Feet, Belur, India

This photo holds a lot of meaning for me personally. This was taken when my husband and I were on our honeymoon in 2007. We had just had our second wedding in Bangalore and were traveling the countryside near by with his cousins.

After a day or two in Bandipur to see the nature preserve, we headed back to Bangalore, stopping in Belur to see the temple. My hands and feet were covered with mehendi, which was a source of amusement to not only me, but most of the Indians as well.

While I was at the temple, walking around barefoot, I stopped to take some pictures of my own feet. I have a penchant for doing this on vacation. While doing so, I noticed one woman trying to catch a glance of what I was doing, a knowing smile on her face. We smiled at each other, and I carried on.

When I came across this image, doused in tumeric and decorated with offerings of flowers, I couldn’t help but think of my own decorated feed, and the role they played in our Indian ceremony (the husband helps the bride take steps with a rock under her foot). A friend purchased this as a wedding present and I couldn’t think of anything more befitting. Every time I look at this, it reminds me of my own wedding, my own vows, my own decorated feet. I hope the lucky newlyweds gathered the gist of that feeling.

Filed under:
365 days of stories, Honeymooning, Memories from the Wedding Celebrations, My Art, Wedding by Courtney

I started this post 21 days ago – 8/31 at 7:16 AM… amazing how time is still flying, even though the wedding has come and gone.

Occasionally there are moments in my life where everything else seems to fade, to quiet-down, and one subject sticks out, defined very clearly, and overtake everything in that moment. And that moment just sloooooows down time. It’s rather hard to describe, but these moments stick in my head, and they seem so surreal to me. I’m not sure if I’ve ever posted about the tree, the rain, and the Doors in Kentucky… if not, I will sometime. I’ll have to dig around and see if it’s anywhere in the diary.

The thing about these moments – they would make wonderful pictures, but bringing the camera into the situation would break the mood and the experience that’s happening. People often assume that the camera goes everywhere with me, that I can’t wait to travel and take pictures. While it’s true that when we go on the amazing honeymoon my husband has planned I will have the camera in tow, and enjoy that, it’s not normally my preferred method of photographing anything. It disrupts my moments. I’d rather go back, re-create the moment, on another day, after the experience.

The point I’m getting to… During the wedding week there are a couple of these surreal moments, where time slowed and a subject came into clear focus. The first was meeting Raju’s cousin Geeta. I believe in my list I described her as smoldering… fiery, full of life… those things all popped into my head during this one instant — blink of a second really. I was thinking someone else caught this side profile view that I had of her at that moment, but I’ve yet to find the picture. Maybe the smoldering Geeta just burned her image into my memory and that’s my picture.

The other slow, surreal moment was when I grabbed a bit of cool air, drifted away from the party. I was sitting on the ledge, talking to another of Raju’s cousins (he has almost as many as a Southerner, maybe more). Diane had walked away, leaving only Shankar standing below. Again, time slowed and in one instant, a lull in our conversation, I can remember the cool air, the sky above, and the look on Shankar’s face, standing below. No snap judgments this time, just a singular moment in time that is as clear in my head as if I’d taken a snapshot.

Filed under:
Memories from the Wedding Celebrations, Observances, Reminiscences, Surreal by Courtney

I stumbled upon this photo while combing through some of the formals last night. I’m so glad Tin captured this moment… this is us.

I’m not sure what I expected from the wedding. I think combing through articles on the Knot, Brides.com, Martha Stewart weddings, etc. had braced me for a bunch of keyed-up assholes to attend my wedding, even though my family (and Raju’s family, now OUR family) are anything but.

So I’m glad it worked out that everyone was so happy and seemed to enjoy themselves both at the rehearsal and at the wedding. And no one took themselves too seriously, including Raju and myself. We had fun, we celebrated, we partied, and everyone pitched in to make sure everything went perfectly… or at least close to perfect.

But I don’t suppose the magazines and wedding blogs make this stuff up. Every vendor we dealt with gushed about how great our family was, how much fun everyone had, including themselves.

So, I guess we’re just really lucky and really blessed. And we know some fun people.

Filed under:
Fun Times, Happy, Memories from the Wedding Celebrations, Wedding by Courtney

There are so many things during the wedding that I don’t think I will ever forget. Some have larger stories and will be expanded on. Some won’t. And the list might be updated as I remember more of those little moments.

1. Shop towels
2. The tears in his eyes when we were standing at the altar
3. The smile on his face
4. The story of 4:20
5. Being pelted with flower heads
6. My thali’s clasp coming undone during the ceremony
7. The Hindu priest asking how to pronounce Harrison
8. Our First Dance
9. Dance with Dad – all choked up
10. Talking with Shankar in the moonlight while cooling down
11. Enjoying Robert Fleury with friends
12. The colors
13. I’m the lakshmi (and I’ve finally figured out what that means)
14. I wasn’t right for a few minutes
15. The priest being kind enough to move the coconut out of my way
16. That feeling, walking up the aisle and everything else sort of fading away
17. Poor Phoenix bustling me, bustling me, bustling me, and bustling me
18. Chris’s present
19. Getting the photo frames for favors at IKEA
20. How happy everyone was
21. My uncle David talking about making Raju “disappear” during his toast (it was in jest)
22. Martin spilling the beans
23. Tiffany noting that Raju still makes me laugh
24. The smoldering Geeta
25. Being surrounded by our friends and family
26. On the way down the aisle, trying not to cry and Dad saying “Just smile”
27. the Sharp Dressed Man
28. Joey’s dance to Sexy Back
…

Filed under:
Memories from the Wedding Celebrations, Reminiscences, Wedding by Courtney

The pizza has arrived and we’re sitting on the couch, box between us, two-liter at our feet.

“Do you have any napkins?”

A blank look comes across my face. Napkins?

“Paper towels maybe?”

“Ummmm, no…” I’m not making a great impression on this first date. I need to get the man something to wipe his hands on after eating greasy Papa John’s pizza.

“Oh!” I jump off the couch and run back through the hallway, into the back room, the junk room. Ahh, yes, this will work.

“Here you go.” I plunk down a box of shop towels next to the two-liter of Coke. I’m quite proud of my find.

He pauses for a moment and just looks at me. Then he smiles and takes one and we eat.

The wedding is upon us. I arrive home, with a few moments to myself. On the kitchen counter: blue shop towels and a note, “In case you don’t have something used and something blue…”.

Tears well up in my eyes. It was by far the best wedding present he could have bought me. And it was my something blue (and used).

And by far, my favorite memory of the the wedding week.

Filed under:
Memories from the Wedding Celebrations, Reminiscences, Wedding by Courtney