Indian Wedding Photographer London : Asian Photography UK
Indian wedding photographer London, specialist in Asian photography in UK. Documentary wedding photographers for Hindu, Sri Lankan, Tamil, South Asian, Sikh, Muslim marriage ceremonies
The VIP Lounge, 47 High St, Edgware HA8 7DD is a very popular venue for Asian, Jewish and Indian weddings in this part of north London.
The magnificent lighting at this London wedding venue creates an ambience a dreamy star-lit sky, fit for any wedding ceremony.
As a London based photographer I have had the privilege of photographing Indian weddings or shaadi at numerous wedding reception venues, luxury hotels, banqueting halls, perfectly suited for Punjabi, Sikh, Hindu, Muslim & Gujarati weddings. Typically Indian marriages are lavish occasions and the bride’s and groom’s family will invite so some of the venues are for 400, 500 or even 800 to 1000 guests are required in London! The guest list who attended Prince William and Kate Middleton’s big day was about 1,900 [Source: The Telegraph] and the same can be true as Prince Harry proposed to Meghan Markle with a diamond engagement ring have just announced their royal engagement. All eyes on them as they announce the venue for their wedding day in 2018!
So if you are planning your wedding in 2018 and on the look out for the Indian wedding venues London, there are many first-class Asian wedding venues throughout London that will suit your needs and budget. Only you can decide whether its banqueting halls for your Indian shaadi marriage or London’s specialist venues for Indian and Asians weddings which one best fits in your wedding day dreams and plans.
Cavendish Banqueting was established in 2005 and is now widely recognised as one of the most service orientated and professional banqueting venues in London. It is one of the largest Indian wedding venues London and is known to be one of the most spacious Indian wedding venues.
The VIP Lounge aims to make a wedding, banqueting, events a 5 Star experience, both in service and catering. Weather you want an intimate wedding ceremony or a grand wedding reception it’s the lighting that will create an ambience during the hindu wedding ceremony or dreamy star-lit sky light during the romantic 1st dance at the reception.
Saffron D’Or has been turning your brides & grooms wedding celebrations into dreams come true for nearly 15 years. With seating for up to 450 guests the banqueting hall caters for all occasions such as weddings, private parties and corporate events. Event planning managers help in organising events from start to finish.
Venue 5 seats 250 people comfortably and is suitable for engagements and mehndi party events to corporate functions. The newly refurbished Venue 5 in Eastcote, Harrow offers an amazing ambience and this banqueting venue caters for every small event you may want to host
The Dhamecha Lohana Centre (DLC) in South Harrow. In Indian cultures, a wedding isn’t just one “big day”—it’s a series of celebrations occurring before and after the couple exchanges vows. One of the newly built Halls in South Harrow, it’s perfect for North London Indian weddings and offer a complete wedding package with Mandap, indian wedding priest, catering all for a set price. Or want a venue for engagement or mehndi party, what more can you ask?
A venue know for Indian & Asian weddings in this North London corner, The Clay Oven also has has two suites that are very popular for wedding functions, mehndi, parties and corporate events due to reasonable Clay Oven wedding cost.
Experienced in organising various types of Asian events from a colourful Mehndi/Sangeet night to an intimate Indian Wedding, Mandap Ceremony, Walima or Wedding Reception. Premier Banqueting venue with a capacity of 800 guests , is versatile for Indian functions.
Hare Krishna Temple
Hilton London Wembley
Radisson Blu Edwardian Heathrow Hotel
Churchill Portman Square
Heathrow Marriott Hotel
Novotel Hammersmith Hotel
East London
Southhall
Advait Sattavis Gam Centre
Kadwa Patidar Centre (KPCentre)
Shree Swaminarayan Temple Stanmore aka Stanmore Mandir
London Hilton on Park Lane
InterContinental London Park Lane
The Landmark London Hotel
The Sheraton Skyline Hotel
Natural History Museum
For the religious brides and groom’s Indian temples in London is always a popular venue to get married and say ‘I do”. These temples is where I have had the privilege of photographing tradition rituals of Hindu & Sikh weddings. Otherwise if the wedding venue is local and nearby to a temple, after the wedding ceremony the married couple will request that we visit the temple for post wedding couples portraits and photos.
These temples are popular with the families as all have dedicated in house catering and kitchen facilities, so the prasad, wedding breakfast afternoon meals freshly prepared on the site. What better venue than a temple for a soul-stirring wedding ceremony!
As the Indian community had grown in numbers, so has the places of worship, satsang, religious and cultural events. Some brides and groom’s also choose to have their wedding ceremony with special indian wedding priests at these religious venues. Below is a list of some of these amazing Hindu Temples in London, you may want to visit or even get married
A masterpiece of exotic design and workmanship, a Hindu temple built entirely using traditional methods and materials – marble and stone. Close to the North Circular and close to the temple of England’s football venue “Wembley”. Popularly also known as the ‘Neasden Temple‘
Neena and Purav’s wedding was full of fun, laughter, traditional Hindu ceremonies.
For local Sanatana Dharma Hindu community this “All inclusive Hindu temple” is place of worship on Ealing Road in Wembley, London. The magnificent temple with superb carvings and is one of the best Sanatan temples outside of Indian and luckily for us Londoners it’s here in capital city. Built according to the scriptures of the Hindu holy texts with no steel support and entirely of Indian hand carved limestone.
This beautiful mandir is popular with local Harrow, Stanmore, Edgware, Kingsbury Hendon brides and grooms as family home is generally nearby. The bright wedding hall on the first floor is ideal for traditional Hindu ceremonies, and once the wedding ceremony is complete the grounds are ideal for the couples portraits.
The are numerous Hindu wedding ceremonies held at the Shree Swaminarayan Temple – Dharma Bhakti Manor in Stanmore.
Wood Lane, Stanmore, Middlesex, HA7 4LF
Westfield Ln, Kenton, Harrow HA3 9EA
It is the first Swaminarayan Mandir to be opened in the city. Located at 220-222 Willesden Ln, London NW2 5RG this is a venue I have photographed lovely simply organised gujarati weddings.
Address: 220-222 Willesden Ln, London NW2 5RG
The newest temple here on Kingsbury Road, London NW9 8AQ
This magnificent and traditional Jain Temple is located within its own landscaped gardens and forms part of the Oshwal Centre, at Coopers Lane Road, Northaw, Hertfordshire, EN6 4DG. A focal point for Jains all over the country, with the large function room for weddings the terrific temple lends itself for photogenic wedding photographs for the couples.
As usual Indian weddings have lots of celebrations preceding the wedding day and all are full colour, splendour and excitement. There are countless customs and many sub-cultures that I will only deal with a few as a guide for you. Remember his is a summery from a wedding photographers point of view.
These events are extremely important to Indian weddings and are deemed to be necessary events for the pending wedding.
Listed below are couple of the rituals that are observed by the Hindu community, even here in London.
Mehndi Party:
This is kept the night before the wedding and normally it’s the ladies on the bride’s side celebrate this ritual.
A professional mehndi artist and talented relatives will apply henna in very sophisticated designs to the hands and feet of the bride and other women family members would like to have the henna done.
These designs are meant to signify beauty, a spiritual awakening and joy.
Guests at the event dress in bright colours after all it an Indian party, and there will be singing and dancing to traditional wedding songs.
Pithi:
This ceremony is performed for good luck. Usually the bride and groom have separate pithi ceremonies at the respective family homes.
Pithi is a paste made primarily from turmeric (haldi) and water, some time rose water is used too.
Members of the family and well wishers of the bride and groom will administer this paste on the groom/bride’s face and feet.
This pithi ceremony occurs a day or two before the wedding and is believed to even the skin tones and brighten the skin for the special day.
This wedding ceremony is essentially a sequence of sacred rituals that join the bride and groom as husband and wife. Indian see this as joining of families too and for most part, the families play a major part in lifestyle of the bride and groom here for support and guidance.
Baraat: The wedding ceremony begins with the arrival of the groom’s procession with droll players, traditionally on a horse or an elephant. In London a wedding car will have to the substitute.
Milni is the meeting of the families, where the bride’s family greets the groom’s family. In some communities garlands are exchanged.
Traditionally Ganesh Puja would take place, this is the prayer to the Lord Ganesh and the start of the ceremony. However, in 2018 most Londoners have this ceremony the day prior the wedding.
Kanya Aagaman is the arrival of the bride escorted by family members, for hindu’s this is the mama (the bride mother’s brother) or the brother
Jai Mala is the exchanging of flower garlands by the bride and groom.
Kanyadaan and Hasta Melap is when the father of the bride places her hand on the groom’s hand and pours holy water over both hands. The groom’s scarf is then tied/attached to the bride’s wedding sari to embody an eternal bond of marital life.
Vivah Havan is when the priest lights the sacred fire or Agni to represent it’s holy presence as a witness and it is believed that promises made in the presence of Agni are made in the presence of God.
Mangal Phere is when the bride and groom circle around the very sacred fire four or seven times (again regional variance where the family come from from back in India) each circle representing their aspirations in life.
Saptapadi is the seven sacred steps the bride and groom take with each step making a special sacred vows to each other.
The bride and groom then return to their seats and the bride then moves to sit at the groom’s side taking the place closest to the groom’s heart.
Mangalsutra:
The groom then offers his lifelong protection putting a necklace made of gold and black beads around her neck.
Sindoor or red vermilion powder is put by the groom on the bride’s forehead, this ritual now signifies the bride’s status as a married woman.
Wedding rings: At some Indian weddings, the rings may be exchanged and they feed each other some sweets.
Aashirvaad is the final blessing of the married couple and and generally a total of four ladies of the two families whisper blessings into the bride’s ear.
Blessings of the Indian Priest and Parents:
The couple bows down to the priest, and their parents to receive their final blessings.
The wedding is now complete and lastly the guests shower the newly married couple with flower petals and rice as a way of wishing them a happy and long marriage.
Hope you can find this summery of the cultural tradition of indian wedding ceremony wonderful to make your day even more special.
Bipin Dattani has a great passion for wedding photography and in particular likes to capture creative wedding and fine-art photos without breaking the bank. If you ‘d like to see more of Bipin’s Indian weddings london photography, then you can go to his portfolio page.
Finding the right Wedding Photographer for you in West London, capturing beautifully unique, elegant and natural photographs of your wedding day at venues like Hotel Novotel London West? Bipin Dattani Photography provides Asian Wedding Photography for London engaged couples who are looking to getting married.
Our photo studio offers quality customised photography services in the this area of Great London, consisting of the London Boroughs of Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow and best attractions in West London, including Kensington Palace, shopping on Portobello Road for fairytale shops specialising in exquisite vintage wedding gowns and accessories.
Dreaming of saying ‘I do’ in a stylish marriage ceremony? Why not let us capture those picture-perfect moments.
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