mondomulia

As a Valentine's Day treat, I have decided to share with you some photos of my mehendi, taken by photographer Anil Fernandes during our wedding in Mumbai last November.

The mehendi is one of the ceremonies that the bride and the groom take part to during the wedding celebrations.

Mehendi means henna and, during this ceremony, a henna artist applies mehendi to the bride's hands and feet, as well as to the hands of all female relatives and friends. This is purely done for decoration and to make the bride look even more beautiful on her wedding day!

The bridal designs are so intricate, that they require several hours to be drawn and then to dry. My mehendi was actually done the day before the ceremony and it took a whopping eight hours! If that doesn't seem like a lot, imagine spending eight hours sitting on a chair, with somebody painting your hands and feet, meaning you cannot move, eat, drink, go to the loo or basically do anything at all except for talking. Which wasn't an option in my case, since I was mostly left alone in the room with only Hindi-speaking people.

I was very relieved when it was finally over! ;) The result was absolutely beautiful!

So, for me, the morning of the mehendi was mostly spent taking photos, chatting to my friends and family, and taking part to a mini-photoshoot with my husband!

The mehendi was folllowed in the evening by the sangeet, a party with tranditional dancing and music, and the next day by the marriage ceremony.

Stay tuned, more photos to come soon!