Been invited to an Indian wedding...

[darkfever]

DH and I have been invited to a wedding reception for an Indian (Hindu) friend's wedding.

I've never been to an Indian wedding, and am unsure of what's appropriate for me to wear - i.e. are there any colours I should avoid, how modest should be clothes be? Am I expected to wear a sari?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

[beeny]

I am a muslim but have been to a hindu wedding.You will not be expected to wear a sari.If it is a typical middle class hindu wedding lots of the English people wear normal English wedding outfits

[Ponders]

ask the friend who invited you

[marriednotdead]

A colleague went to a Hindu wedding recently and regretted not wearing a sari as she felt underdressed.

IIRC the bride wears red/gold; white is the colour of mourning so avoid those!

Definitely ask the bride, she will want you to enjoy yourself and will not expect you to know full etiquette.

[sashh]

Don't wear black, white or red.

Be ready for two things - copious amounts of alcohol and the 'aunty mafia'.

The 'aunty mafia' are ladies of a certain age, who may or may not speak English. There mission in life is to get as much food into you as possible. They are relentless.

You don't have to wear a sari or a shalwar kameze - but they are beautiful and not expensive.

[GTbaby]

Suggestion for clothes. A nice bright maxi dress. Advice- There is no such thing as over dressed. Lol.

At my wedding I was happy to talk to all my friends about what to wear. N many ran suggestions by me before hand. I didn't mind. Can b daunting the first time. As was going to a church wedding for me the first time !

[darkfever]

Thanks for suggestions

The friends are more DH's friends than mine - he went to school and uni with the groom, worked at same place for a few years - but I've only met them once or twice. Hence my hesitance over asking the bride directly... But you're all right, I should really just pluck up my courage and ask

And when looking through my wardrobe last night, I found a longish (not quite maxi-length) royal blue party dress with some sequins round the top - does that sort of colour sound okay?

[GTbaby]

Party dress sounds spot on.
I had a work friend tell me what his wife was going to wear. But we r very good friends so it's the kind of random conv we would have. Lol

Hope u have a lovely time.

[Thumbwitch]

I've only been to one Indian wedding where we were specifically asked to wear saris, and that was because the bride's Sikh mother was livid that she was marrying an English boy, so they tried to make it as traditional as possible for her (she wasn't grateful).

Other than that, I've just worn normal "go to wedding" clothes (I've been to a few Indian weddings in the UK).
I would probably avoid red and gold though - that's usually the bridal colour (although I've seen one get married in emerald green, and at the mixed Sikh/English wedding, the bride was in a white sari-style dress.)

Be prepared for it to be quite a long day, depending on how much of it you've been asked to - the ceremony does tend to last a couple of hours at least, IME.

[sashh]

Be prepared for it to be quite a long day, depending on how much of it you've been asked to - the ceremony does tend to last a couple of hours at least, IME.

And you will be sitting cross legged on the floor. It seems acceptable to take a cushion. I was thinking about just the reception are you going to the actual ceremony? Take something to cover your head, a scarf or a hat.

[Thumbwitch]

Oh, I've never had to sit on the floor sashh, have you?
Every one I've been to has had chairs, thank goodness! even at the ceremony - most of the ones I've been to have been in school or community halls, one was in a night club and the only one I went to that was reception-only was in a hotel.

[darkfever]

Have now heard back from bride - sounds like the blue party dress should be okay

Thanks for all the advice