Confession of Sambhavi on her Wedding Day

My wedding day was supposed to be the happiest moment of my life, but instead, it turned into a painful reminder of how much my feelings and opinions didn’t matter. Coming from different cultural backgrounds, I expected some differences in rituals, but I never thought it would feel this suffocating.

One of the rituals I struggled with was *kanyadaan*-the act of “giving away” the bride. To me, it felt like something out of an era when women were treated as mere possessions. I shared my discomfort with my husband before the wedding, and while he initially agreed, he didn’t stand up to his family. He just let it happen, ignoring how important this was to me.

Then there was the so-called “first-night ritual.” My husband’s family treated it like a performance, a staged event that felt invasive and humiliating. I made it clear I was against it, especially since it was to take place at my in-laws’ home. Yet again, my husband didn’t take a stand or even bother to check in with me about whether it would still happen.

After the wedding, we stayed at my parents’ house for a few days. During this time, my husband barely spoke to me, leaving me feeling isolated and unimportant. He didn’t check if I was okay, didn’t update me on the first-night ritual, and acted as if I didn’t exist.

Then came the incident with my mother-in-law. She sat down with my sister and me for hours, rambling about her own life, her career, and her struggles. Not once did she ask how I was doing or try to get to know me. Instead, she criticized my family, pointing out what went “wrong” at the wedding and what my mother had supposedly missed. The audacity was unbearable.

When my parents came to visit the next day, my mother-in-law brought up the same issues again. This time, my father stepped in and firmly told her to keep such discussions private. But even after they left, the damage was done. I broke down in tears in my room, overwhelmed and hurt. My husband saw me crying but didn’t even bother to ask what was wrong. That silence from him was like a dagger to my heart.

I tried to keep myself composed through our reception, smiling through the pain, pretending everything was okay. But the hurt lingered. When we finally left for our honeymoon in the Maldives, I thought we would have some time to talk, to heal. I waited for my husband to ask how I was feeling, to acknowledge the hurt I had been carrying. But he never did.

Eventually, I brought it up, and by that point, I was so angry and hurt that it turned into a full-blown fight. Instead of being the happiest time of my life, my wedding became a series of moments where I felt ignored, disrespected, and completely alone.