Wedding at Sri Narayani Mahal, Ariyur, Vellore

It’s amazing to see how the entire family comes together during a wedding. The celebration of Preetha and Karthigeyan was spread across multiple days surrounded by their close family members and loved ones.

We traveled from Chennai to Vellore in November 2020 during Cyclone Nivar for this lovely wedding. We were a little skeptical about the unforeseen situation but at the end of the day, we do whatever it takes to capture and make our client's celebration a memorable one!

We hired an entire force traveler minibus instead of bringing our personal vehicles to keep our gear safe and secure while we cross the cyclone.

We chalked out the best possible route to avoid any waterlogging.

We requested the mandapam to provide us the backup power supply after the wedding got over till we completed the data backup of the entire events on 3 separate hard disks before we started to Chennai. This was important as we already knew that there was no power supply in Chennai, and we had to do whatever it takes to secure the client’s data!

We were so happy to witness this amazing celebration as a team. It made us more confident and ready for such unpredicted circumstances.

The Wedding venue - Sri Narayani Mahal was 'BIG' and very near to the beautiful Sri Lakshmi Narayani Golden Temple, Ariyur, Vellore. We got some amazing visuals using our drone. The dramatic clouds were the cherry on the cake due to Cyclone Nivar.

Enough of our storytelling. Let’s jump into the wedding celebration of Preetha & Karthigeyan!

For all our readers who would like to understand more about the rituals, we have given a small description of the ritual wherever possible.

Sit back and Enjoy!

Panthakkal

This ceremony marks the beginning of the wedding and is performed individually at the bride’s and the groom’s home to seek the blessings of the family deities for a peaceful, happy, and uninterrupted conduct and completion of the wedding. This ritual is held a day before the actual wedding.

A bamboo pole, after being washed with water and milk, is placed beside the door of the house. Families decorate it well with flowers.

Married ladies in odd numbers apply sacred turmeric paste on the bamboo while singing songs.

Pellikuthuru

Mangala Snanam is a part of the bride (Pellikuthuru) and groom (Pellikodudku) making ceremony or bridal shower. This ceremony can take place multiple times. In this Telugu ritual, the bride and groom are smeared with turmeric in their respective homes at the muhurtham time (auspicious time) and then given a holy bath with turmeric water to cleanse their body and mind before the sacred ritual of becoming one (the wedding). This event is called ‘Mangala Snanam‘ (‘Mangala’ means holy, ‘Snanam’ means bath). After the bath, the bride and the groom are dressed in the first set of wedding clothes.

We covered Pellikuthuru at Preethas home and it was literally showering!

Mangala Arthi, Nalangu & Engagement

This is followed by ‘mangala arthi‘, a small lamp is lit and placed on a plate along with turmeric, vermilion, and sandalwood is circled in front of the bride and groom. This is done to keep them safe from the evil eye, and to seek God’s blessing through all the wedding proceedings.

Nandi devata puja (Wedding Begins)

There are several presiding deities – the Nandi Devatas. To propitiate them, a leaf-laden branch of the pipal tree is installed, and ablution with milk is performed by five Sumangalis (housewife, with husband living).

Mangal Sutra Dharana

The Mangalsutram or thaali, the sacred yellow thread smeared with turmeric and attached with 2 separate gold pendants called ‘sutralu‘ is tied by the groom around the bride’s neck in 3 knots amidst the fast beat of ‘sannai mellam’ (shehnai).

Talambralu

This is the fun part of the wedding where not only the couple but the entire family enjoys. In this ritual, the bride and groom pour ‘Talambralu’ (rice mixed with turmeric) on each other’s head like a shower.

The first 3 times, the couple shower ‘Talambralu’ on each other properly, after that it becomes a competition on who pours more. Now, other things like rose petals, pearls, colorful thermocol balls are also mixed in the rice.