Before the main wedding day there are many pre wedding rituals and celebrations which can vary for the bride and groom. It is our job as the photographer to capture all the moments building up to the main wedding day as they all build the picture to the perfect wedding experience. Not all couple choose to perform pre-wedding ceremonies as they are not compulsory and may vary from within the Hindu cultures. Two of the most common ones are Pithi and Mehndi.
Pithi is a paste that is made out of chickpea flour, turmeric and other ingredients. The Pithi ceremony is celebrated by both bride and the groom. This takes place at both their home separately. The ceremony entails rubbing a paste on the bride and grooms face, hands and legs. The paste is designed to enhance the skin as the paste has antiseptic properties, whilst providing a glow. Family members and friends take turns getting the bride and groom completely covered in the yellow looking paste. A lot of fun can be had during the pithi ceremony as the family members also put the paste on each other and it can become playful. As a company we like to capture these moments as they happen so that the essence of the day can be seen from the images.
Mehndi is another traditional pre wedding ceremony. The Mehndi ceremony is an integral part of the wedding ceremony and the bride is incomplete without it. The ceremony usually takes place a day or so before the wedding as the bride wants her mehndi to stay as dark and vibrate as possible.
For applying Mehndi to the bride, a skilled Mehndi expert is normally called. They apply Mehndi on bride’s hands, arms, feet and legs. The ritual of mehndi signifies the strength and power of love in a marriage so it is regarded a good omen for the bride to be. People believe that the darker the mehndi the stronger the love between the bride and groom. Applying the mehndi is a intricate process and capturing the designs on camera is important so that the work can be remembered.
The ceremony takes place in the presence of friends, relatives and family members. The scale of the ceremony depends upon individual choice and is usually done by the bride’s family. Some people celebrate it almost like a wedding reception jointly with the grooms family and go all out with a big bang, in this case there would be music, dancing and even performances which we would capture so you can cherish the joyous occasion.