Indian and American Weddings

My stepfather is from Guyana, where their culture comes from India, so I know a little bit about Indian culture. Guyana is located in South America. It is one of the few Caribbean countries that is not an island. Last June, I went to New York for the first time to assist with Indian wedding. There are so many amazing differences between American and Indian weddings: the preparation, the ceremony, and the food.

In Indian weddings, the Indians prepare the bride one year after the couple decides to marry. Depending on what part of the country they come from, Indians send the bride to a fat camp to get fat; for them, that represents healthiness. The ceremony starts at the house of the bride where the groom is required to ask the bride’s father for her hand and offers some gifts. If the bride’s father accepts the gifts, they continue to go to a special altar, and finish with a party at the groom’s house. They can serve just native food for example, spicy spinach, red beans, and roti. The food taste so good, but it is surprising how Indians aren’t allowed to give the guests other kinds of food.

American weddings are pretty simple in contrast to Indian weddings. For example, they don’t prepare the bride one year before; instead, they prepare the ceremony at least one year or less. Also, the ceremony starts and finishes at the church, and after they offer a reception with food. The food at American weddings is from around the world; for example, Italian, Japanese, Mexican and Caribbean are the most common dishes served.

In conclusion, one of the things every human society has in common is marriage; however, the way that they celebrate weddings can be different, even in the simplest things like the preparation, the ceremony and the food. At the end, they want to achieve the same goal: to unify two families and celebrate the love of the couple.