catlover79
03-09-2007, 01:37 AM
JODHPUR, India (Reuters) - White horses, elephants and priests blowing conch horns will star in the Hindu nuptials of actress Elizabeth Hurley, who wraps up a week of lavish wedding celebrations in India on Friday.
Hurley, 41, her 42-year-old husband Indian businessman Arun Nayar and their 240 guests are enjoying the kind of pageantry once reserved for maharajahs as they shuttle between palaces and an ancient hilltop fort around the historic city of Jodhpur, in the desert state of Rajasthan.
Nayar will trot down the aisle astride a white horse accompanied by caparisoned elephants and camels at the climax of the wedding, members of staff at the wedding venue said.
Hurley, who has been staying at the grand, sandstone Umaid Bhawan Palace, will sport elaborate henna tattoos after she and her female guests took part in a traditional mehendi ceremony.
Guests spent Wednesday night, their first in Jodhpur, playing a floodlit cricket match, hotel staff said.
Hurley and Nayar then went on Thursday to Nagaur Fort, about 130 km (80 miles) outside the city, for a musical ceremony that included qawwali, or devotional hymns performed by Sufi Muslims.
There was a wedding caravan involving 12 horses and 60 camel carts and fireworks in the evening, a Jodhpur newspaper reported.
Nayar wore a diamond-encrusted sherwani, which is a traditional Indian jacket, it added.
CONCH HORNS AND FLOWER PETALS
After a night's sleep in luxury tents, the party are returning to Umaid Bhawan on Friday for the Hindu wedding where priests will blow horns made out of conch shells and chant Vedic mantras while the couple walk in circles around a sanctified fire.
They will then head to the city's massive Meherangarh Fort overlooking the blue-painted city to feast on Jodhpur's rich, buttery cuisine, accompanied by traditional Rajasthani singers and dancers and showers of flower petals.
Indian designer Rohit Bal said he had designed many of the clothes being worn by the couple, who have been partying non-stop since their civil marriage last week at a castle in England.
Their two-night stopover in Mumbai was immersed in controversy after authorities tore down part of a venue built to host the wedding party because it infringed on a popular beach.
At Nagaur Fort, police beat some curious local onlookers with sticks, according to witnesses. But very few of the A-list celebrities touted in the media as potential guests have so far turned up in Jodhpur.
Tom Ford, a designer and former director of the Gucci fashion house, and Janet Street-Porter, a British journalist, are some of the best-known guests already in the city. Bollywood actress Preity Zinta also arrived on Thursday.
The celebrities, and the international press pack following them, have only bemused the residents of Jodhpur, most of whom are hearing about Hurley and Nayar for the first time.
"She is the oldest bride Jodhpur has ever seen," said Kastury Ghosh, a bridal shop manager, one of many residents struck by Hurley's age in a country where most women become wives in their early twenties.
Ummm...no comment.
Hurley, 41, her 42-year-old husband Indian businessman Arun Nayar and their 240 guests are enjoying the kind of pageantry once reserved for maharajahs as they shuttle between palaces and an ancient hilltop fort around the historic city of Jodhpur, in the desert state of Rajasthan.
Nayar will trot down the aisle astride a white horse accompanied by caparisoned elephants and camels at the climax of the wedding, members of staff at the wedding venue said.
Hurley, who has been staying at the grand, sandstone Umaid Bhawan Palace, will sport elaborate henna tattoos after she and her female guests took part in a traditional mehendi ceremony.
Guests spent Wednesday night, their first in Jodhpur, playing a floodlit cricket match, hotel staff said.
Hurley and Nayar then went on Thursday to Nagaur Fort, about 130 km (80 miles) outside the city, for a musical ceremony that included qawwali, or devotional hymns performed by Sufi Muslims.
There was a wedding caravan involving 12 horses and 60 camel carts and fireworks in the evening, a Jodhpur newspaper reported.
Nayar wore a diamond-encrusted sherwani, which is a traditional Indian jacket, it added.
CONCH HORNS AND FLOWER PETALS
After a night's sleep in luxury tents, the party are returning to Umaid Bhawan on Friday for the Hindu wedding where priests will blow horns made out of conch shells and chant Vedic mantras while the couple walk in circles around a sanctified fire.
They will then head to the city's massive Meherangarh Fort overlooking the blue-painted city to feast on Jodhpur's rich, buttery cuisine, accompanied by traditional Rajasthani singers and dancers and showers of flower petals.
Indian designer Rohit Bal said he had designed many of the clothes being worn by the couple, who have been partying non-stop since their civil marriage last week at a castle in England.
Their two-night stopover in Mumbai was immersed in controversy after authorities tore down part of a venue built to host the wedding party because it infringed on a popular beach.
At Nagaur Fort, police beat some curious local onlookers with sticks, according to witnesses. But very few of the A-list celebrities touted in the media as potential guests have so far turned up in Jodhpur.
Tom Ford, a designer and former director of the Gucci fashion house, and Janet Street-Porter, a British journalist, are some of the best-known guests already in the city. Bollywood actress Preity Zinta also arrived on Thursday.
The celebrities, and the international press pack following them, have only bemused the residents of Jodhpur, most of whom are hearing about Hurley and Nayar for the first time.
"She is the oldest bride Jodhpur has ever seen," said Kastury Ghosh, a bridal shop manager, one of many residents struck by Hurley's age in a country where most women become wives in their early twenties.
Ummm...no comment.