(the) Jebbica

I’m just going to jump right into this, since I basically did all the talking in Part One.

Here are some of my inspirations and ideas of things I’d like to see at my own Bollywood-inspired dream wedding!  One of the reasons I’m thinking about all of this now is, I would love to be able to buy the materials to make this happen and work on things over time so it won’t be so stressful as the Big Day approaches.  Also, I know the tents are probably going to be my biggest expense, so if I buy as I go it won’t be totally devastating to my wallet.

The Invitations:

A little cardstock, a rubber paisley stamp, a glue stick, Microsoft Word, and a printer, and I think I can make invitations that look even better than these.  The programs would match, I’d say. (more…)

Okay, so I realize that this might be a little super-girly and OCD, since the mere hint of a suggestion of a ring in my near future has got me planning my whole wedding. But, that’s what girls do, right? I never really had those dreams that most girls had where they are the princess and the knight in shining armor rides in on the big white horse and whisks her away to his castle. Besides, motes and dragons really aren’t my scene.

I’ll admit that The Boyfriend and I are a bit unusual. We’ve talked about it before, and neither of us is particularly partial to standard church weddings. Nothing wrong with them, I just think if you’re going to spend a bunch of money on something, it should be something that’s unique to you and who you are as a couple, and it should be something that your guests are going to remember. When I get married, I want people to come away from it saying, “Wow. That was SO Jessica and Nathan!”

I’ve always found Indian people to be the most attractive race of people. Those big, mysterious eyes, the shiny dark hair, and all the colors that coincide with their culture–wow! The first time I noticed I was drawn to Indian people was in the 9th grade. I had the hugest crush on Jignesh Patel. I never heard him speak, and I don’t think I ever said a single word to him, but after school when we would wait on the buses to arrive, I would stand in a corner and swoon over Jignesh. I think I even wrote him an anonymous love note. I basically find all Indian celebrities hot, from Dev Patel to Anoop Desai to Kal Penn to even Irrfan Khan. And the women, like Padma Lakshmi, Frieda Pinto, and Parminder Nagra are some of the most gorgeous women in the world. But the cream of the crop to me is Sendhil Ramamurthy. He is like, the best-looking guy in the whole world to me.

Is he not?  And when he speaks with that accent that he does on Heroes–mmm….

So, who did I wind up with, but quite possibly the most un-Sendhil Ramamurthy-looking guy in the world!  Pale-skin, blue-eyes, and reddish-blonde hair. But he also has an affinity for Ganesh and coconut chicken curry.  So I think I did okay.

I never had really thought about doing a Bollywood-themed wedding, though, until I saw Rachel Getting Married.  I didn’t find the movie to be particularly moving or anything, but I thought the actual wedding itself was so cool!  It was actually a multicultural wedding, but the bridesmaids all wore saris and they had the most awesome elephant wedding cake, and pair this with the fact that the movie I saw right before this one was Slumdog Millionaire, and a light went off in my head.

There are several reasons I think having a Bollywood-themed wedding would be awesome:

• Salwar kameez and kurta pyjamas–you practically get to wear your PJs to a “formal” event.  Comfort and relaxation and fun: that’s the kind of wedding I want.  Something where everyone has a good time.  What you’re wearing is largely going to affect how you feel.
• It’s budget-friendly:  There are a lot of cool things you can do and buy to throw a Bollywood-themed party.  The clothes are cheap, and even if you wanted to make your own saris, it’s not like there would be that much sewing to it.  And I can be pretty damn crafty when I want to be, so all of these DIY projects sound like a lot of fun to me.
• The dancing–Oh yes, there is going to be a wedding party choreographed dance if I can help it!  And belly dancers…who doesn’t love those?
• The food:  The first time I had Indian food, our friend GS who worked at the convenience store next to our old apartment invited us to his house to enjoy some of his wife’s cooking.  I actually got dizzy and flushed from eating it, it was a little like being drunk.  It was that good.
• The music–My biggest guilty pleasure is probably Hindi music mixed with modern hip hop.  It’s very fun.
• The colors! I don’t want black and white–it’s boring to me.  I want lots of different hues for my Big Day.

So, those are just a few reasons I think it would be awesome and different to do something like this for my wedding day.  Check out Part Two for all the plans and inspirations in detail!

Valentine’s Day. Whether you’re single, married, or are dating someone, there is ample opportunity for this made-up holiday to potentially become one of the year’s more memorable days, for better or worse.  Of course, if a special someone proposes to you on V-Day, you’re going to remember it for the rest of your life, as cliché as it might in all reality be.

But for most people, there is a lot of pressure put on this day, and for what?  After all, it’s just another holiday created by retail giants hoping to get consumers to spend money on greeting cards, candy, and jewelry.  As you can see from an article in the photo above I wrote for the school paper some TEN YEARS AGO (good God, I’m old), I was jaded about Valentine’s Day then, and I’m jaded about it now.  Just think, how lovely and curmudgeonly will I be in another forty or so years? I can’t wait to know me then!

The Boyfriend and I don’t generally ever do anything special for Valentine’s Day.  It has sort of become a tradition to go eat Indian food, then maybe go shopping and try to say “I love you” a little bit more.  But in all honesty, we’ve been doing a lot of that on regular ordinary non-Hallmark days.  So, I wasn’t really putting too much stock into us planning anything romantic for this weekend.

It doesn’t help that my youngest sister’s birthday is also on this day. (She used to date a guy whose birthday was also on Valentine’s Day…can you imagine? It was almost too barf-worthy to be true!).  So, I’m looking at my weekend schedule, and it’s pretty much booked solid.  It starts with a Pure Romance party at a friend’s house on Thursday evening, segues into a female family movie night on Friday, parlays into us getting our taxes done Saturday afternoon, a concert Saturday evening with several friends and coworkers, a Rock Band party at a friend’s house late Saturday night, and concludes with church and birthday cake with the family Sunday afternoon.  And of course the weather is supposed to be terrible Sunday evening.

I just didn’t think there was going to be any need to bother with the fuss of spending money we didn’t have on each other. We already know we love each other, and no amount of paper hearts is going to make it anymore apparent!  And yet, apparently The Boyfriend is kind of sad about this.  “Maybe he was planning a surprise?” my BFF asked.  Doubtful, since it’s the norm for me to say I WANT THIS instead of trying to bother with dropping hints and winding up disappointed.  So, I texted him during work yesterday and bluntly asked him. “Were you planning a surprise for V-day?”

His answer: “Fishing?”

FISHING?  “You want to dig worms and gut fish? Seriously? How romantic,” I texted in reply.  Now, that may be romantic to someone, but it ain’t me!  And I didn’t think The Boyfriend found it particularly seductive, either.

There was a long pause between our two phones before he sent me an answer.

He had been asking if I was fishing for compliments.

So, the jury is still out on whether or not there is an actual surprise in store for me, or if VD (aptly named, in my opinion) will be just another day.  All I know is, if I wind up ever having to gut a fish, there’d better be a damn ring inside it.