The big wedding started on Saturday night. The Deshpande’s had arrived from Boston earlier in the week, during which time we had a meeting of introductions, followed by a group dinner. Desh and Jaisharee are really great, down-to-earth people. Both their sons (who look a lot alike) were in town for the event, of course—they all live in Boston.
So Saturday saw all of us Americans trying to master the art of tying a sari. 
This is NOT an easy thing to do, and even some Indian women aren’t that good at it. Our Program Manager, Laxmi (pronounced “Luckshmi”), met us all at the dorm to help us tie (or, as they say, wrap) the saris. The cleaning women at the dorm were also enthusiastic helpers and stylistic consutlants of sorts–one was very dismayed by my lack of a “chain” (necklace) and even offered to lend me one.
Eventually we all piled into autos and headed to Gokul Gardens, where the wedding was taking place. When we arrived (6pm-ish), the “non-alcoholic cocktail hour” before the wedding was going strong—a series of long tables full of different fun Indian hors d’oeuvres, sweets and beverages (the Deshpande’s, as strict Hindus, are extremely anti-alcohol). Taryn and I made sure to sample everything, liking some much better than others.
After some time, there was a general announcement that the procession was about to start. We followed the crowd to the entrance, where a parade was forming. On the float pulled by a car was the groom and a girl I thought was the bride. I was soon corrected by the people around me; this girl was a near relative. Some other young children were allowed to ride, too. I guess the groom was being brought to meet his bride. (I’ve heard from others that this was a very modest ceremony; that many such weddings feature the groom’s float being pulled by a horse and other such dramatics.)
The procession stopped outside the entrance to the main hall, and it seemed as though the big group and divided itself into 2 groups—male and female. 
In their respective spaces, each danced a little celebratory dance, which I was later disappointed to realize would be the only dancing I would see at THIS wedding (though that’s not indicative of all Indian weddings, by any means). Eventually the groom was carried on a chair from the float inside the wedding hall, and we all followed suit.
Inside, the hall was done up very nicely. There was a big stage up front, with rows of chairs for the guests. Everyone was sitting down, so we did, too. There was a lot of commotion on the stage; first they were setting up the video equipment. But my hopes that the video-tapers would back off so we could see the action on stage were in vain; these persistent buggers didn’t back off the whole time. We would have been lost as to what was going on, if there hadn’t been one guy acting as interpreter. The Indian people seated around us were also generally happy to make sure we knew what was going on and shed some light on this important part of Indian culture.
After some time of this, though, we started following the lead of other people around us and getting up and milling around. People don’t seem to need to pay that much attention to the goings-on onstage. I will note that the full families were on the stage, as well as the 2 Brahmin priests who were leading the ceremony.
Eventually the ceremony concluded and we were all shuffled outside for a grand dinner in the open grassy area that had been where the hors d’oeuvres were served. Tables had been set up for the guests, but the space wasn’t large enough for the hundreds of us there; we ate in 3 shifts. Eating in shifts is common practice for feeding such large groups of people, I have since learned. Each table had only one side for seating, creating long aisles for traditional shirtless Brahmin men to file through and serve us a huge assortment of food.
The plate setting was South Indian in that our plate was a large palm leaf. 
I should mention here that the cultural differences between North and South India are huge, and that the images people see back in the States are more often than not North Indian. Interestingly enough, Desh informed me (during the brief conversation I had with him that night) that many North Indian customs are now finding their way into South Indian ceremonies. While the food that night was very South Indian, the food the next day was more of a mix. And the turbans many of the men were wearing are an adoption of North Indian practices…
After dinner, people could mingle at will or go back to the wedding hall, where a tabla player and a sitar players were playing. I spent probably about a half hour listening to the music; this was the music you think of when you think of India (if you don’t think of Bollywood musicals first).
I would have liked to stay longer, but Taryn was anxious to get home–we had to be there early the next morning and she had a bunch of other work she needed to do for an event that was going on after the wedding the next evening…
looks like an awesome wedding!