The last couple of months have been incredibly busy with weddings all over the UK and I seem to have fallen behind with updating my blog. Further to this my internet has been off for the past week after a major fire at the Northampton data centre. There is a silver lining though as I “had” to come out to a local country pub to use their internet. I’m sat enjoying my cup of tea while catching up with updating my blog and replying to emails.
Way back in August I photographed Anju and Ajay’s fantastic Asian wedding at Butterley Grange in Derbyshire. Hindu weddings are very colourful and I enjoy the traditions, Indian people always make me feel extremely welcome and part of their day.
I arrived at 8.30am to photograph Anju’s preparations before driving to photograph Ajay’s preparations at a nearby hotel. The ceremony was back at Butterley Grange and here I should mention the flowers on the mandap (canopy over the ceremony). The florist had provided the flowers for the commonwealth games, although I’d imagine he used more flowers for Anju and Ajay’s mandap. Simply stunning is the only way to describe it, made up of hundreds of Orchids and Hydrangeas.
The day started for the guests with the arrival of the groom complete with drums and trumpets. This was followed by a traditional Indian breakfast with lashings of tea.
There are a number of important parts to a Hindu ceremony, firstly the Jaimala which is the exchange of garlands, the madhupak (offering of yoghurt and honey), the kanyadan (giving away of the bride), havan (lighting of the sacred fire), rajaham (sacrifice to the sacred fire), mangalphera (walking around the fire). Following this Ajay made seven vows. The ceremony lasted for about an hour and a half, which I later learnt was fairly short compared to some Hindu weddings.
After the Hindu ceremony the couple had a civil ceremony to complete the legal paperwork.
The couple then left for a few hours before the wedding breakfast in the evening which took place in a beautifully decorated marquee.
