How long are sikh weddings

Follow HuffpostCaLiv. News U. Politics Joe Biden Congress Extremism. Special Projects Highline. HuffPost Personal Video Horoscopes. Follow Us. Terms Privacy Policy. As a religion with a rich history and culture, there are many stages to the wedding and various customs you should be aware of. Whether you are a wedding guest who is not part of the culture or you are simply not up to date with the traditions, you need to know what will be happening in the lead up to the wedding and on the big day itself.

Sikh wedding ceremonies do not focus on a single day. They are about the process of two people and two families coming together. This may be complicated when the couple are not both Sikh, but a combination of the Sikh culture and another.

However, this always produces an absolutely unique wedding experience. Not only for the couple but their families and all of their guests. The Sikh marriage is a very colourful and unique ceremony in which two individuals are joined in a partnership of two equals.

The couple will marry in front of the Guru Granth Sahib while the guests gather around the couple, usually with men on one side and women on the other.

There is significant spiritual and religious importance to the act. It is not merely a physical and legal contract but a sacrament, a union of two souls. The spiritual goal of any Sikh is to merge his or her soul Atma with God Parmatma and in marriage, the couple vow to help each other towards this goal.

The early part of the day is devoted to the religious ceremony which almost always takes place in a Sikh Gurdwara Sikh temple. As with Hindu and Indian weddings, an enormous amount of planning has to go behind a Sikh wedding, not only for the day itself but for potentially several weeks leading up to it. Weddings are often planned a year in advance, with 6 months of pre-planning.

This will help you deal with logistics, music, catering, transport, decorations and so much more. This can depend on what time of day and marriage ceremony is planned. As mentioned before, the morning will be spent at the Gurdwara, which will have a different dress code for the wedding reception afterwards. When at the Gurdwara, you must ensure that you cover your head and remove your shoes.

Modest dress is the order of the day; bare shoulders, plunging necklines and short skirts will be out of place at a religious venue.

You will need to sit on the carpeted floor and will be expected to sit cross-legged or otherwise on the floor for at least 45 minutes. This will prove difficult in tight or short clothing, so dress accordingly. It is a good idea to have a change of clothing for the reception, which will not take place in the Gurdwara. Less modest clothing will be fine for the reception and you can go all out with your dresses.

Some ladies prefer to take a shawl that they can throw over their shoulders, and wear trousers to the Gurdwara, with a skirt underneath to change into at the reception. Depending on the number of guests you have if you wish to enter the wedding reception by pm or pm.

Please give about 2 hours for your guest to mingle, enjoy cocktails and appetites and settle in the seats so you can enter. Allow about 2 hours for all your guest to arrive, mingle, enjoy cocktails and appetizers. This will also give the opportunity for all your guest to settle in their seats and set your entrance time around pm or pm at your wedding reception. This is where the bridal party is very important; they should help guests settle in their place so the couple can enter the reception on time.

Usually, the reception cocktails take place in the foyer area outside the reception hall. Getting guests inside the hall once the doors for the reception hall is open can be a challenge sometimes. One tip we give our couples is to close the bar outside the hall and open the bar inside so traffic moves inside the hall. Couples are usually done with their photoshoot around pm after that either the couple stays at the bridal suite at the reception location or at their hotel until everyone settles down in their reception seats.

The second option is to mingle with their guests during the cocktail hour which is another way to utilize that time between pm to pm. Not only this saves you time on your reception. From our experience, we feel couples enjoy their reception a lot more if they have a chance to mingle with their guests before their entrance.

The couple usually walks in the reception between pm to pm and usually followed by the first dance, speeches, cake cutting or performances which may take about 45 mins to an hour depending upon the number of events. This is a perfect time while everyone is busy on the dance floor to take some close family photos which take about 10 mins. We request couples to give us a list of people they would like us to photograph during the reception family photos prior to the wedding.

If there are more people who would like to take pictures with the couple, we ask the couple if they want to take more formal photos, otherwise, we can always sneak them out for pictures to avoid long lineups for formal photos. These images take about 10 mins and give another dimension to your final photography product.

Skip to content Timeline of Sikh or Hindu Wedding in Canada Here is a blog post we think would be most useful for our brides in Toronto, Vancouver and all major cities across North America as well as for the brides in Mexico or Dominican. Recommended Photography Timeline for Indian Wedding Day — am: Getting Ready Photos for a Sikh or Hindu Wedding Getting ready is probably the most important in terms of timeline, as delay getting ready can mess up the whole wedding timeline.

Getting Ready Timeline for Sikh and Hindu Wedding Key Tips For the Bride, aim to give your photographer about 90 mins with you before you head for the ceremony For the Groom, aim about 75 mins for getting ready to groom prep photos — am: Processional or Baraat in a Sikh or Hindu Wedding Ceremony Timeline In Sikh or Hindu morning wedding ceremonies, the Baraat is usually scheduled to arrive around 9 am. Baraat Timeline for Sikh or Hindu Wedding Key Tips Baraat takes about 30 to 45 mins before the ceremony The bride usually comes to the ceremony location about minutes before the Baraat starts If there is a horse involved for this ceremony, then add an additional 15 mins Aarti and Ribbon Cutting may add about 15 mins additional usually comes to the ceremony location about minutes before the Baraat starts If there is a horse involved for this ceremony, then add an additional 15 mins Aarti and Ribbon Cutting may add about 15 mins additional — am: Breakfast at a Sikh or Hindu Ceremony Timeline In the morning before the ceremony, there is a breakfast meal served at the ceremony location.

Hindu Wedding Ceremony Timeline Hindu ceremonies start with the Groom getting to the Mandap, the altar for Hindu wedding ceremonies, there is a prayer performed to welcome the Groom to the ceremony which takes about mins before the Bride is invited to go to the Mandap. Reading the wedding vows ceremony after the couple has gone through the holy fire takes about another mins Mangalsutra and Sindoor at the Hindu wedding ceremony are the final steps marking the Hindu wedding and last about min.

Sikh ceremonies usually will take less time than Hindu religious weddings. Depending on the number of guests taking photos with the Bride and Groom may take 30 to 60 minutes. Summarizing Doli or Vidaai and Photoshoot Timeline for a Sikh or Hindu Wedding Ceremony Bank about 1 hour for couple shoot with mins commute to the photoshoot location. If the wedding party bridesmaids and groomsmen are coming as well, then post wedding shoot is about 1 hour and a half 45mins with the bridal party and 45 mins with the couple.

We always suggest to have separate transportation for the couple so after the bridal party is done with their pictures, they can leave which eases the couple.