Springtime not only means warmer temperatures, but also the beginning of the wedding season. With over 25 cousins on my dad’s side of the family and over 25 first cousins on my mom’s side of the family, there’s usually a wedding or two every year.

As Catholics, weddings often include a bride in a white dress, the train flowing for miles behind her, a nervous groom in a rented gray tux waiting near the altar and a church filled with quiet guests.

So when my son asked if I’d like to attend his friend’s wedding in a Hindu temple, I was thrilled to not only go and wish Jay and Allison many years of happiness, but I was also curious as to how a different religion would celebrate marriage.

Chris was a groomsman in the wedding so the grandchildren rode to the temple with me. We met Chris in the parking lot, and he was wearing a long purple tunic, gold pants and a gold scarf.

He fit right in because the wedding guests were dressed in beautiful, bright colors. Turquoise, scarlet, emerald green, saffron and gold were the choices for the day by both men and women, and I loved seeing the bold, bright colors on the silk and taffeta saris and scarves.

Chris said the groom was supposed to ride into the temple on a Mustang, but they couldn’t find or get a real horse to the temple.

The elders said a Ford Mustang could substitute for the steed, so we all gathered behind the vehicle as it began the wedding procession.

As the music played and the drummers beat out a melody, guests waved their hands in the air and danced to the front doors of the temple as is tradition in a Hindu wedding.

Everyone was smiling and clapping, and I thought that was a terrific way for a couple to start their married life – joyous and without reservations.

Luckily we all received programs so that those of us who weren’t Hindu could understand what was happening. Inside the temple, two white chairs stood side by side in the middle of the stage while yards of white tulle provided a soft background.

What impressed me the most were the vows the bride and groom recited to each other, vows that go back hundreds of years. The couple prays to earn an honest livelihood, to love and respect their families and to seek enlightenment.

Together, they take seven steps into their married life, and the steps include nourishing each other, growing together in strength, preserving wealth, sharing joys and sorrows and caring for children. The last two steps were especially moving – to be lifelong friends and to respect one another’s spiritual values and, most importantly, each other.

The Hindu ceremony was rich in bright bold colors, the involvement of friends and family and the promises made to each other in a step-by-step joining of two young people in traditions steeped in old-world values, recited by many generations of young couples before them.

They thanked their family and friends for sharing the first day of their lives together as husband and wife. I realized that this Hindu wedding was more than a man and a woman coming together. They engaged in a ceremony that bound them to the past but made them promise to face the future together.

As we ate a traditional Hindu lunch, I was grateful my son had invited me to tag along to witness another religion’s way of celebrating marriage.

I realized that no matter the religious denomination, no matter if the wedding food is chaat or roast beef, no matter if guests dance behind a Mustang or to a Czech Grand March, when two people take each other as husband and wife in the company of family and friends, there is hope for the world.

This article was originally published in The Fort Bend Herald.