31 DAYS

Day 1:

A common question to be asked to a common teenager who have reached late of his twenties is "Are you ready to get married?". I was in an ignorant state thinking I'm way longer to be asked with that question, however without me realizing I am currently at one.

Starting from today 27th September, I have 31 days to the end of my bachelorhood and beginning of the third stage of my life as a married man. Quoting on what Baasha Bai has said
"muthal yetil aadathethu vilayadathethu alle, nee rendam yetil perathethe kalviyum alle
moondram yetil seyathethe thirumanam alle, nee naalam yetil perathethe kolentheyum alle"

Yes what you read is right, I am getting married on the 27th October. Am I scared or nervous, or am I happy or sad? One cant really define the feeling as for all of it are mixed up. Such a mixed feeling. But I know at the corner of my heart, I am extremely excited and happy to think that I am actually going to spend my life after this with my beloved girl, the love in my heart and the love of my life. All these years me being with her have completed me and matured me, changed the way I looked at the world.

First thing you need to do before you plan for your wedding, you need to know your budget. How much are you willing to spend for your wedding. Is your wedding expenses going to be shared by you or your parents OR your spouse or his/her parents, putting aside all those customs and religious statements. Decide on the budget, this will help you to plan your wedding tremendously. You may also have an idea such as splitting the event for instance like how we are doing it. My wedding will be held on a different date and day, early morning hours. Followed by the dinner reception on the same weekend. By doing this, I am able to invite only my relatives and my closest friends and the people whom we would love to have them in our wedding. According to your preference, its in your hands to limit the crowd. It can be from 50 people up to 200 people, but try not to go more than that.

When you plan as such, you will have less expenses for your wedding, less crowd, more manageable, early morning wedding will just finish with breakfast so your food catering expenses wont fly high to the sky. The rest of your invitees can attend your dinner reception. In my case, I have estimated about 1000 pax to attend my wedding. Of course these ideas may not work our if you are planning for garden wedding, conceptual wedding, theme wedding, beach wedding, underwater wedding, cruise wedding and the list goes on. This more applies to typical Indian temple wedding and a dinner reception to cater for larger crowd.

Once you have fixed your budget, start checking on the best date (suba muhurtham - in tamil) to have your wedding. Of course if you plan to have your wedding and the dinner on the same event, weekends would be the best. Some priest from some temple will tell you you cant have wedding on a Sunday or Saturday, but even in that 2 days there will be a good day. What I am sharing with you is how me and my sweetheart planned for our wedding. Doesn't mean that you have to follow this 100%, just like an idea sharing.

Hindu calendar changes every 6 months if I'm not mistaken, they call it the Vazharpirai and Theipirai. Some people follows exactly to that some don't, its up to the individuals. So lets say you got a perfect date for your wedding and everyone is happy on the date, the next thing you need to do is fix the wedding dinner reception date. In my case, my wedding is on 27th and dinner reception is on that following Saturday. Once the dinner reception date is fixed, this is when the adventure starts.

Rujjcoomarh