Gaye holud, then the hall
Turmeric at home or in a small hall, yellow clothes, a closer room than the walima. It is blessing and mess. Daylight, a bowl, a sister. If you only arrive for the ballroom you have missed the reel the family will actually play.
Nikah and walima
The nikah may be in a mosque, a house, or a room beside the party, and it may be segregated. Two doors if the families sit apart. The walima is the big film: entrance, dinner, the hall. Do not lay the dance track under the qabool. They are different days even when they share a date.
Not the Hindu Bengali page
Subho drishti, saat paak and sindoor belong to a Bengali Hindu wedding. A British Bangladeshi Muslim wedding does not become that film because both families say they are Bengali. Ask which wedding you were booked for, and read that page.
Where to stand
Questions worth asking
- Where are these weddings filmed in London?
- Gaye holud often at home or a community hall in east London. The walima in a banqueting suite that can hold the guest list. Confirm the suite, not the brochure maximum.
- Is gaye holud the same as haldi?
- It is the same family of rites: turmeric, blessing, yellow. The name, the songs and the order are the family’s. Use their word on the slate.