Pooja and Ram’s Garba was held at the Method Park in Raleigh. The park’s indoor gym was spacious enough to hold the wedding guests dancing in big circles. The Garba is a traditional Gujarati dance. I was born and raised in Gujarat but, my garba moves will not impress anyone! So, I am just happy to photograph the garba and admire folks who can dance (I would probably hurt myself or worse hurt others!). The food at Pooja and Ram’s wedding events was little different from the previous Indian wedding events I have photographed. The food was catered by the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple and was Gujarati vegan- very refreshing. Of course, the food is very important part of Indian social events and hence the Garba started with the delicious food being served. The bride and groom were dressed for the occasion and started the festivities by lighting the deepak (lamp). And then it was time for the guests to join them! This was followed by the dandia. Dandia is one of the hardest thing to photograph. Or photograph well. There is much energy and movement. Dandiya sticks flying everywhere. I am glad I could somehow get in the middle of it all and come out with couple of good images without losing any parts of my camera.
The next morning was the big day- wedding! Stay tuned for preview of those images…
– Tesh Parekh
IWP Photography
www.IWPphotography.com
919-622-5399
email: tesh@iwpphotography.com
This is Khichu! Served with oil and chile powder (not shown)! You won’t find this stuff at your local Indian buffet!
The bride and groom lighting the deepak to officially start the Garba.
Bride is enjoying the garb dance.
The garba was in a big circle around the idols.
The wedding guests add colors to gym.
Dandiyas are hard to photograph!
This is how you click it!
Here comes the groom!
The bride joins in.
I followed the couple around the dandiya circle for awhile. After many attempts I was finally able to capture some of the images which I really wanted. Here is one of my favorites.