Not just Bollywood celebrities and television stars but the political world also had their own spur-of-the-moment wedding ceremonies. Recently, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President, Raj Thackeray’s son, Amit Thackeray and fashion designer, Mitali Borude tied the knot on the eve of January 27, 2019, and the social media got flooded with best wishes for the newlyweds.
Where the couples had an intimate engagement ceremony, the wedding vows were taken in a traditional Maharashtrian CKP style wedding ceremony. Wedding Planners in Pune has brought you the insights of the customs and traditions followed in a Maharashtrian CKP wedding

The customary welcome

A CKP wedding starts early in the morning and the rituals keep going until late evening. The bride’s family reaches the wedding venue prior to the groom’s family to set up the arrangements for the groom’s arrival. In a very customary way, the bride’s mother washes the groom’s feet with water and applies a tilak on his forehead. The tilak symbolizes her care and love for the groom as she accepts him as her own son now.

The bride and groom are then seated on chairs. The groom is gifted jewelry, ornaments, and clothes from the bride’s father. The groom is then offered Kesar milk in a silver cup. He drinks half of the milk leaving the other half portion of milk for his other half. This cute gesture is actually a symbol of sharing everything together in the future.

Ganpati Puja                

Being from very religious roots, the CKP community follows their traditional rituals very carefully. The CKP’s are strong believers of Lord Ganesha, who represents strength and bravery. Before the wedding ceremonies start, the bride, her groom, and both of their families seek blessings from Lord Ganesha and then the real wedding gets started with.

Punyavachan

once both the bride’s and groom’s families have offered their prayers to Lord Ganesha, the pandit invites the parents of both bride and groom to pray for their children’s happy and prosperous married life. This ritual is done with the priest reciting the Punyavachan prayers.
Then after, the bride and her groom exchange metal ornaments (metal rings mostly) while the priest recites the achamana prayers. The achamana prayer worships all the Gods by repeating their names. After the completion of achamana prayers, the parents practice udaka (allowing the water to flow through their right palms, which signifies the completion of Punyavachan ritual.

Sankalp

The bride and the groom then seek blessings from the priest and his family members to start his new married life happily. As blessings, the elder family members gift jewelry, ornaments, and clothes as their blessings.
Both the bride’s and her groom’s parents greet each other with Madhuparka (a desert made of honey, ghee, and yogurt and enjoy this new relation.

Kanyadaan

This ritual remains as common in every Hindu marriage where the bride’s father handover his precious daughter’s hand in the hands of the groom. The groom then places his hand gently on the bride’s hand as a symbol of accepting her as his bride. The bride’s father pours blessed water over the groom’s palms. This symbolizes that his precious daughter now belongs to the groom.

Akshataropanam

The bride and her groom take vows of remaining faithful and caring to each other throughout their lives. After the completion of each vow, the parents sprinkle rice over them to bless their vows to be fulfilled.

Mangalsutra Bandhan

A golden necklace made of black beads and gold is a symbol of married women in Hinduism. The groom ties this Mangalsutra around his bride’s neck and in return, the bride ties a gold chain around her groom’s neck. The groom applies kumkum made of haldi on the bride’s forehead and the bride applies a tikka made of sandalwood paste over the groom’s forehead.

Paanigrahan

The bride’s mother-in-law gifts a green saree along with a toe ring and some cosmetics to the bride. The bride changes into those accessories and seats back in the Puja. This ritual symbolizes her transition as the new family member in her groom’s house. Then, the bride and her groom vow to treat each other equally, care for each other and nurture each other by clasping both of their hands.

Vivah Homa

In CKP wedding, the priest organizes an offering service by lighting fire in the wedding holy place and the bride with her groom sits beside the fire. To the west of the fire, a stone is kept as a symbol of strength and resolution. To the east, an urn filled with water is kept. Four blades of grass place towards the north of the fire. Two metal bowls, one filled with melted ghee and the other filled with water are placed on those blades.
The groom sprinkles ghee and water using the grass blades as a symbol of purity in their marriage.

Pradhana Homa

This is the last offering of ghee and water by the groom. With this offering in the fire, the groom conceals his commitment and devotion towards his wife.

Parinayam
The groom takes his bride’s hand and walks a circle around the fire and the urn of water.

Ashmarohsch
The bride is asked to touch stone by her feet. This symbolizes her to be strong and unfaltering as the stone. On completion of this ritual, the bride tosses rice three times in the fire.

Saptapadi   
The groom takes his bride’s hand and offers his right hand to walk around the fire for seven complete circles. This brings together the couples into one commitment of marriage.

Karmasamapti
The bride’s father completes the ceremony by taking a spoonful of water and pouring it over his right palm, chanting a mantra to confirm her precious daughter’s marriage to her groom. Both the bride and her groom do the same to thank the divine Gods for witnessing their marriage.

Lagna Mahurat
The priest chants marriage mantras along with the bride, her groom, and both of their families. Rice grains blended with kumkum are tossed over the newlyweds while singing marital hymns. The bride and groom exchange flower garlands as a symbol of their new beginning as a happily married couple.

Our wedding events company in Pune has witnessed marriages in different custom, tradition, and religion. Connect with us if you are planning on having your wedding with your custom and traditional arrangements.