Questions about attending a Hindu Wedding

One of my wife's employees and he is Hindu. He is getting married in a month and we're invited. For the Hindus here, a question or two please (Lioness?) Yes, my wife plans on asking her employee, but he's kinda laid back and I want to be extra cautious. Don't want to offend his elderly Aunt (or whoever)./

1) How long a dress should my wife wear? Let's be on the safe (conservative) side here please.

2) what about color of her dress??

3) long sleaves for both of us?

4) Will the guests be seated during the marriage cermony?

5) anything special a Western (Christian Protestant) should know? I want to be respectful.

6) My suit is a standard dark western business suit, I assume that's ok?

7) Head coverings?

Sorry, don't know yet which Hindu branch the bride and groom belong to. But I can find out

thanks!

And they were magnificent. We just wore our regular, nice wedding-type clothes as guests. I don't think the color of your wife's dress will be an issue. Something tasteful.

You will probably be seated during at least part of it, IIRC. At the last one we went to, about eight years ago, the groom arrived on a horse!

Have fun!

its the color widows wear in our culture

otherwise i think you will be fine

At least if it's in a temple, shoes are likely to be removed and left at the door. You might want to leave those rainbow-striped socks with the individual toes at home.

those are my lucky sox! I wore them on my wife and my wedding night!

and my sister and he married in a Hindu ceremony. I've also attended quite a few in my lifetime. Here's what I've observed from my experiences:


1) How long a dress should my wife wear? Let's be on the safe (conservative) side here please.

I don’t think it really matters how long her dress is but I would tend to go for something relatively on the conservative side –I mean not a short dress or anything like that. But I don’t think it’s a big issue. You’ll probably see a lot of women in saris there (if you don’t know, saris are the outfit that women from the Indian subcontinent tend to wear for formal occasions and sometimes on a daily basis) but guests are basically free to where whatever they want.


2) what about color of her dress??

I would heed Lioness’s advice –your wife should refrain from wearing anything white.


3) long sleaves for both of us?

I don’t think this is a big issue but again I’m not sure.

4) Will the guests be seated during the marriage cermony?

I would imagine so. In every Hindu wedding ceremony I have attended that has been the case. Hindu wedding ceremonies (like other wedding ceremonies) can be very long so usually seating is provided. The one exception could be if the ceremony is held in a house and not a temple but that would only be due to the fact that there is not enough seats available.



5) anything special a Western (Christian Protestant) should know? I want to be respectful.

Shoes should be removed before entering the house or temple (I think) but please clarify that with your friend. I’m not sure about socks



6) My suit is a standard dark western business suit, I assume that's ok?

My dad wore a suit at my sister’s wedding and he was the father of the bride. I wore a suit to the wedding as well There were also other people in suits. So in short, yes, that should be fine

7) Head coverings?

This wasn’t necessary for my sister’s wedding and it also wasn’t necessary for any of the other Hindu weddings I’ve attended. It shouldn’t be an issue

I wouldn’t worry about it too much. My experience from my sister’s wedding is that the people attending the ceremony are very easygoing and tolerant and quite often the elderly aunts are the nicest and sweetest people you’ll ever meet.

And it's a wonderful experience -I think once you get there you'll have a great time.