Planning a Trip to India to Marry My Indian Bride
Five years ago, if someone had told me I’d be planning my wedding in india, I would have called them crazy and walked away because back then, I was just another trucker hauling loads across the Midwest, eating at the rest stops and living life from one mile to another at a time. Fast forward to today, I’m booking my flight tickets to Chennai, learning how to tie a dhoti, excited to eat food from a Banana leaf and getting ready to marry the woman of my dreams.
We both met online; she’s indian, and I’m not. Believe me or not, we met through a mutual friend and a video call that wasn’t supposed to last more than ten minutes, but it did, and then one thing turned into another. Before we even knew it, we used to talk every day. Somewhere between conversations about family, food, culture and work, we found a strange and steady rhyme for ourselves, which was love.
Now we are officially getting married. And let me tell you, planning a wedding in India is a completely different scenario. In America, weddings are usually about the couple, but in India, it’s about the families. Aunties, Uncles, cousins I have never met, and everyone has an opinion. And somehow, I’m expected to remember all of the relations and their names!
I have been warned by my Indian friends about the heat, the noise of cows in traffic and nosy aunties who want to know how much I make. But I’ve also been told I’ll be treated like a king. They welcome me with all their love, feed me till I burst, and most probably drag me onto the dance floor many times than I’m comfortable with.
There is so much to plan: vacations, visas, gifts for the family, Indian clothes for the family, and of course, mentally preparing myself for the baraat, which is the groom processions which apparently involves dancing in front of a horse before getting welcomed into the wedding hall. All of this seems so exciting and overwhelming at the same time.
For me, this trip isn’t just about a wedding; it’s about stepping into the world of the woman I love, meeting her parents, eating dosas at roadside stalls and visiting ancient temples. It’s about showing up fully, completely—for the person I love, in her culture, on her terms.
It’s not really the kind of journey most truckers take, but Lfie has a very funny way of changing lanes when you least expect it to.
And sometimes, the best destination is love, even if it’s 8,000 miles away.