Hindu wedding photography at Nakshatra Wedding Hall London
Teresa & Shabba’s Sri Lankan wedding celebration
Wow, where do I start with this beautiful and colourful Hindu wedding celebration? I was honoured to have photographed Teresa & Shabba’s English wedding at Priston Mill near Bath, a couple of weeks back and now it was time for the Sri Lankan Hindu wedding ceremony at Nakshatra Hall in Feltham, London. When talking with Shabba about what to expect, he told me it would be “colouful and loud”. He was not wrong! I loved seeing all the different colours of the beautiful sarees, shoes, garlands, flowers and fruits that were used for the ceremony. This was my first time photographing a Hindu celebration, so I made sure I stayed near the action so as not to miss anything important. I loved seeing the mix of two cultures coming together as many of Teresa’s family and friends embraced the Asian style and wore beautiful coloured sarees and other traditional attire.
The ceremony began with the arrival of Shabba, Teresa’s brother then welcomed him into the family by sprinkling water on his feet and gave him a garland as a mark of honour and welcome. Teresa then arrived in the first of her beautiful wedding sarees, accompanied by her bridesmaids and relatives and underwent the same purification and protection rituals as Shabba. Teresa’s family offered her hand in marriage, Shabba accepted and promised to love and cherish her. Shabba offered her the Koorai (wedding saree) and the Thali (sacred gold necklace) and these were circulated around the congregation for blessing. Shabba & Teresa sought blessings for a long and happy life by making offerings to the Agni Homan (holy fire).
When Teresa returned she was wearing her red koorai saree, and placed a garland around Shabba signifying her choice. Next Shabba tied the Thali around Teresa’s neck (similar to the giving and receiving of rings in an English ceremony) and they offered each other garlands. Shabba then puts rings on Teresa’s toes and the marriage is blessed by the congregation with the throwing of saffron rice. It was a beautiful ceremony with so much going on, I hope these photographs will give you a taster of this joyful and colourful day.
The happy couple let their hair down for their evening karaoke celebration at the Turks Head Pub in nearby Twickenham. Special thanks goes to my good friend Mark who was my second shooter for this wedding. Being 8 months pregnant at the time of shooting it was great working with another talented photographer to make sure we didn’t miss anything.
I wish you both all the best for your future lives together. Thanks for inviting me to part of your two special days. I look forward to designing the wedding albums next!
There are many more photographs from this special day in the Client Gallery, if you would like to see more, please ask the Bride or Groom for the password. Please feel free to share this post and spread the love 🙂
