During a Nepali traditional wedding the bride waits with the company of family and friends for the groom to come.  In my experience this could be a few hours.  During this time the company of the bride drinks coffee, has conversation, and many pictures are taken. 

The bride disappears inside the house before the groom arrives and he sits and waits for his bride to reappear to the ceremony.  When she does a gifts are exchanged to each other from their opposites family.   The groom gives his bride gifts form his family and vise versa meaning that each other’s families are offering these gifts as acceptance into their families.

A procession of gifts from the guests takes place but guests of the groom do not bring gifts but only guests that were invited by the bride.  Trays of food wrapped in a golden seran wrap are lined up in front of the couple and then blessed with flower petals and then taken out of the way into the house.  Other gifts are given that are not brought out at this time but include everyday household items, such as furniture, washer and dryer, television, bedding, etc.

 A separate ritual takes place with the groom while the bride is away.  The father of the bride performs a blessing on the groom where he gives his daughter away to him.  He blesses him and tells grants him responsibility of his daughter.   This was explained to me as a happy time for the groom’s family and a sad time for the bride’s family because the groom’s family is gaining a daughter while it seems that the bride’s family is losing one.  The bride lives with her family until she is married.  Once she is married and living with her husband her bed in her family’s home is empty and causes much sadness for the family.    

The couple eats lunch next and then returns to their wedding place for the most important part of the ceremony.  A squared of area of ground is surrounded by a barrier of bundled sticks and grass.  This area is secure to the bride and groom.  No one is to enter this area unless granted permission to.  If a person is to enter without permission it is thought that harm will be brought upon them.  During this section an oath is taken between the two of them with the basic meaning that, “I am yours and you are mine and no one else shall have you.”

The bride and groom leave to put on different attire to say goodbye to the family.  Their gifts are loaded into a truck and the couple leaves in their car, which is decorated, with flowers and their initials.  The bride’s initial plus groom’s initial is written in flowers meaning that the two halves became a whole.