Archive: ‘Weddings’
Thursday, October 7th, 2010
I’ve never actually tried to explain what happens in an Indian wedding on this blog since I’ve grown up with them, but whenever I talk to friends who aren’t Indian I realize that many of the rituals could probably use some explanation. Each part of India has slightly different rituals or ways of performing the same rituals which is what makes photographing Indian wedding so interesting.
I remember that at one wedding the non-Indian groomsmen didn’t realize they were supposed to let the bridesmaids steal the groom’s shoes. One groomsman was holding onto them for dear life until a bridesmaid explained he was only supposed to put up token resistance so later on the groom could buy back his shoes from the bridesmaids.
There’s almost always a horse (though sometimes an elephant) with or without a carriage for the bharat. This is a procession of the groom’s family, traditionally, to the bride’s residence. Here it’s often once around the wedding venue and plenty of dancing by the groom’s family. As the photos below show getting put on someone’s shoulders can get a little tricky, but Amil took the whole thing in stride. I’m guessing he was much more comfortable, though, in the horse-drawn carriage.
Tags: indian weddings, Long Island, melville, New York, new york wedding, new york wedding photographer, new york wedding photography, radhika chalasani, weddings
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Friday, September 3rd, 2010
Not many couples would attempt to train for a major sporting event taking place the same week as their wedding, but that’s what Reshma and Ravi decided to do before their July 24th wedding this summer. They strike me as a couple who like challenges so it seemed in their nature to juggle to major events in their lives. Their wedding was probably the hottest day of the summer with the temperature hovering at 100 degrees. The great staff at the botanical garden discreetly put fans around the outdoor ceremony to keep the guests cool!
Ceremony & Reception: Bronx Botanical Garden
Tags: bronx botanical garden, Indian wedding
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Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Aditi and Mick’s wedding was July 4th weekend. They had all the traditional elements of an Indian wedding and managed to have the wedding day reflect their personalities as well. I have countless photos of Aditi, in particular, laughing like crazy so I know they enjoyed the day thoroughly. There were plenty of people to share the happiness with too, with 8 bridesmaids and groomsmen and hundreds of guests. It was a long, long day…15 hours in total and lots of fun.
The couples I’ve worked with probably have a good idea that I’m a bit irreverent about things and like to look for the details that show the humorous and unique things about each wedding along with capturing the beauty and emotions of the day. A few of the photos below are perfect examples of that: Both Aditi and Mick had the same tattoo (below). Aditi came up with the ingenious idea of using suspenders to keep up her very heavy beaded skirt in place, which I thought was a brilliant idea. It’s the first time I’ve seen a plastic bag used to help slide bracelets onto a bride’s arm. And for some reason, I really liked the fact that the garlands were carefully laid to rest on the tv in the bridal suite at the end of the ceremony.
I can’t speak highly enough about the staff at the Hyatt Hotel in Morristown or the wonderful iced tea in the lobby which really helped with the heat!
I also had the pleasure of working with Anoli, her husband, and the rest of their crew from Shaadi Story for the first time. They were great about coordinating the video with my photography. I’m looking forward to seeing their video of the wedding.
Reception: Hyatt Hotel, Morristown, NJ
indian wedding
Tags: brooklyn wedding photographer, Hyatt Hotel wedding, Indian wedding, morristown, new jersey, nyc wedding photographer, radhika chalasani, wedding portraits
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Monday, August 2nd, 2010
I’ve been neglecting the blog this summer and my only excuse is that it’s been busy between the weddings, editorial work…and squeezing in as much sailing as I can. I’m trying to make up for it now. I had a favorite photo I wanted to share of Stacey and Adam practicing their first dance at sunset on the roof of the Terminal Stores, a 19th century building in Chelsea housing the loft event space the Xchange, after our portrait session. It was a sweet, quiet time for them (except for my presence of course) just before the Katuba signing and ceremony. What a beautiful night sky.
Wedding & Reception: The Xchange
Tags: bride and groom, chelsea, dance, first dance, new york city, radhika chalasani, sunset, weddings, Xchange
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Saturday, January 16th, 2010
This year started off with a “first” for me since I had an assignment in Paris to photograph a couple on their honeymoon. Wedding photos on your honeymoon is slightly unusual. Linda and Johnny contacted me the middle of last year about their plans to have a quiet wedding ceremony in Amsterdam (yes, they are Dutch) on December 31st which most of their friends and family didn’t know about. They were then heading to Paris for their honeymoon and wanted to do their wedding portraits there. Paris was in the middle of an extreme cold snap with temperatures at zero degrees celsius during the holiday week, but we were fortunate that the sun came out for the morning to help warm things up. What we didn’t count on was Linda and Johnny being something of a tourist attraction during the session. They ended up in countless tourists’ vacation photos and at one point had an Italian school group sing to them in the courtyard of the Louvre and mob them to congratulate them (see below).
To any bride getting married in the winter you might want to take note of Linda’s smart use of long johns under her wedding dress.
Locations: The Louvre, Pont Neuf, Eiffel Tower
Tags: black and white portraits, eiffel tower wedding photos, france, france wedding photos, honeymoon photos, louvre, paris wedding photos, pont neuf, wedding portraits
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Thursday, December 10th, 2009
I felt I had to share the portraits from Meghan and Oren’s wedding as a separate post all on their own. The wedding photos will come later. I absolutely loved shooting at the Cloisters on this perfect Autumn day. Well, the light was perfect and the Fall foliage was at its best, but I’m sure Meghan and Oren would’ve loved for it to be a few degrees warmer. I kept telling them to pretend they were in the Caribbean. I’m not sure they were buying that when it was 50 degrees outside, but they got into the spirit of things and their feelings for each other came through loud and clear in the photographs. The kids spotting the kissing couple was a fun moment.
Location: The Cloisters and Fort Tryon Park, New York.
Tags: autumn wedding, cloisters, fall foliage, fort tryon park, Manhattan, new york city, new york wedding, nyc wedding photography, the cloisters, wedding portraits
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Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
One of Elona and Michael’s wedding guests described Elona as a little firecracker. She’s 5’2″ and definitely has a firecracker personality. Between her great sense of fun on her wedding day and the running jokes about Michael’s duct-taped finger due to a vegetable chopping accident the day before I found myself giggling through most of the day. I also had a blast doing their portraits at the Hoboken Train Station…our choice in case of rain and boy, did it pour. The only drama of the day was a missing rabbi, but the couple handled it all in stride and with the help of a great maid of honor and best man managed to find a replacement rabbi (on a Saturday no less) who performed the ceremony as if he’d known the couple for a long time. I was super impressed.
Getting Ready: Hilton Hotel
Ceremony: The Newark Club
Tags: hoboken, hoboken train station, new jersey wedding photography, newark club, nj wedding photography, wedding portraits
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Monday, August 17th, 2009
Jessie and Huberto got married on my birthday and I was totally taken by surprise to be asked to blow out a candle on a birthday cupcake (some of the best chocolate I’ve had in a long while!). It tells you what kind of thoughtful people they are. They had some interesting elements to their wedding day including a skeleton bride and groom as a decorative piece. When I asked about that Jessie explained it was the idea of “till death do us part”.
PORTRAITS: DUMBO, Brooklyn
WEDDING & RECEPTION: The Foundry
Tags: Brooklyn, cake, DUMBO, long island wedding photography, radhika chalasani, the foundry, weddings
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