LATE ANNIVERSARY EDITION
16 PAGES**
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t started when they met- the hullabaloo surrounding their wedding; the fervour and the planning. It was not just any wedding! It was going to be the “Great Reddy Wedding of Pratyusha and Kiran Reddy” as suggested by the Facebook page that their friends made. Members were added, discussions began. Wedding dates were reviewed, rescheduled, and finally fixed. Light hearted discussions galore on dress codes, invites etc filled the pages! People just didn’t book tickets to come for the wedding, but also purchased entire wardrobes. And finally, the wedding week arrived. The excitement was palpable. But somehow it seemed like a gala get together of a bunch of enthusiastic happy people, rather than a formal wedding.The guests arrived to a frolicking night at ‘The Rain’ for the pre-wedding bash, where biriyani and booze fought for prime space along with the bride and groom.With the Pellikoothuru (“Getting the bride ready for the wedding”) ceremony amidst narcissus flowers entwined with ferns, loads of exhilaration, kurtas dazzling, bangles tinkling to nadaswaram and Pratyusha’s dog Dido ambling about dazed and confused, the wedding ceremonies officially began! The Mehandi and Sangeet followed, along with teen patti among the men, at the penthouse top. The shape shifting adda of the penthouse, reverberated to music that began mellow with a Mehandi Laga Ke, got peppy at a Kajra re and ended up raunchy when Munni Badnaam Hui! There were dances of all kinds- item numbers to garba- and this was proving to be one fun event, echoing with laughter! The wedding took place at Vasant Vihar in a grand scale, with a footfall of over a thousand! As traditional ceremonies declared them wedded for life, the friend junta resorted to their own wacky interpretations and mischievous asides and kept the assembly entertained. After a sumptuous lunch satiated appetites, the Ap-
paginthalu or “the send-off to the husband’s home” ceremony began. As bags flew across into car bonnets, to one beloved, to one you have seen make mistakes, grow up, hurt knees, bruise egos- the family parcelled some tears as a blessing and a gift. A grand reception followed at the groom’s place with a hilarious and goofy delay from the bride’s party adding to the frolic and changing the mood from sombre to celebratory, once again! And finally, what began as a serious sounding grand wedding, ended up as even better- as a much-enjoyed, fun and fantastic union of friends and family, where endless conversations, food, barks, music, dance, drama and laughter bore witness to the lovely marriage of Pratyusha and Kiran Reddy.
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