Three Weddings and a Culture Shock.
We’re taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming to bring you a brand new series — The Lazy Persons Guide to Getting Married (other titles included: Three Weddings and a Culture Shock, but for continuity sake we went for the original). This will be a weekly series starting officially next week that should take us to just after our Big Fat Indian Wedding in a years time.
Join me as I take you on this “journey” — Yes I’m going with the cliché.
Imagine two cultures that are near opposites to one another — French and Indian.
Now — imagine weddings. French: close family, a lot of friends, several hour long church ceremonies, and then of course a big party with a big dessert. Indian (North, Hindu): close family, a lot of friends, several hour long mandap ceremonies and then of course a big party with a big dessert.
The general feeling of both cultures are fairly similar: bring together families.
Our “Big Fat Indian Wedding” will be no different and that means it comes with all its bells and whistles.
We’re doing two ceremonies (ok well technically 4): a court house wedding, a Belgian party, an ‘official’ in my ancestral village and a ‘foreigner friendly’ one at a fort (because I want a fort). The ancestral village is exactly that — a village. My Indian mother’s NGO has made leaps and bounds to bring it to 2026. Yet. It remains a village.
Our story is how our two families are going to navigate the next year, with two different cultures, two different sets of parents, two different locations. And a bit of travel and shopping while we’re at it.
Where are we today?At time of writing, it is Saturday February 14th, 2026. On Monday, February 16th 2026, we’re all going to embark on a 2 week trip in India.
It’ll be. Something.
Before we get into that, let me set the stage a tiny bit.
We are currently:
- 156 days out from our courthouse wedding
- 217 days out from our Belgian wedding
- 359 days out from our Indian wedding(s).
Our cast of characters are:
- Me, myself and I
- Jean, my Fiancé
- M + P, who are my parents
- D + F, who are my (soon to be) in-laws
- Teddy and Whiskey (the pets HAVE to be part of this)
- And a wide array of other characters who regularly make up our lives
Our scenes will be set in:
- India (stay tuned for the itinerary)
- Belgium (stay tuned for.. I’m not sure what)
- Costa Rica (Itinerary)
- Philadelphia (another (not our) wedding!)
- France (… do you want an itinerary for Strasbourg?)
- eh, I’m sure we’ll take a random trip here and there
I’m sure I’m missing a lot of details, but we’re going to figure that part out together as we embark on this JOURNEY.
I used it again. Deal with it.
See you all in a week!
