If you’ve ever met me, you’ll know that I often dream of photographing cultural ceremonies around the world. To witness the different traditions that have become custom in making couples officially married gives me a unique buzz that I thrive on and love my day to day job even more. To put it simply, I absolute love people and adore ethnic differences.
Obviously, I normally photograph traditional UK ceremonies (UK register ceremonies and Church of England/ Catholic ceremonies) , whereby the customs of giving away of the bride, vows and exchange of rings. I know what to expect, where to stand, where to photograph, after all it’s my wonderful day job and I hope you don’t mind me saying, I’ve become rather good at it!
However over the years I’ve been lucky to photograph a few Hindu weddings, one of which was in the Indian City, Varinassi, where I photographed couples having wedding rituals on the River Ganges (to see it please click here).
Hindu wedding’s are obviously poignant and stooped in traditions, one of which is The Saptapadi (The seven steps). Each of the steps is called a “Phere” and each Phere stands for the seven promices and principles made by the couple to each other during the exchange of vows. I’m now beginning to understand and know The Saptapadi, but each time I photograph one I’m always blown away by the ridiculously colourful sights and smells that encompass it.
When Ramani and Felix booked me to photograph their wedding at the wonderful North Mymms Park, I was overjoyed. They had decided, because of their obvious backgrounds, to include both a Hindu and English civil ceremony. The main thing they wanted to do was to unite their family and friends and bask in the glory of both. Timings today, meant it was going to be tight and very easy to over run, but for me, this ultimately was going to be one hell of joyous ride which I was going to relish and be a part of…
