A woman is said to be born three times: the first being her real birth, the second is when she gets married and the third when she gives birth herself. Each time, she is given a new life, in which her role changes and to which she has to adapt. Most would agree that the best ‘life’ ever would be the time between her birth and her wedding. She is pampered, mostly by her parents, taken care of very carefully, for she is the flower that they have to look after until she blooms into a beautiful bride.

This particular moment brings out the most contradictory feelings, for a daughter’s wedding is the time when happiness hand in hand with sorrow sees the bride off to her new home. Which is why weddings are usually celebrated with lots of celebrations because it usually means a new stage of life for the couple, and here in Mauritius, it’s certainly no different. Being quite influenced by both the western and eastern culture, our weddings tend to have a touch of both.

In my family, we have tried to keep most of the rituals, if not all, that one has to go through when getting married, especially for the bride. From what I have experienced, the parents and the relatives all manage to turn the already-not-so-simple wedding into a long one, but one which prepares the bride both mentally… and physically. Keep reading…

Tags: bride, Mauritius, muslim, rituals, traditions, weddings

The wedding season has started again, or maybe it never ended. My cousin is getting married this weekend, and the whole thing has just been turned into a fashion thing. I have to admit, I am not really a fan of clothes and all; I prefer to have comfortable ones rather than really trendy ones. But CLOTHES are a different matter for my mother; she will practically die if she doesn’t buy something in, let’s say, a week (probably why my closet is full of clothes which I have never even worn in my whole life). And weddings make up the perfect excuse for buying more clothes.

Sure enough, for the past month, all I remember doing really is shopping, lots of shopping, which I don’t really mind if shoes are involved (what is it about women and shoes, you don’t want to know), but just remembering the whole range of clothes and jewellery and accessories I had to review makes me feel dizzy. Traditional, formal, casual, you name it and I’ve seen it. My mother wanted to wear blue for the wedding and she ended up with like 5 dresses with practically all shades, from light blue to blue-green, not counting the ones I forced her not to take with us. Keep reading…

Tags: clothes, fashion, weddings