My cousin’s wedding

This summer we went on a family vacation to the USA. And when I say family vacation I mean the WHOLE family (or around 90%) of them). We went to attend my cousins wedding. I’ve never visited America, even though we have close family living there. But they always came over to the UK every year or two and I never really felt the need to go there to the USA....until a few years ago when I suddenly got the urge to see this place with my own eyes instead of just through movies. My cousins were both grown up and in serious relationships so I figured I would just wait until one of them decided to get married. And so here we are! :)

Highlights Video

Watch the highlights video below and read on for more details.

A 3 week break

Since we never usually go away during the kids school summer break we decided to make the most of it and go for 3 weeks. The first week was all about the wedding. It’s been a long time since the last family wedding....in fact I think the last one may have been mine in 2007! So we were all super excited. Being an Indian family the celebrations and rituals lasted for 4 days.

Punjabi traditions

It all started with the Mahiya, a Punjabi tradition, and applying henna. The purpose of these ceremonies is to prepare the bride and groom for their wedding day.

The flower girl

Mini Me 3 was the flower girl and had to attend the wedding rehearsal the night before the wedding....not sure that she actually showed much commitment to her role but at least she got to know everyone! This was followed by the rehearsal dinner where my kids and nieces performed a Bollywood/bhangra medley dance, my mum performed the Indian classical dance bharatanatyam and some family members sang and played guitar. It was a truly unique evening.

Watching the ceremony from a golf buggy

On the day of the wedding Mini Me 3 had tantrums all morning and missed the wedding photo shoot but somehow made it down the aisle with her flower pail while holding her aunts hand. She didn’t quite get the concept of throwing the petals and just emptied them on the floor when she got to her seat. But for a toddler who was not even two at that point she did quite well. Little did she know but she actually had a lot on her shoulders as she was repping our side of the family. Being the youngest wedding party member (and wedding guest!) of course things got overwhelming for her and she started bawling the minute the bride and groom started reciting their vows. At this point I grabbed her and made a swift exit. We ended up watching the rest of the ceremony from a golf buggy parked a short distance away. God knows whose it was but Mini Me 3 had fun pretending to drive it and it kept her busy....until she decided to do an explosive number two in her nappy. She was wearing a big white frilly dress and we had 5 minutes until the group photo with the bride and groom so changing her nappy was a military operation. We made it to the photo shoot in time, Mini Me 3’s pristine white dress still intact.

More Punjabi traditions!

The night of the wedding everyone stayed in the same hotel, courtesy of my generous Uncle and Aunt and everyone had breakfast together the next morning. This was followed by Kangana, another Punjabi tradition. It’s basically a game where the newly weds battle each other to extract a coin from a milky bowl of water. It’s a lot of fun and it’s supposed to show who will have the upper hand in the marriage!

It was like something from a movie

The whole wedding was absolutely beautiful. It was like something from a movie. The other wedding I went to this year was the Royal Wedding and this was no less!

So much love

There was so much love at the wedding. My cousin and my new sis in law brought together their cultures and their families in such a lovely way. Traditions and food were swapped and appreciated and families became friends over the course of the week. I feel lucky that I was able to be a part of this beautiful wedding with my husband and kids, my parents, my sisters and my extended family who came together from different parts of the world.

Family

And that was the best thing about our whole America trip. Family. From going for a midnight moonlit walk with my mum and Mini Me 3 around the country club while everyone was dancing away at the reception, to staying up late chatting to my cousins and having jokes with my sisters....I feel like I had quality moments with each person in my family. The 7 hour trip across the pond was worth it for this alone. Moments to treasure forever.

Love is all.
MummyImperfect x