And it was perfect. 

Last weekend the lovely Sarah (my partner in crime at the Wilks Institute) and I whipped up some risotto and bruschetta, threw a movie on the DVD player, cracked open a bottle of home made wine and dug into the formidable project of hand assembling the invitations.

We’re a bit technologically challenged up here in rural Ohio (by which i mean I forgot to bring a USB cable with me from Dallas) but stay tuned for pictures of the final product!

steph:    how should the photographer address your parents?

ranjit:    ?

in what?
steph:    when talking to them at the wedding?

i’m filling out the form thing for the photographer

ranjit:   mr and mrs jayanandhan?

or jaya and anandan

or father and mother

steph:   yes, that’s what i’m asking

ranjit:   or brother sister

or sir madam

steph:   ok, pick one then

ranjit:   or his excellency the royal highness and her highness

steph:   I think we will go with that

ranjit:   his excellency the royal highness of little known indian village with electricity       and her excellency royal highness of slightly better known indian village with electricity and water

steph:   sure, you can come fit it in the box i have to write it in

ranjit:   too long?

we can shorten it to hetrholkiv and herhosbkiv

and they can be slightly dubiously named russians

steph:   you realize this is going to end up on the blog right?

ranjit: so what is our wedding anniversary?

23rd of dec or 5th of jan?

steph: both

ranjit: wawaweewa

so i have to get you a present both times?

steph: yup

ranjit: crap!

well i can always say ‘oh, i was gonna surprise you with an extra big gift on the 5th…’

steph: hehehe

so how do indians celebrate wedding anniversaries?

ranjit: we put the wives on a donkey and send them back to their houses to bring us more money

steph: man, that’s going to be one tired donkey when it gets to enzed

ranjit: who says enzed?

steph: where else would i have a house with money?

ranjit: oh..

pish…

next joke

A marriage is risky business these days
Says some old and prudent voice inside.
We don’t need twenty children anymore
To keep the family line alive,
Or gather up the hay before the rain.
No law demands respectability.
Love can arrive without certificate or cash.
History and experience both make clear
That men and women do not hear
The music of the world in the same key,
Rather rolling dissonances doomed to clash.

So what is left to justify a marriage?
Maybe only the hunch that half the world
Will ever be present in any room
With just a single pair of eyes to see it.
Whatever is invisible to one
Is to the other an enormous golden lion
Calm and sleeping in the easy chair.
After many years, if things go right
Both lion and emptiness are always there;
The one never true without the other.

But the dark secret of the ones long married,
A pleasure never mentioned to the young,
Is the sweet heat made from two bodies in a bed
Curled together on a winter night,
The smell of the other always in the quilt,
The hand set quietly on the other’s flank
That carries news from another world
Light-years away from the one inside
That you always thought you inhabited alone.

Bill Holm

Is a wedding a labour of love? I’m not sure. Sometimes it seems like one part niggly details, one part looming decisions and one part oncoming train! But 90% of the time, I’m having lots of fun working on wedding things. And it’s actually helping make the long and unintentional separation from one another a bit more bearable. We can always work together on guest lists or invite proofs or excel spreadsheets, nattering away to one another, even when there’s an ocean or two in the way.

For me, making things for the wedding has turned out to be one way to tap into that feeling. I love creating things anyway, and having mum here for most of July meant we could work on some wedding projects together. There’s more to do, but five months out i think we’re ahead of schedule.

What are we making, you ask? I’m not telling. I know, I know, but I want to keep a few things up my sleeve till the wedding day. However, i can share this sneak preview of the products of one of mum’s and my cutting-and-scoring marathons:

So the select few I have talked in the last 24 hrs asked where and how to get to Trichur/Trissur.

It’s quite simple really…

Flights:

The closest airport to the festivities in India is Cochin International (COK) about an hour and a half away. Although it is an international airport, most of the international flights that operate are from the neighboring countries. Ideally you could fly to any major city in India and catch a domestic flight to Cochin. A good option for international travelers would be to find an Indian Travel agent in their home country who could also arrange tours to the hill-stations and Ayurvedic resorts in Kerala

For those flying domestic, Cochin International also has a domestic terminal.

To get there:

For Non-Indian citizens, you will need a visa. You can find a form and information here:http://www.indianembassy.org/newsite/visa_guide.asp