With most Indian weddings, a specialized Indian wedding photographer is hired since they are familiar with the meaning and progression of events. Niketa Patel had a love for art and wanted a photo journalistic approach for her wedding photos. As she began to explain some of the customs and traditions I started to realize this would be much bigger than I had expected. I explained to her that as a photojournalist I would be engaged the entire time and anything and everything that happened would be photographed and not to worry. It was more strenuous than I had imagined for I ended up shooting 11,877 images in a little more than a weekend.

In my estimation, the scope and planning of the event was equal to at least 3 American weddings if not 10. Niketa spent 6 weeks in India planning and designing the wedding. As is customary, she had approximately 100 saris (traditional Indian dress) made to give as gifts to the women in her new family. Niketa had 3 different gowns made for herself, each with its own array of amazingly ornate jewelry. I was present for at least 3 complete meals for the 500 guests, but there were many more meals catered on the days leading up to and following the wedding.

The countless cultural traditions and religious ceremonies and rituals were really the thing that surprised me. There were also many comedic Indian wedding traditions, like the bride’s sisters not letting the newly married couple leave the wedding while standing in front of the car demanding payment to move and to prove they weren’t joking, these negotiations went on for about 30 minutes. Even after the bride and groom left the wedding, they immediately returned for an hour of games played only by the bride and groom while others watched. One of which was trying to knot their gowns together so tight the other could not undo it.

As one can imagine, the food, colors, rituals, traditions, and cultural tendencies are so far from anything American that even that even one’s imagination pales next to the actual experience. I could write a book, as I am sure has been done, telling about all of the blessings and rituals and their meanings as well as all of my new experiences, but to see them all back to back over the course of 4 days leaves one feeling dazed, inspired, and very much alive. Photos will have to pick up where words leave off.

I fell in love with 2nd Wind their band and was stunned, its no wonder they are the most booked band in Cincinnati, by far one of my favorite wedding bands ever, way too much fun for a wedding reception.

The newlyweds are back in D.C. now where they met after leaving Cincinnati. Their work takes them both all over the globe so it was no wonder their menu featured three different buffets: Indian, Thai and American. I loved being a part of it and hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.

Most people think that a bright sunny day would make for great pictures and actually it is the hardest time to shoot. I am so happy it rained on their wedding day.  It made dry landscape brighten with color and sheen, it forced a tent to be used letting color and light be the backdrop, and thunderstorm clouds and wind are perfect for photos.

My favorite part of the wedding was the getaway. Jack is a helicopter pilot (as well as so many other things) so they planned a helicopter getaway after the reception. I love helicopters and flying in general and the moment was really unique.

Susannah is Australian and her family was here for a few weeks before the wedding helping, relaxing, and discovering Tennessee. A week before the wedding I spent some time in the helicopter with Jack and his soon-to-be family cruising over downtown Nashville; very fun (thanks Jack!)

With the help of Sarah Willard of Music City Events the rainy event went perfectly smooth and every vendor was impeccable. Definitely the best wedding cake I had ever tasted, and trust me I have had a few) thanks to Yall Be Sweet. The flowers were tasteful and classy and the indoor and tent lighting was perfect. Lighting is everything when it comes to photography. If photography is the most important thing to you then lighting should be next in line. A tent can be as perfect as outdoors with the right lighting.

Enjoy.

Saturday (wedding day) around noon the clouds broke so Emily Bardwell (the bride) and I rushed out to get a few pictures just in case the weather took another turn. The stars aligned and we got exactly what we were hoping for. For the wedding, everyone hopped on a red double-decker bus and headed to a little chapel about five miles away. The group was small, about 50 of their closest family and friends made the journey to Scotland. It was a really special event for us because rarely does an event last more than a day or even a day and a half. As time goes by and we get to know everyone it becomes very easy to get the candid images we love so much without interrupting life.

Probably my favorite part of the wedding was the castle. We were essentially in someone’s home that was over 300 years old. It had 20 foot ceilings throughout, huge 100 year old paintings of regal family members, a drawing room that was as big as my house; not to mention taller. The lawn is like one big putting green, that really short soft grass from golf courses (it makes sense since golf originated there), that you could sleep on and not expect to see any bugs. I think I will try that in my lawn, don’t worry I’ll do research and figure out how impossible it is before I start.

Liesl is the personal assistant of Martha Stewart and Kevin plays guitar for Josh Turner. They actually met while Josh and his band were performing on Martha’s TV show. The wedding was planned very quickly over the summer and Martha wanted to feature it in her wedding magazine, and also have it filmed for a one hour special on the Style Network. They had another photographer there for the magazine from San Francisco that you will probably see in the video.

Although I was not there to shoot for the magazine, Martha loved the photos so much that she fought to have some included in the feature. The story as it unfolded and relayed to me by Liesl was exciting and inspiring to say the least.

There is a sneak peek of the special on YouTube that Martha showed during one of her segments.

One of most memorable parts of the evening was the surprise box of butterflies. Kalyn was not aware that this was planned. As gifts go, live creatures in a box is not a surprise most would be able to prepare themselves for anyways, especially in front of 150 people.  I don’t think the giver expected Kalyn to be so caught off guard that she would drop the box of lethargic, jet lagged, cryogenically kept, semi-defrosted, exotic butterflies.  As the lid-less box hit the ground upside down, I expected the worst.  I thought, now this innocent child, who was coaxed by an adult into giving this box of delicate creatures over to the bride very gently, in hopes of seeing a rainbow of wing activity fill the air as their long awaited freedom had finally come, is now going to see a pile of loose butterfly parts as soon as the box is turned over.

Luckily, upon uncovering the sleepyheads, we found most to be intact yet still very unaware that daylight was their cue to perform.  As children ran up to help remind them how to soar by using the paper airplane approach of an over arm throw with little success, it became apparent that babying them until they were fully thawed and ready to fly on their own would be the best way to keep down the casualties.  As rough as this may sound I’m sure the butterflies knew what they were getting themselves into when they signed up.

I hope you all don’t mind a bit of humor from time to time…

A few days prior to the wedding Annie and I were driving north of Destin and I saw these 3 dead trees on a sand dune and called to ask Megan if she would be up to shooting a location right before the reception, because they were getting married a little before sunset so we would have light for the family photos after the wedding. She agreed, and as soon as we were through with photos, the family went to the reception and we drove out to the dune. The sun was gone but the light was still hanging in the sky. We got out of the car, walked about a hundred yards off of the road, Annie set up a light and battery pack and I got in the right place. We were only there 15 minutes at the most, but everything was perfect and the location turned out better than I had expected. I had only seen it from a moving car, and I was guessing at the time of day we would need to get there. There was no crazy photoshopping done, that was the real sky and real location.

Don’t let the tatoos and black wedding dress fool you, while Khaki’s style is very non-Nashville, she is one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. All of their friends and family are fun, loving and close. We have become very fond of their family and love getting to celebrate together.

I always look for new things and ideas people do that end up creating fun experiences as well as great pictures.  Probably one of my favorite moments was before the wedding kiss, the guests lined up with flowers then the kiss and exit with flowers were all one moment as opposed to broken up events.  It turned out picturesque and memorable.

One of my favorite parts of the wedding was the guests blowing bubbles as they danced the last dance.  Bubbles so many times are reserved for the last ten seconds, I want to see people get great photos out of their bubbles.  I want to see some people get really creative with bubbles this year, forget candles, think bubbles.