The weekend of December 18-20, Me and my lens witnessed an Amazing Traditional Indian Wedding. Raishym who is Indian and African-American decided on embracing her mothers heritage and had an Indian Wedding, and her awesome husband had no objections. The wedding was actually on the third day but there were two days of ceremonies held at Rai's home. The first day was her Bridal Mehndi in which her and special guest are covered in henna and they also eat, rejoice and share stories.
The second day the Sangeet and the bride's Blessing Ceremony were done. First step in the Sangeet ceremony is to prepare a special rice that will be fed to the groom by all of the women in attendance, once that is done the groom feeds his groomsmen the same rice in hopes that they will share his same fortune and find themselves a beautiful bride as well. After that the family stood and laugh and this is were you could see the bond between the two families come about. Followed by that is the brides Blessing Ceremony in which the women in attendance place their fingers in Turmeric Oil and rub it on her face and body and pray and advise the bride, but in Rai's case they just covered her face with the oil. The oil is meant to make the brides skin shine and look healthier on the day of the wedding. After they rub oil on her face the women place bangles on her wrist. In true Indian tradition the oldest woman (wisest) goes first in rubbing this oil on bride's face. The men in attendance had an opportunity to share words with Rai and the words that effected her the most were those of her brothers. This was followed by a prayer and once this was all done the family sang Christmas songs and laughed.
The day of the wedding I met the bride at J.W. Marriott in the Galleria Area of Houston, Texas. I photographed the madness of 8 women getting ready but it was a pleasure. They had a stretch limousine to the Pelazzio. The venue was nice and the staff was very friendly. The ceremony was nice and the rich color of the clothing made this a Unique wedding. The bride looked stunning and groom and groomsmen looked stellar. Now lets fast-fowrad to the reception, CORY IS A PARTY ANIMAL, he knew the steps to every song and he never left the dance floor. All in all this was an Amazing wedding but hey don't take my word for it, check out the images and ill get out of your way. -Fred Agho
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
