Re: NIKHA PROCEDURES
A valima IS a reception, they're the same thing! Goras just happen to do their valimas on the same day as the wedding rather than a day later like in a desi wedding..
in all the shaadi's i've attended, they have the nikah on day one immediately followed by the shaadi reception which is a full on reception with dinner, dancing, etc. that same night. and then the day after that or a couple of days after that, they have the valima. so theres actually two receptions taking place. usually brides wear red or maroon or pink on the shaadi and some lighter color jora on the valima. we've seen lots of pictures of that in the bridal pics thread too, so i know we're not the only ones who have two receptions.
in other words, to me, theres the shaadi, i.e. nikah followed by reception, and valima, i.e. second reception a day or so after the shaadi. we're only doing the shaadi reception, so officially, we're not having a valima. but unoffically, we could call it one since it will be after the nikah.