A Kaleidoscope Of The Regional Weddings Of India

We want a storyteller, not a photographer. India is a land simmering with many cultures. Each bringing a flavour to the mix and adding a little bit of spice. ...

We want a storyteller, not a photographer.

Trishna weds Saurabh – Manipuri Style Wedding

Nitish Arora

A Manipuri princess meets the Punjabi Munda, Trishna and Saurabh’s love story goes as far back as the 8th grade. Their fathers were posted in the same cantonment around that time but it was only after five years that Trishna and Saurabh became friends. They started dating a year later and after a whole decade, they got married in the year 2015.

Trishna shares the story of her dream wedding “We envisioned a wedding that would merge two unique cultures. Thankfully both sides were welcoming towards the idea and were very excited to experience each other’s traditions.” Trishna wanted an intimate wedding with family & close friends while Saurabh being the true blue Punjabi wanted amazing food.

I quiz Nitish about his experience at the wedding and he shares “Well, honestly I was more excited than the bride and groom to witness two different cultures come together as one. It was challenging for me because of two reasons, 1) It was my best friend sister’s wedding and 2) It was my first Manipuri Wedding assignment. The beauty of the event lay in its simplicity. Unlike Punjabi weddings, they had a small gathering and minimal décor. Trishna was looking like a doll in her Manipuri wedding dress. I couldn’t even take my eyes off of my camera’s viewfinder.”

Shruti weds Swapnil – Maharashtrian Style Wedding

Confetti Films

Swapnil is the shy reflection of Shruti’s vivaciousness. From sharing their lunch boxes in school, they were all set to share their life. It started like all great love stories do, the friendship blossomed into love, but it was only in college that they realized they had fallen for each other.

Yasmin and Riya from Confetti films share their experience, “We love weddings! When I met Shruti and Swapnil, I saw a couple that fits. They perfectly complement each other, his quiet demeanour and her exuberance. With their pictures, we wanted to show the middle ground, where they meet with the promise of a life together.”

What was that magical proposal that made Shruti say the magic word, yes? Shruti shares her proposal “Swapnil proposed to me every day of the year. I had 365 unique proposals all through the year. Now who can say no to that?”

Swapnil finishes the question, “It takes a special girl to get 365 proposals. I can marry Shruti all over again! And ya, we would like Confetti films only to shoot it for us”

Seema Weds Bharath -Telegu Style Wedding

Once Upon A Time – Wedding Tales

Their story is straight out of a Bollywood movie (or Tollywood?). A conversation that started over finding out a bus route ended up with finding a soul mate. Seema recalls “We met at the T- Nagar bus stop. I was clueless about the routes and found him approachable enough to put all my enquiries to rest. Not only were we going to the same place, we ended up finding out about a lot of common friends and common interests. I guess we were destined to meet!”

So how many filter coffees did it take for the romance to brew? She laughs and says “Plenty! We made it a point to meet with our common social circles. I noticed he is super studious, which is the first thing I loved about him. Our friends kept telling me that he was attracted to me, but I wanted him to say it. I only had a few months before I left for Canada but he didn’t admit to his feelings. It was only after I left that I mustered up the courage to ask him myself and we admitted to liking each other. We were in a long distance relationship for over six years after that!”

Seema shares her experience of the wedding with the clash of cultures “Silly fights transpired, rain spoiled the décor and to add to that a flood! Places were booked last minute and I was running helter skelter at my own wedding with a bout of dengue. In hindsight, I still think I wouldn’t have wanted it to be any other way! I cherish every moment of that day because the wedding was so colourful. I thank my stars that I got Once Upon A Time for the wedding photography who captured it all so well. I absolutely love them!”

Chiroshree weds Sohail – Bengali Style Wedding

Rajdeep Bhattacharyya

Chiroshree & Sohail met in the oldest dating app of all – College. Their relationship matured over steamy cups of tea in the stalls of Vidyanagar, a small educational hub in Gujarat. He is a Gujarati and she a fierce Bengali. They may not have matched culturally but matched where it counts, fundamentals that make a relationship work.

When they broke the news to their parents, it was smooth sailing. A Bengali wedding took place in Ahmedabad, in the heartland of Gujarat, and Sohail and Chiroshree were tied for life!

Rajdeep shares his experience of the wedding “It was a beautiful wedding. Weddings are a stressful event, but I could not see an ounce of it on the faces of the families. They enjoyed every intricate detail of the function and so did I. For me it was easy to capture the wedding because Sohail and Chiroshree met me and shared their story with me. They also gave me a fair idea of what they wanted from the pictures.”

Jagjit Weds Maninder – Sikh Style Wedding

Candid Rush

“When the couple is so much fun, you can’t help but have fun. They have an infectious energy about them”, Divishth from Candid Rush shares the experience of his first interaction with the couple. Their love story is the classic one. Maninder and Jagjit are childhood sweethearts. A story that started from the back benches of the classroom evolved to canteen dates and scooter rides. A school is a place where we come together as strangers and leave as friends. However, these two left as two people in love. Twenty years of love and best of friends, Maninder and Jagjit had a dream wedding. Divishth talks about his experience of the wedding, “I have never shot a Sikh wedding. Jagjit trusted me despite my lack of experience because he loved the way I shared the quote with him, detailed and structured. I guess the engineers in us connected.”

He continues, “Maninder is extremely camera friendly and she knew exactly the kind of shots she wanted. It was absolutely easy working with them. Jagjit loves his beard and turban. He didn’t leave a single moment where he didn’t flaunt it. As they say, “Pagg naal koi_ kallol nahin_,_ badikurbani naal mili _hai_ sardaari_.”

We hope you got a glimpse of the gamut of regions that are a part of India. No matter what religion we belong to, what quite defines all these marriages is just one thing – love.

Give us a chance to capture your special day.