as the wedding day approaches, many couples and their immediately-involved families sometimes forget to celebrate the joy of marriage...but not the dattas! this family loves to party and they do that oh-so-very-well! from the cooking in the wee hours in the morning, to the beautiful fabrics cascading from the ceiling to the walls, the dattas had not only set the bar for the essence of life's celebrations - they have raised it to the quintessential meaning of the word celebration. ron and naleem, parents of the groom, welcomed the bride-to-be and her family with open arms. flown in from norway, the bride and her family were invited with open arms into the whirling and twirling world of datta celebration. music fuelled the women's energy on the dance floor, and the drums only added to the passion each woman brought with her that day. with each drum beat, another woman would take the place of another, and this exchange of energy was duplicated in an adjoining room where the art of mehndi was applied.

customary prior to the wedding day, the women gather for a day of celebration that is entirely their own. henna would be applied onto their hands, inside and outside and sometimes even up their arms. after the intricate patterns are carefully laid onto each woman's hands, they are expected to rest and relax from the daily chores that the women usually do, for the henna has to dry in order for its dye to soak into their skins, and only time would ensure the proper transferance from dye to skin. as such, the henna ceremonies give the women the chance to rest and the men the opportunity to prove their worth to their wives and families, a truly all-encompassing way of involving everyone in the intricacies of a wedding!