Monday, May 28, 2007

Of a Beach Wedding


This past long weekend I attended a Beautiful Beach Wedding, on the New Jersey shore! New Jersey is a popular beach destination to many, with it's more than 150 miles of shore line of the Atlantic Ocean! Tourists visiting the beaches have to rent the beach homes much in advance to avoid disappointment, it gets real busy during the season.
As for the wedding, the guests stayed at the Beach Resort & Spa and the nearby hotels to attend the various functions like Mehendi(henna), Bonfire, Dandiya(a dance with it's origin in Gujarat), the wedding & the reception.

Draped in beautiful & colorful sarees and salwar kameez, the women strutted down the ramp from the Beach Resort & Spa, onto the beach, and towards the traditionally decorated 'Mandap' in gold! With sand getting in their 5" heeled shoes, it was a wonderful way to get into sand and water to start the summer season :)

After the wedding rituals the bride and the groom went for a stroll on the beach, bare feet, aww! that was romantic ;) Such a sensual way to start a new life together, amidst nature, in sand, with the expanse of water staring at you, after just becoming man & wife, loved it!
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Here are some pictures to charm your visual senses.
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The reception was in the Ballroom of the Beach Resort & Spa in the evening. Lots of dancing and mingling with folks ensued. After a delightful dinner people were ready for yet another round of dancing. I did not take any pictures of the food, figured you have seen enough buffets :)


The way dessert is served these days is pretty dramatic, after dinner the lights are dimmed and amidst loud music tables upon tables laden with innumerable dessert are ushered in, sparklers burning on each of the tables. There were about two dozen desserts including various types of cakes, pastries, torte & cheese cakes, halwas, many types of sandesh, few varieties of chocolate covered cookies, numerous flavors of ice cream and a few other traditional desi sweets ;) I ate just the sandesh, was smooth & tasty. All in all we had a good time.




Hope you enjoyed the colorful pictures :)
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Let me sign off by giving you the recipe for this quick Date Pops!

Saute finely chopped dates in a tbsp of ghee till the mass comes together, add cardamom powder. Roll into balls and pierce a toothpick into each one of them, makes a lovely dessert and everyone enjoys the Date Pops. I make these with mejdool dates because they are very soft and just right for this preparation.


Enjoy..........



23 comments:

Coffee said...

Not one bit of decorations say that its not in India!!!! You surely have had a wonderful time there..... and walking ont he beach after marriage!!! Ahhh Bliss!!!! Thats sooooooooo romantic. :)

Liked your idea of attaching a toothpick to the date pops! I sometimes also add some dry fruits to it. :)

sra said...

Hey, I like the date pops, no extra sugar!

Sia said...

thats one dream wedding:) reminded me of my wedding day;)
and love ur date pops coz no extra fat or sugar:)

archana said...

Oh how romantic. Love beaches and to have a wedding there, gr8. Really elaborate set up. I am making those date pops. They are so easy to make :)

indosungod said...

An Indian Beach Wedding WOW!
As for the date pops look super good.

TNL said...

What a lovely idea to have a beach wedding! Sounds like you had a great time......and yes, oh,so romantic!
Date Pops looks delicious!

FH said...

Indian wedding on the beach!!What a fun idea.Looks great and cool pics.
Love the pops too ,so clever:))

Roopa said...

thats so much fun! cool idea wedding at beach. looking at the pictures is looks like all of you had fun time !
date pops look delicious

Bong Mom said...

"shaadi on the Beach" -- that must have been great fun

Ramya's Mane Adige said...

A beach wedding sounds soooo good!!! I'm sure you had a wonderful time [:)]. And, your date pops look good!

Kribha said...

Oh Richa, I bet you must have had a really nice time at the wedding. Beautiful pictures. Love the date pops. Will try it in India for my nephews.

Mahek said...

hi
i have never been to a beach wedding it must be feeling so great

Pravs said...

Couldn't imagine Indian wedding on beach...but from the pictures, it looks good.
Date pops ! great ! not much of work.

Mandira said...

that certainly looks like a lot of fun :) date pops are a great idea too...

Swapna said...

That's such a beautiful place to get married.I feel like getting married again..ofcoz to the same person:)..Date pops look cool..

Suganya said...

O o that was a lovely wedding setup....... Date Pops is looking YUM!...

Cynthia said...

Thanks for taking me along to the wedding. I really enjoyed this post.

People come from all over the world to get married on the beaches here in the Caribbean. However, I don't think I have ever seen a Hindu wedding on the beach. I think our tourism people should look into that. What do you think? :)

Sig said...

wow, that sounds like a romantic wedding... looks like you had a lot of fun...

Sharmi said...

that must have been one memorable event for them and you. the pictures reveal it. is that your hand with mehandi? looks beautiful. the mandap looks beautiful. thanks for sharing.
btw the date pops looks good too.

Bharathy said...

wow! thatz novel..beach wedding and dates pops..Lovely!Thanx for visiting me when I had been away..:)..

Anonymous said...

wow a beach wedding...and the lovely pops...seems like heaven to me...thanks for sharing..

Richa said...

Thank You all for your adorable words and encouraging me all the way, means a lot to me! Love to hear from you all :)
Glad to know you enjoyed the pictures, just wanted to share this nice & fun event with you!

Viji said...

Beautiful pictures Richa. Happy moment and worth enjoying with our friends. Viji