana leaf. So if you’re planning to attend a south wedding then do practices.

• Eat the right way: South Indian meals are one of the best parts of the entire event and they give enough attention to their guests. They serve every item from the meal on a banana leaf and it is their common practice to start eating after serving everything on the leaf. They have three main courses, rice with sambhar, next with rasam, and last with buttermilk or yogurt. A cup of payasam, a south Indian rice pudding is usually served as a dessert at the end of the meal.

• Folding the leaf: The full course of the south Indian meal is serving all the dishes together on a single leaf. Hence it is their symbolic style though it is far different than others. This rule is followed by the majority of south Indian cultures, to take the top portion of the leaf and fold it over the lower portion. This indicates that you enjoyed the meal.

• Fun and games: South Indian weddings are very simple and sober as compare to north Indians and Punjabi. In the same way, they arrange some fun games that are simply amusing and funny. E.g. the couple trying to get a coin out of a pot of milk simultaneously trying to hide garland from their partner, the basis of these games is to help the couple to evolve and feel comfortable with each other, as most South Indian weddings are arranged marriages.

• Gift and guide: If you have a plan to gift something to a newlywed couple or buy something expensive, you need not worry about it because they will not make you realize as it’s your choice to gift them or not. Hence they have one critical rule that gifting money is treating as an important custom. It is their traditional rule as they think it helps the couple to start their lives. Gifting money can be attached with one rupee coin and the amount should be an odd number since an even number considered an evil sign.

• You can be a beau: South marriages are still majorly arranged as the elder member of the family do his job and search for eligible bride or groom. In the same way, if you plan to attend a south wedding or even a bachelor or bachelorette then there are high chances for you to get noticed. Marriages in south India are done based on Jathakam (Birth-chart) so you don’t need to be amazed if someone asks for your date of birth.

10 beautiful South Indian Wedding Bridal Look

South Indian weddings appear to be very fascinating and so they inspire the millennial generation. You can be a glorifying and elegant human structure draped with beautiful outfits and jewelry. It can be the best bridal look that rolls all eyes upon you. These elegant south Indian bridal looks are flattering and can attract the new generation with the astonishing hairstyle, and simple attire with minimum gold jewelry, all this gives the most refreshing look. There are many people who love these looks but don’t know how to make those. Presenting you some interesting bridal wedding looks from the south.

Red & Magenta Kanjeevaram saree Look

This look involves draping around a red or magenta Kanjeevaram silk saree along with a coordinating blouse carrying some simple jewelry and there you go to élite yourself

Pastel Pink Palette

Pastel Pink is mostly loved by everyone and though its designer’s first choice. The aura and color combo is magnifying the whole look. This color combination makes the bride more compelling as this pure pastel pink bordered silk saree enhances the look.  Adding to this some gold jewelry with red-green bangles to finish the look.

Green look with vibrant pink saree

This one is a no-makeup look, just simply a vibrant pink silk sari paired up with a green and golden zaridar blouse along with golden jewelry.

Multilayered look with Pastel color

One more pastel color looks along with multiple layers of blue, pink, and golden. This color outshines the whole attire as these original silver diamond jewelry drill a great look.

A glimpse of yellow

This one is called a one-frame picture, where a simple yellow saree matching up with a magenta-colored blouse has a pure glitz look. Mirror festoon jewelry with a magenta gold bangle makes the best combination.

A combination of red-orange

Its bride common color that she wore, a combination of the orangish-red sari and daze up with green beautiful jewelry and bangles, making it a pretty look.

 A red look for South Indian Wedding

This is something like southern movie types look. A full red silk sari that simply paired with red lip shade. A cinch of hairstyle and some gold jewelry with all-green glass bangles. That’s all to complete the look.

A white & pink basal look

Purely a white golden saree that usually south Indian wears at their wedding to refresh the look. Pair up this look with a sheer pink saree along with a golden border and Indian gold jewelry.

A lively and colorful look

The South Indian bridal wear should be lively and bright. This gloomily embroidered magenta-colored Saree and blouse mixed with gloomy makeup with some south Indian style to make them look colorful.

Classic Golden Attire

This one traditional style of south Indian bridal to wear and that is written all over it. A classic golden-white saree pair up with heavy embroidery, shiny golden blouse. Some real gold jewelry with a heavy drip of green work to complement the look. 

So these were some of the popular stunning south Indian bridal wear that even you can try at your wedding. All these looks are perfectly set for daytime weddings as well as for evening indoor weddings. You can pick one of them and enjoy these colorful combinations. Have a look, and decide what works in your support.

5 important tips for South Indian bridal look

South Indian bridal look combines beautiful traditional sarees, makeup with some matte lips, gloomy gold jewelry, a temple motif, etc. The sarees carry vibrant colors with detailed designs that symbolize different motifs like a temple, peacocks and leaves, etc.

Jewelry: South Indian wedding is incomplete without jewelry as they believe jewelry is the main element of the bridal look. Usually, they prefer heavy jewelry that represents temple embellishment. So, make sure you select the right pieces of jewelry to adorn yourself.

Traditional sarees: Another important part of the bridal look is the Kanjeevaram saree and it is their main outfit. But there is an excess of other sarees as well, so choose wisely for your special day.

South Indian bridal makeup: Makeup is a central constituent in South Indian weddings, the eye makeup and matte or glossy lips are the centers of attraction.

South Indian bridal hairstyle: Long braid topped with flower garland is the specialty of South Indian looks. It looks so perfect and enhances the entire attire.

Blouse design: The South Indian bride’s look is complete when it pairs up a panache silk saree and a heavy design blouse on their wedding.

Hence these were some important elements that you must know before you prep up yourself to attend a beautiful, fiesta kind of elegant South Indian nuptials.