Bengali Wedding

Here are some photographs and a short summary of the July 2011 wedding of our customer Faizul Islam, who lives in the United States. He is from Bangladesh. Mr Islam mentioned seeing our report of a Thai wedding, and he was very kind to send us these photos and a short story about his wedding.

In his own words, this is the story:

"Here's a little explanation of the Bengali wedding traditions. Bangladesh is mostly Muslim, therefore major aspects of culture and tradition is deeply influenced/intertwined by Islam.

"Groom Entrance Gate". In Bengali weddings, the bride's party will hold a "gate" (usually a ribbon or rope) and basically block the groom and his party from entering the wedding hall/area. They will demand a high gate fee-all this is done is fun, but it is customary for groom's party to pay the gate holders. Groom's party must pay the negotiated fee, then cut the rope/ribbon and are allowed to enter. There is plenty of joking, laughing and witting comments that are always being outsmarted! I paid $500 for my gate entrance fee, of course the bride's party demanded $2000!

You will see I was sprayed with confetti into my face, mouth and practically all over haha. Upon entering bride's family/friends will throw flower petals and such all over the groom and his party.

Waving hi to the crowd with my bride, Dilruba. You will not see this in the picture, but i then held the microphone in order to give "salaam" and thank all my guests for attending the wedding. In Islam Assslaamwaleikum means peace be unto you, the response is Waleikumassalaam, and peace be unto you.

The rest is self explanatory. There is one of myself with my mother, Dilruba and myself and my cake. I love red velvet cake so the very top part was red velvet. Sadly I had no appetite to eat during my wedding!

We hope you enjoy this report of the traditional Bengali wedding. You might also enjoy our report of the Thai wedding and Thai food culture! Use the link below to send it to yourself or a friend.

Also see our video feature of the Thai Ordination Ceremony.