I dont think anything could have prepared us for the rich sights and sounds of India.

After landing Karen very smartly booked us an Uber from the Airport to the Taj Lands End where we would be staying the night. What we didnt know was that choosing the cheapest/smallest Uber option in India was not the same as the US. We didnt need anything big, afterall it was just the two us. We made our way to our driver and saw a small well worn taxi that looked as if it had seen many traffic wars on the streets of Mumbai, tapped on his window and he motioned for us to load our bags in the front seat. As karen opened the door in the car park and started loading our bags, another taxi squeezed by and slowly took the open car door with him, hyper extending the door… karen stood there in horror looking at me and looking at the driver (😂). He casually told her to push it back and slam it shut 😳. Took a little effort but the door shut and we were off… held together by duct tape and a prayer!

Driving in Mumbai, was a lively experience, the honking cars, mopeds & jitney cabs all moving together with the lane lines as a suggestion for order. 😅 Pulling into the gates and up the winding drive to the Taj the gravity of our uber choice hit us 😬 we were surrounded by luxury cars. We didn’t realize that we had booked a 5star luxury hotel, it was the price of an average nice hotel in the US. To say that our uber stuck out like a sore thumb was an understatement, the porters did not open our doors or help us with our bags. Im sure they were thinking “surely this car has made a wrong turn” 😂

The Taj exceeded our expectations. It was beautiful and the service exceptional! ive never seen so many fresh flowers they treated us like royalty (once we went inside and checked in😅)

That afternoon the jet lag hit us like a ton of bricks, we decided to lean into it and enjoy our hotel and get acclimated to the time zone before our flight to Jabalpur in the morning. We were slightly bummed we didn’t get out to explore Mumbai but our time was limited and our jetlag strong!

The next day we landed in Jabalpur and Karens friend Monika(the bride) met us at the airport. The next 24 hours were a blur of Mehndi (henna tattoos) and colorful rituals, lots of music and celebrations with Monika and Mohit’s family welcoming us as one of their own. The pictures below start with the ritual of married women blessing Monika with herbs oil and spices, Dancing with the groom when he arrived and then the Mehndi (henna tattoos on hands) ritual for the guests while singing and taking pics with the bride and groom. That evening event was the Engagement party and it was nuts! The pictures tell a much better story then i ever could!

Tomorrow the wedding!

The Evenings Event! Such a beautiful space! We were blown away!