Mendhi question

jsleik

Hi!

I have a very dumb question.  We're getting closer to our Indian wedding and nailing down the schedule for the week before.  My in-laws locked in a mendhi artist for the evening before.  Now she seems to have a scheduling problem so she wants to move it to 2 days before.  Which is fine.  But she is saying we need to meet at noon and that it will take all day and evening do do my mendhi and everyone else's.  RIght now we're planning on maybe 5-7 more women besides me.  Is that realistic timing-wise?  Is there something I'm not getting on why we could start earlier or later?  I just seems like if we do noon, then we can't do anything in the morning beforehand, so we're giving up a full day and night of that busy week.  Is that what everyone else did?

Just curious what others experience is.  We're going to be in Calcutta.

Thanks in advance!

temurlang

Well, yes, you will lose that whole day if you start at noon...

Mine (something of a disaster) started late, so they actually started putting the mehndi on me at 4:00 pm.  For various reasons (SIL organized this event), we had to do this outside.  At 7:00, it was getting pretty dark and since Jaipur is desert the temperature plummeted.  I just couldn't stand the cold since I had to have my arms and legs exposed, so around 7:30 I said no more.  My arms were done but they had barely done my feet and didn't get to my legs at all in that three and a half hours.

Then there's the drying... after another 3 hours in front of a space heater, I had to go to a dinner with the hard mehndi still on.  You also can't really do anything or eat or drink much this whole time.  I didn't enjoy it and won't be doing it for SIL's wedding.

Whatever timing you end up with 1) it won't start on time (for this reason I would say asking her to start earlier won't make a difference), and 2) make sure they start on you immediately.  If you're having it at home, I would insist on later.  The 12:00 - 6:00 time frame with no meal would be too tough for me, and if you don't have to go anywhere after, then it's better to do it later.

jsleik

Temurlang, what would I do without you??

So, we will want to do something that night, so that is why I was thinking right away in the morning might be good.  That way we can just use up the whole day and still have the evening to do something.  However, I did not think about the eating issue.  I suppose that also goes for the bathroom.  Yikes.  How will I manage that??

I think my best bet is to go with the flow and try to mentally prepare everyone for a long process!  Thank you!

Any other advice is very, very welcome!!  :-)

kathleenlisson

My Mehndi artist suggested that a female family member would have to help me go to the restroom. She also said to do my dominant hand first, so I can put a plastic glove over the mehndi in order to use my hand later in the evening. Good luck!

jsleik

Aha!!  Thanks!  That is not one of those things anyone warns you about!!  :-)