My Cousin's Wedding

The first of July, Garth and I made a quick trip to Utah for my cousin, Ryan's wedding. He has been living in Canada for the last few years so it had been awhile since we had seen him. We thought it would be a great opportunity to visit my mom and Ed, see some of my family and get out of the heat.

Ryan was marrying Irina who was from Bangladesh and lots of her family and friends were flying in from all over the world for the wedding. A couple of weeks previous to the legal ceremony (they had in Utah), they had had a religious one with an Iman in Canada.

Friday night, before the wedding, there was a kind of 'meet the family' dinner and participate in Bangladesh wedding traditions. Her family had rented a big house in Salt Lake City and when we got there they had it decorated and lots of food. Irina entered under this canopy.
She had all kinds of jewelry from her grandmother and she and Ryan had special clothes just for that night.

The mothers had to tie a kind of flower bracelet to their wrists that they had to wear until the wedding ceremony the next evening.

Then Irina's father explained how we all would use a turmeric paste to put on their foreheads and our own and then feed them something from the trays of food on the small table in front of them.

Here is my mother applying the paste to Ryan.

Then Irina's sister danced for us and Ryan's sister, Jennifer, did a belly dance for us.

We then were served the main dishes and the desserts. We had already had the appetizers and those had filled us up. My mom, Ed, Garth and I were especially full because my mom didn't think there would be food and we had gone out to dinner before coming. This is a picture of just the desserts. Irina's mother and aunts had made all the food and her father told us that they were the very best of cooks. For first time Indian/Bangladesh food eaters, it was really different for us, especially the yogurt sprinkled with curry.

After dinner they started painting all the women's hands with henna and it was amazing how good they were. I really wanted to get my hands painted but my mom wasn't feeling well so we had to go. Dang!

Here is my cousin, Shari's daughter, Sydney, with her had partially painted.

The next day we drove through the Avenues and found a great little deli for lunch. It was so nice to be able to sit outside and eat - that wouldn't be happening in Arizona this time of year! Then we explored the old Salt Lake City cemetery and yes it was fun.

That evening we went up City Creek Canyon were the ceremony was held. It was a beautiful evening and a perfect setting. Irina's family had gotten the measurements of all of Ryan's family and had suris made for his mom, sisters and Shari's children. Here are Shari, Stephanie and Jennifer in their specially made suris.

This is a picture of Irina's beautiful sister and Irina and Ryan exchanging rings.

We then went inside to eat and here are Ryan and Irina now legally man and wife.

A few people spoke, sharing wishes and memories and then we all danced to Bollywood music.

Then Irina's sister and her cousins and friends danced and danced for us to Bollywood songs that they knew very well and we'd never heard. In this picture Irina is dancing with them after she had changed into a more western styled wedding dress - that is now three beautiful dresses she wore.

Garth and I had such a good time and we were so glad we had made the trip up. Irina and her family were so friendly and impressive and we could see why Ryan had fallen in love with her. What a wonderful experience to see some of the traditions of another culture and enjoy this time with family. The world if filled with so many good people!