Marriage is regarded as the most important social event in Indian culture. The concept of marriage can be traced back to Vedic times. Mostly Hindu marriage ceremonies are elaborate one and they lasts for days or even weeks. Although the main wedding ceremony is a one-day affair but there are different ceremonies that are held on separate days preceding the main wedding ceremony. According to Hindu religion out of sixteen ceremonies in a person's lifetime marriage is considered to be the thirteenth one.

In our Indian society we mostly have arranged marriages where the parents of both the girl and boy decides about the wedding. They only decide whom to marry. Once they choose the girl and boy they were allowed to meet and see other. Once they like each other the date of the engagement and marriage is decided. There are various pre wedding functions and rituals out of which engagement ceremony is the most important since it marks the beginning of the wedding ceremony. Months before the wedding an engagement ceremony is conducted. It is known by different names in different regions of the country. Like it is known as Misri, ring ceremony, aashirwad, and mangni.

On the day of the engagement the family members, friends and relatives of both the groom and bride's meets. They meet to bless the couple and wish them a happily married life. The would-be bride and groom are given gifts of jewelry and clothes by their new family. The engagement or the ring ceremony is held to exchange the gold wedding rings. The couple after exchanging their ring they offer sweets welcome each other with garlands. Than sweets and good wishes are exchanged between the two families. Than all the guests gathers for the dinner party where the family and friends have dinner and enjoy. Trays of gifts are offered to both the families. In Gujarati customs the bride's family gifts the groom's family 'matli', which consists of snacks and Indian sweets. Engagement is an important wedding celebration and it holds a lot of significance in the Indian wedding traditions.

Most couples plan a year-long engagement to make preparations for their wedding, although some of the most popular wedding specialists can be booked from 12 to 18 months in advance.

In the earliest days of the human race, the betrothal ritual involved an exchange of gifts or property from the groom-to-be to the bride-to-be's parents. This was not only ceremonial, but an important part of the marriage contract because the bride's family was losing her to another lineage forever, and sought compensation for this. The betrothal eventually gave way in the eighteenth century to a courtship whereby a groom chose his bride for reasons of love.

Following the era of the arranged marriage when the groom would specify the exact payment he offered for his future wife, the formality of a groom asking the bride-to-be's father for her hand in marriage preserves a trace of history and often serves to cement the relationship between the groom to-be and his future father-in-law.

Months before the wedding an engagement ceremony is conducted. It is known by different names in different regions of the country. Like it is known as Misri, ring ceremony, aashirwad, and mangni.

On the day of the engagement the family members, friends and relatives of both the groom and bride's meets. They meet to bless the couple and wish them a happily married life. The would-be bride and groom are given gifts of jewelry and clothes by their new family. The engagement or the ring ceremony is held to exchange the gold wedding rings. The couple after exchanging their ring they offer sweets welcome each other with garlands. Than sweets and good wishes are exchanged between the two families. Than all the guests gathers for the dinner party where the family and friends have dinner and enjoy. Trays of gifts are offered to both the families. In Gujarati customs the bride's family gifts the groom's family 'matli', which consists of snacks and Indian sweets. Engagement is an important wedding celebration and it holds a lot of significance in the Indian wedding traditions.