Kanya Daanam (Giving of the Bride) was one of the busiest and most eventful parts of our wedding ceremony. During this part the parents of the bride place hands of their daughter into the hands of the groom and ask him to except their daughter as his equal partner throughout life. This "asking" happens without words. Instead a coconut is placed on top of the bride's and her father's palms, and those palms are placed on top of palms of the groom and his parents. Then the bride’s mother pours holy water from the river Ganga on the coconut and the priest invokes the blessings of the gods.
As neither my parents nor Anil's could attend our wedding ceremony, we asked Anil's brother Gautam and his wife Neeta to substitute for Anil's parents, and my friends Bartek and Manja to substitute for mine. All of them did extremely good job as our parents :)
As you can see, Anil and I were still separated by a curtain. Manja (my mother) pours holy water over the coconut that Bartek (my father), Anil and I keep in our hands:
On this photo you can even see water dripping on the coconut:
