It was back in 2015 when I took part in my first 15-hour wedding day. It was Jes and Jig’s Indian Wedding Extravaganza - a day that began around 7am, included two ceremonies, two costume changes, and ended for me around the 10pm mark (before making the 4 and a half hour drive home). I was, to put mildly, a broken man by the end of it.
So naturally I wanted to do it all over again!! A big part of that comes from a love of shooting weddings that are diverse and full of emotion, and I find Indian weddings really provide me with that outlet. I couldn’t do them every week in all honesty (and massive respect to those that do!), but once in a while suits me perfectly.
I also had the added benefit of knowing the happy couple. Kavita is Jig’s little sister, and James was one of the Ushers at his wedding. We also had an awesome engagement shoot together in East London a few months before the day, and my abiding memory of that is just laughing for the whole two hours we were together, so I couldn’t wait to meet up again and do the wedding photography justice.
The whole day took place on the grounds of Belvoir Castle, with the Hindi ceremony taking place in a marquee near the lake in the morning, before we all headed up to the castle for the civil ceremony. It was a day that had everything you’d want from a wedding, and what you’ll see below is a mere attempt at condensing their 15-hour wedding day into a decent-sized blog post.
Finally a special thanks to Martin Makowski who shot the day alongside me - a lovely guy to have along, and incredibly talented at finding those split-second moments and capturing them in a way that totally complimented the set as a whole.
Well said dude, the day that had everything wedding photographer could ask for. Surely, one of those weddings not to forget. An absolute pleasure shooting it! Cheers.