Chalo Lalitpur
The story of Arvind and Surabhi’s wedding
It was not a surprise when Arvind approached me for covering his wedding, in fact that was decided by him two years earlier when I had first met him and we had spoken about my wedding work. It was indeed a pleasure for me and my team to travel all the way to the quaint town of Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh and experience an authentic wedding of their tradition.
It was late in the night when we arrived in Bhopal. Arvind had made arrangements for our stay in a hotel owned by his friend, Shashi – another gem of a person! After having a delicious dinner with Shashi, we spent the night there and left for Lalitpur early the next morning. The train journey was wonderful with paddy and wheat fields running on both sides of the track as we crossed the vast expanse of Madhya Pradesh. Once we arrived, we were greeted with his sisters, dressed in beautiful clothes and with Aarti thalis in their hands. The three storeyed house was decorated with lights and flowers and was abuzz with at least a hundred people.
We were at a short of words seeing the happenings in that house! Ladies preparing diyas, men hanging garlands on the walls, the bandwallahs playing music outside the house, children running around playing and young girls getting henna (mehndi) painted on their hands. We immediately pulled out our cameras and started capturing as much as we can – we were in a total culture shock!
The next two days were pure bliss. The entire team enjoyed shooting so much. Arvind’s family was so welcoming that we also danced and sang with them after the Haldi and Mehndi rituals were done. The wedding was an overnight one as is the case in most North Indian weddings, but not for a single moment did we feel fatigued or bored. There was so much happening every moment that we had ample amount of footages to include in the wedding film. In fact, it was a gargantuan task to sort the footages at the time of post-production.
Everything about this wedding was larger than life, just like the bride and the groom. Arvind and Surabhi, both believe in living life in the moment and enjoying every moment of it. This philosophy of theirs reflects in their attitude and behavior which makes them awesome people to hang out with!
Three days later, when we boarded our return journey to Pune, we were sure to have captured one of the most beautiful weddings in our career. But more importantly, we were delighted to have met such amazing people.
In the lap of the mountains
– The story of Rameez and Nuzhat’s wedding
Lonavala is a place desired by everyone especially in the monsoons. People from Pune and Mumbai flock this town to enjoy the pristine beauty of nature and experience the adrenaline of monsoon treks. What a delight it was to shoot in such a place and that too just after the departure of the monsoon when the surroundings are of the richest shade of green!
Rameez is from Pune and my classmate from high school, and Nuzhat is from Mumbai. And so Lonavala served as the best destination for them to get married. And with all the natural beauty around, it was nothing short of a dream. They had booked a nice resort which had an in-house water park, a banquet hall and a lawn where the wedding rituals took place. With beautiful floral decorations and lighting, the resort was oozing with festivities. We reached the venue well in advance as we did not want to miss out on the pre-event shots. After about an hour of exploring the place, I got a call from Rameez that he will be arriving in a few minutes. They arrived and the initial rituals took place which involved people only from the groom side. The sky was turning grey from blue and the stars reflected beautifully in the swimming pool just beside the wedding lawn. I was just admiring their marvel, when Nuzhat arrived. And my God, it was a sight to watch! She made them look so mediocre with her arresting beauty that everyone’s eyes were transfixed on this alluring angel walking on the aisle! As she stepped on the red carpet, the sky was alight with fire-crackers and the atmosphere abuzz with the melodious music played by local artisans. And there stood Rameez – probably the happiest man on earth at that moment, admiring his better half with love in his eyes. They were a couple truly made for each other.
Shooting this wonderful couple was really a very nice experience for us and till date we remember the grandness of that wedding!
Two states
– The story of Akhila and Gaurav’s wedding
Akhi and Gaurav’s wedding was the most diverse events that we have covered in our career! In spite of it being in Pune, we had the taste of both a Keralite and a Bihari wedding at the same time. Their parents being religious, they had insisted on performing all the rituals according to both the cultures. And Photo Wizards was more than happy to cover the traditions from both the lands. Working on this assignment and all was one part, but more than that we were secretly excited for this supremely rich cultural experience.
It started early in the morning with a beautiful ceremony at the Krishna Mandir in Nigadi. Well, actually the rituals had begun the previous night itself on the terrace of Akhila’s home. In Keralite tradition, the marriage ceremony begins with the ‘Ganpati Nivedyam’ seeking the blessings of Vighneshwara for removal of obstacles. And then, the ritual that happened after that was particularly beautiful. Akhila and her sisters, friends, maasis and chachis together made one thousand wicks out of one cotton cloth. The bride is supposed to be worshipped with a huge thali which has these one thousand wicks lit aflame. Upon being slightly inquisitive, I came to know that this ritual denotes the graceful send-off to ‘Vishavasu’, the Gandharva who has been the girl’s ever-present protector till marriage. These wicks are prepared on the previous day of the marriage, called as ‘Ayniyoonu’.
The next day begun rather early and Team Photo Wizards was present at six a.m. at the Krishna Mandir to cover the next rituals. When Gaurav arrived, he was welcomed by Akhi’s family with an aarti and a garland and then escorted royally to the sanctum of the temple. Incidentally there was some Puja happening in the temple as it was one of the very auspicious days of the year. A couple of pujaris encircled the temple a few times with diyas, dhols and trumpets. After that was done, the bride and the groom took their wedding vows in the presence of God asking for his blessings for a happy and healthy future. The varmalas or the wedding garlands were unique in nature, completely made of basil leaves – something we had seen for the first time. And then the bride’s beautiful neck was adorned by the mangalsurtam. It went on for hardly half an hour, but was beautiful to watch nonetheless.
With the Keralite part of the wedding done, we had some delicious idlis and meduwadas for breakfast and went to our room to take some rest as we were told that the Bihari wedding would be an overnight thing. That evening, after the reception in the party lawn and shaking of legs by the bride, groom and their friends; we proceeded to the banquet hall where the night rituals were supposed to take place. And I have to say, this part of the wedding was as beautiful as the Keralite part! First we had the Jaimala, then the Galsedi, Kangnabandhan, Kanyadaan and Bhaisur Nirakshan. But one ritual that caught my eye was when the groom is caught by his collar or dupatta and dragged to the mandapam. And the cousins play pranks on him as he sits on the gaddi in the mandapam.
The rituals went on for the entire night till almost six a.m. but not for a single moment did we feel fatigued or bored as there was constantly something or the other interesting happening. We left at about nine a.m. after the Bidaai and Grahapravesh. We were slightly tired, but very satisfied with the enriching experience.