Things have been a bit quiet on the front here since I (Jigar) just had a baby! As we’re settling down, we’re still catching up on some of the recent events we’ve covered.

In the last post, we showed you some of Tejal & Nalin’s pre-wedding events. Now on to the wedding day itself….

To this day, I always wonder how the bride does it all…starting with make-up before 6am and ending the reception after midnight.

Ready??

Set??

Go!!

Welcoming Nalin…as we’ve mentioned before, this is the time where it’s like a crush of humanity! So many people want to see what’s going on. And with so much built up excitement, there’s hardly room for the photographers!
But we still squeeze in for the shot

Check out this cool Antharpath. The Antharpath is the cloth which separates the couple when the bride first arrives on the wedding mandap. Generally, the couple holds hands underneath this cloth, but this Antharpath was designed with a heart-shaped hole right in the middle. Aww…how schweet!

Hook Em! Longhorns all around! The groom, his sister, and seemingly everyone else in attendance were Texas alums.

A quieter moment as the bride’s mother was waiting for her daughter to say her goodbyes. As I’ve said previously….sometimes these moments even bring tears to our eyes.

And moving onto the Reception…

Speaking of Longhorns…808 in the house!
Look at the cupcakes! Yum!

The traditional shot of the couple entering is getting them head on as they’re waving to the crowd. While we make sure we get that, I just love trailing the couple as they enter and get the reaction of all of their guests.

The agenda for receptions has changed since we started doing weddings. There used to be speech after speech after speech interspersed with a couple of performances. Lately, couples have been skipping the lengthy speeches or performance for more fun stuff. In this case, the Tejal & Nalin played a game where they had to tell everyone who would have the final say on various moments in a married couple’s life. Very rarely have I seen the entire reception hall so noisy….everyone really had a lot of fun with this one. That definitely makes it more fun for us as photographers too!

Just love Tejal’s expression here

Definitely a Texan at heart…

On to the partying!

Congrats guys! I know you had a great time all weekend. Best wishes as you enjoy married life!

Woah…a month just passes by like that. Catching up on the blogging, here’s some tidbits from Sharmila & Suneel’s big day.

Starting the day off with hair, make-up, and a little champagne. Can’t say that it’s a bad thing

A beautiful location at the house of a relative. We’ve done outdoor weddings before, but this one seemed to cover every little detail. The more I see these bright colors, the more I like them for such festive affairs and Indian weddings.

Just as the bride was getting ready to arrive, there was a little drama with one of the flowergirls. To be honest, I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often. It’s not surprising that a five year old who has been standing in the heat for an hour would get tired or nervous when she’s about to be the center of attention. In any case, the flower petals made their way to the aisle and the ring was delivered to the mandap!

The day just ended up being one of those perfect balances of warmth & breeze.

One of the great things about most Hindu weddings (in our perspective) is all the little details with items on the mandap. Some times it’s a Ganesh carving or the priest’s prayer books. In this case, the mandap was very empty. It was a very modern wedding and the details were in every aspect of the decorations, but the ceremony itself was quite simple. Totally different challenge from a photography perspective since we really love capturing all the details. So here’s just one of those details of the couple holding hands.

The traditional exit shots you get at Western weddings just don’t always happen with Indian weddings. In fact, the bride almost always leaves crying since the Vidaii (the bride finally leaving her parents’ family for her new family) is just part of the tradition. So it’s a nice change to see such elation on the bride’s face as she leaves the mandap!

Not have a traditional type of hall for the reception really let the couple dream up an awesome look for the evening. A tent with open doorways on such a nice day led to such a nice warmth as the sun set.

I love getting candid moments like these…almost like I had posed them, but hey, they just kissed spontaneously! As a photographer, finding these moments without being intrusive can be tough, especially with Indian weddings when the couple just doesn’t get much time to themselves or to just think for a moment.

And, of course, the couple having a little fun with their speech. Good stuff!

And as a Bruin, how could I forget the 8-clap! The bride’s friend busted out the cheer to the chagrin of the groom’s Trojan buddies.

Somehow lifting the groom (and sometimes the bride) onto your shoulders has become a tradition. I really can’t say why, but hey, it’s a moment to themselves