Accession Number

B82

Series Title

LYNDA LEE'S PEOPLE

Programme Title

SIKH WEDDING

Producer

Gerald Harrison

Other Credits

Editor: George Bailey; Camera: Ken Ward; Director: Tony Wilkie-Millar; Presenter: Lynda Lee Potter

Transmission Date

01/01/84

colour , sound (sep), 28 mins 56 secs

Synopsis

Lynda Lee Potter follows the preparations, celebrations & ceremonies of an arranged Sikh wedding between Sue Kaur from London and Pip Singh from Audenshaw, a Sikh couple who have been engaged for 3 yrs but have never met. There is footage of the bridegroom's family preparing for the wedding and the groom undergoing rituals: henna is rubbed on him and his clothes are ripped off. There are interviews with the groom and his father. The bridegroom's male relatives travel to London in a coach, stopping at Sangat Bhatra Sikh Temple in Whalley Range on the way. The bridegroom's party, two days earlier, is shown where the men celebrated separately from the women. The men are seen singing and dancing at a motorway service station and arriving at the bride's house. The male relatives on both sides then are seen at Stratford Church Institute. Mrs Kaur, the bride's mother, and Mr Singh, Pip's father, are interviewed and both defend arranged marriages. The wedding ceremony is shown at Gurdwara Sikh Sangat Temple in London (bride completely veiled throughout). A number of Western, white guests are interviewed about their views on the marriage. After the ceremony, the bridegroom celebrates with male guests at the family home Poonch House in Audenshaw. Five weeks later the bride goes to her in-laws' house to meet her husband properly and the couple are interviewed about arranged marriages and love.