Tamilian weddings are photographer’s paradise for there are a number of rituals that take place which gives a lots of opportunity to come up with some great shots. Deepti & Arvind's wedding which was put together in less than a fortnight was one such. Even though we have already covered a Tamilian wedding we were extremely curious and eager to see how different (or similar) since both sides of the family were Tamilian Brahmins.
Exchange of a few mails over the span of 10 hours (different time zones - IST & GMT), no negotiation and the dates are blocked. I wish every photographer gets such clients!
Smita & Shounak's was a Mallu - Maharashtrian wedding, Smita being a Mallu and Shounak a Maharashtrian. They had decided that they'll be having both Mallu and Maharshtrian style wedding. *WIN WIN*
The Mallu wedding is perhaps the shortest variety, lasting all of ten minutes with the main attraction being the sadhya that follows :P Right before the wedding there was the kalynanam where the bride and groom are escorted by womenfolk rounded up with thalams- plates carrying flowers, rice, a small lamp and other such items followed by exchange of garlands.
Cross culture weddings are always full of surprises and hearty laughs. To give you an example, during the Mallu style wedding when Shounak was supposed to tie Smita the mangalsutra or the thali we think he got majorly confused looking at it and merrily went ahead by wearing it around his own neck. (Thali is a small leaf shaped pendant with a yellow thread)
The Maharashtrian style wedding and Shounak's ear to ear grins =]
Both Smita & Shounak wanted a quirky photo shoot with their parents and close friends against a retro backdrop with some killer props. I think this photo (bombing) shoot lasted much much longer than the Mallu wedding :P
Many happy faces, many many GIF's ended with some trippy business :) Enjoy!
We had no intention of making this video, it was purely a result of some experiments we did with the pictures on FCP which turned out to be crazy
Avanii & Nikhil have the perfect chemistry, throughout the functions they were so high-spirited and happily hopping around :)
The wedding kicked off with a Mehendi-Cocktail function at Khar Gymkhana, Mumbai. They had a setup a 'mela' theme for the evening with whole lot of bangles, bindi's and beautiful boxes displayed which were handpicked by avanii, her sister, mother and sister-in-law. Needless to say, all women were glued to pick matching bangles with their outfits but it also received attention of Nikhil's grandfather who was quite kicked to try them on. How adorable!
The Mehendi was followed by the Sangeet the next day hosted at The Hyatt, Mumbai. Avanii's makeup for both the wedding and sangeet was done by Kapil Bhalla.
This sangeet in particular was one we really enjoyed, from the killer power pact performances to the beautiful venue. Hyatt and it's stunning ballroom ceiling, how could anything go wrong!
Finally here comes the day they've been longing for since the past seven years.
All in all it was a perfect wedding and we want to thank Avanii and Nikhil and wish them all the best for their future!
