~Amit weds Lenna~

Tommy and I had the honor of photographing our first traditional Indian Wedding May7th, 8th and 9th. We were so excited to do a three day shoot. We had the most wonderful time. We have never felt so welcomed. Everyone that was a part of the wedding, from the bridal party to the parents welcomed us as if we were family.

The videos you see in this blog are from Nate at Prodogy Video. There will be a "Music Video" of all three events coming soon. For now, the first video is of the Mehendi Ceremony that took place on Thursday a.k.a. Day One! We had such a great time visiting with everyone at the house. We started shooting at 2pm, when Lenna had half of one arm done. We came back around 7pm and got shots of the finished product. Amazing! While we were there we were offered lunch, dinner and ice cream and had many many laughs with her parents and the bridal party.

---Mehendi Ceremony usually takes place at the Brides parents house. The bride's family celebrates by gathering brides friends and relatives to watch the Mehendi being aplied on the brides hands, arms and feet. It usually takes around 8 hours to apply and over 12 to dry. Once dry, it's peeled off and the intreget designs are shown by a deep red, almost maroon, color. Over the next week the color fads and within 7 to 10 days it will be gone.

Day Two started out with some portraits of the Bride and Groom and their families outside of the ball room at the Westerville Rec Center. Friday night was Sangeet Ceremony and boy was it a blast. It was more than food and drink and dancing, it was basically a two hour performance showing off the Indian Culture. We enjoyed ourselves so much.

Sangeet Ceremonies forms an integral part of the Indian wedding Ceremonies. In India peoples wealth, status, religion and language differ. Marriage customs and ceremonies vary accordingly. Basically Sangeet Ceremonies are usually held after The Mehendi Ceremony. The women folk of the household gather around the bride. This is followed by fun, frolic, dance and traditional wedding songs.

~no photos ready yet~

The Big Wedding day, Day 3, was on Saturday. It was so amazing, the ceremony, the tradition, the dancing, the dancing... did I mention the dancing. Please see the photos and video below. It was such a beautiful day. And guess who applied the bindis (jewels along her eyebrow line). That's right, me! :) Everyone was too nervous to help, so I stepped in and applied them. I guess taking the time to scrap book with mini gems has payed off.

Leena + Amit = a Prodigy film from Prodigy Video on Vimeo.