Sham & Paul - Chronicles of Calgary: The Sham Bam

Strange enough, this is my first Sikh wedding in Calgary. It's quite an intense 6 day celebration, so you better have some samosas and chai prepared. It all starts Monday, when Paul's family comes from Red Deer for the chunni ceremony:

 The groom to be is dressed to impress:

 He and his flowers do a good job in that regard:

 In return he's being fed dried fruits by Sham's parents:

 And enjoys every last bit:

 I wish my mother in law looked at me like this. Or do I?

 Paul's family brings a lot of gifts for Sham. The suitcase is one of them:

 And it's actually full of fancy stuff! This might as well be Christmas, judging by Sham's face:

 This golden, shiny thing is ... gold:

 And somebody gets to wear all 5 kilos of it:

 But let's not forget why Paul came to town today:

 This is even better than Christmas:

 I'm surprised Sham can still lift her hand up with that rock on it:

 Paul has to go back to Red Deer and we'll see him again in the wedding day.

 The ladies' sangeet takes place on Tuesday at the Magnolia hall with an incredible background by Fusion Bollywood:

 I know now why it's called the 'ladies' party:

 Yes, the decor helps a lot with the atmosphere! Never seen so much thought put into details:

 The wine helps, too:

 Sham's aunties put the 'sing' in sangeet:

 Her nephew, Kavan, puts some rhythm in it:

 He has other talents, as well! Being at a ladies' party, he couldn't have found a better place! The girls patiently wait for their turn:

 Let's give them some privacy and move to the other corner of the room, where the jaago comes in:

The thirst is overwhelming:

  But there's plenty of juice to go around. Sham even has a beer named after her. True story:

 As usual, there's a lot of collateral damage:

 After a few hours, Kavan finishes all the ladies. He's unstoppable:

 It's a busy week and Wednesday comes with a talented mehndi artist:

 But the second mehndi lady doesn't show up, so Michelle takes the matter into her own hands:

 Not without very accurate results:

 She has everybody lined up in no time:

 Fan fact: just a day before, Sham saw on my blog the beautiful mehndi Samita had on the bottom of her feet and decided she wanted the same thing:

 It's not even ticklish:

 In the same night we move the party to the uncle's house, down the street. It's special! Just like today's:

 The jello shots not only look good, they taste awesome, too:

 So much food, even the wild life gets a share:

 And there's fresh stuff coming all the time, right from the clay oven:

 It wouldn't be a real party without the dance floor:

Working with me can sometimes be very demanding for Ioana. She has to manage the most difficult tasks! Poor thing never complains:

  If you think Punjabi dances are too easy, try switching shoes with your grandma ... or your grandchild. Your choice:

 Finally, the mehndi is done and Shmichael ... I mean Sham makes a thrilling entrance:

 I have to kidnap her for a few more pictures:

  The crowd wants her and she's back at the party:

 Thursday morning everybody is a bit hungover, but the maiya ceremony has to happen:

 The ephemeral rangoli:

 Some of it goes on the wall:

 And the rest finds a resting place on the rooftop:

 After the shower, Sham shows off her henna. Mine is even more interesting because it's invisible. The first of its kind:

 And, of course, we eat again. The delicious world of cholesterol:

 You can try some of my samosas, if you didn't have a chance to make any:

Enjoy it and stick around! Well, only if you wanna see the most outrageous party of the year.

love.more.cosmin