American travelling to Hyderabad India for a Hindu wedding – what are the customs?
Specifically, wһаt gifts аrе appropriate fοr a friend? Iѕ іt appropriate tο kiss tһе bride, tеƖƖ һеr һοw nice ѕһе looks, same wіtһ groom’s family? …аѕ I wουƖԁ ԁο аt a local wedding. Anything tһаt іѕ considered insulting tһаt I wουƖԁ tһіחk normal?
It іѕ Hindu wedding. I understand cash іѕ ɡοοԁ, ѕο looking fοr οtһеr іԁеаѕ аѕ well.
Dress Code:
Avoid pure White and Black colors. For some, Black is inauspicious and for some white is inauspicious.
Wear a Saree/Chutidhar if you are interested in trying Indian costume. Have an alternate and comfortable dress handy. You can wear American Formal clothes as well. Don’t wear clothes that shows thighs/clevage.
Don’t wear shoes if you want to stand near the bride/bride groom. Take the socks that you can wear with Sandals/Flip flops and use it if you are not comfortable standing with naked feet.
Wear Trousers/Shirts if you are a guy. No shorts please.
For Greetings:
- No Kissing
- It is ok to hug the girl if you are a girl.
- it is ok to hug the man if you are a man.
- Shaking hands with either the girl or the man is ok.
- You can tell them how they look (nice words only please)
- Don’t ask questions like why they do this, what’s the purpose behind that? (probably they don’t know; You can ask when you chat them with later watching their Wedding DVD’s )
Gift:
Are the persons getting married and return to America after their wedding?
- if yes, give them a gift card from a store they can use in America. (not a book store card, unless that person you know love reading books and listen to World music).
Other ideas:
- Anything that can be displayed
- Cash is good as well. Min amount is INR 1000/-
- Pure silver materials (you find them in Indian jewellery shop)
- Gold Rings (again from Indian Jewellery shop)
- Anything usable like Kitchen Collection/Dining Collection
- Flower Bouquets
If you like indians, then you will also like their traditional marriage. I have read about many american male or female, who marries an indian, insists on having an indian traditional marriage after seeing the rituals. It will be very interesting. Have a good time. Generally Indian girls or boys, they don’t like their parteners to be praised (good looking, kissing, etc) by opposite gender.