Haldi
An invitation for the morning everybody turns yellow.
The Haldi is usually the smallest celebration of the wedding and the most personal — close family, a courtyard or a terrace, turmeric paste and marigolds, and clothes nobody minds ruining. Its invitation has a different job from the wedding card's: fewer people, an early start, and one instruction everybody needs.
Only the people who belong at it
Most families invite a much smaller circle to the Haldi than to the wedding. Here, every guest has their own link and sees only the celebrations they are invited to — so the Haldi can sit on the invitations of the thirty people coming to it, and simply not exist on the other three hundred.
Nobody has to be told they are not invited to something. It is not there.
What a Haldi invitation has to say
The time, because it is often early and on the day before the wedding. The place, which is often a home rather than a venue anybody can find — each celebration carries its own address and a map, so the Haldi can be at the house while the Sangeet is at a hall across town.
And the dress code. Every celebration has its own line for it, and the Haldi's is usually the same one: wear yellow, and wear something you will not mind getting yellow.
Called what your family calls it
Pithi, Ubtan, Mayun, Tel Baan — the name of the celebration is yours to change, and the invitation says it the way your family does.
Where the Haldi starts
Tick it when you create your invitation and it is filled in for you — then change any of it.
- When
- 10 am, the day before the wedding, for about 3 hours
- Dress code
- Shades of yellow
- For guests
- Turmeric, marigolds and a lot of laughter. Wear something you don't mind getting yellow.
What families ask
Can we invite some guests to the Haldi and not to everything else?
Yes, and the other way round. Each guest is ticked for the celebrations they are invited to, and their invitation shows those and no others.
Can the Haldi be at home and the wedding at a venue?
Yes. Each celebration has its own venue, address and map, and its own time and dress code.
Do we need a separate invitation just for the Haldi?
No. It is one invitation for the whole wedding, and each guest sees their own part of it. If the Haldi is all somebody is coming to, the Haldi is all they see.