29 May, 2014
Rahul and Ami, your Tides Estate Indian Wedding in North Haledon NJ was one of the most beautiful and festive weddings I’ve had the pleasure of documenting. I first met Rahul and Ami two years ago while photographing Rahul’s brother’s Hudson Valley Indian wedding at The Montgomery Place in Redhook NY. When Ami commissioned me last summer to photograph her Tides Estate wedding I was ecstatic and literally counting down the days till I could reunite and work, once again, with their lovely families. For me, being able to photograph siblings’ weddings is not only a distinct honor and profound compliment, it’s a very unique privilege since a relationship has already been established with those clients, their family members, friends and guests.
My day began early with Ami at her hotel room where she was doing hair & make-up preparations before departing to the Tides Estate. I took a few photos of her as she was adorned with jewelry – beads, bracelets, and gold. She quickly slipped into her bridal sari – calm, quiet and reposed she made her way to the estate for the couple’s first look. It was a warm gorgeous day, everything was bright green and glowing – cherry blossoms were bursting in the background which gave a dream-like effect to Rahul and Ami’s wedding portraits. We made use of the time leading up to the ceremony and took some formals and family group shots, then prepared for Barat, which is an amazing ceremony/procession led by the families of the bride and groom.
Typically, the groom processes on either an elephant or a horse but in Rahul’s case he made his way to the ceremony atop a beautiful white steed covered in brocade and jeweled fineries. I must say this is one of my favorite events to photograph at Indian weddings – there’s dancing, singing and so much celebration and love that one can not help but feel moved and swept up in the momentum of emotion. The ceremony was stunning – as each person walked through the main doors the reactions were all the same as one by one each person’s jaw dropped and eyebrows raised. The mandap was beautifully decorated and looked as if it were torn straight from the pages of a fairytale – the mood and energy was nothing shy of magical. Following the ceremony the couple recessed for a few hours and reconvened back at the Estate where hors d’oeuvres and cocktails were being served.
We then moved into the grand ballroom where the decor set a chic romantic palace-esque mood that, again, elicited gasps and wide-eyes from all who entered. After a few wonderful speeches, an impromptu flash mob performance, the party fully erupted and the dance-floor was undulating with the bright beautiful colors of so many saris and so many smiles.