It was our first wedding after lockdown and we were really excited to capture the story of Anish & Seema. These guys had a rocky ride as many couples have had during this period. Rescheduling, changing dates, cancelling events, they have been through it all, but the most important thing was that at the end of it, they came out smiling as if nothing had happened! They had the most incredible weekend celebrating their intimate Civil and Wedding ceremonies.
It was a cold blustery morning in Crawley when we arrived at Seema's house. It was so bad in fact we sat in the car for a few minutes after pulling up, we just didn't know when was the right time was to run! Once a few hailstones started hitting the car, we thought 'better get out now'. Shital ran ahead to knock on the door while I quickly got the bags out of the car, banging my head on the corner of the boot in all the rush, and nearly sliding across the wet road while running to the house. Seema's Dad opened the door to us with a very worried look on his face as the weather had turned. He welcomed us in with his warm smile as we had a real laugh with him the day before.
Seema's mum came down the stairs welcoming us also. We had a running joke with her from the Civil day about how well she had prayed to successfully stop the rain. "What happened today?" I asked and she told me 'don't worry, I have taken care of everything, you will see' and sure enough over the next hour, the rain retracted and the sun appeared with a lovely blue summer sky. She is indeed a miracle worker. On arrival, Seema was in the back getting ready with the lovely Sandy Dosanjh who looking back, did an incredible job. Once we had captured all of Seema's getting ready part of the story, it was time to head out to the temple which was a ten-minute drive away.
Crawley Mandir (Temple) was the perfect place for this intimate wedding ceremony. This mini Oshwal Centre delivered a beautiful ceremony.
The temple very kindly left the curtains open for the ceremony, allowing for an incredible backdrop to the wedding, one that no amount of decor could match.
BACK TO WORK
It was amazing to be back at work doing what we love. We had of course been shooting loads of stuff at home with the kids as usual, but getting back to real-life wedding storytelling was something else! Shooting with masks can be challenging at the best of times!
We were feeling a bit rusty but everything came back within a few minutes. All the joy of what we do came flooding back with a rush to the system, it was like eating a huge bar of chocolate 🍫 after being deprived for months!
The live feed
Anish managed to secure a live feed to broadcast the wedding from an iPad to all friends and family around the world. It connected everybody to this intimate wedding. What was a really nice touch was that the couple made a small speech to their viewers at the end of the ceremony.
It was a great idea until our cousin Priya (friend of Anish) decided to tease me and send a message saying I had a hole in one sock, talk about making someone paranoid! (It was not the case btw) ☺️.
Check out some highlights below
After the ceremony was complete, Anish had arranged for us to shoot at a nearby park which was beautiful and with it being 'golden hour' it was the perfect time to get some portraits! There is nothing like gold sunlight to highlight a married couple 🌞. Anish's friend Hemal was capturing the video for the wedding and is also local to Crawley so he knew all the best spots, thanks again Hemal!
It was really nice to start our comeback this year with such a beautiful ceremony conducted by Anilbhai Bhatt. We are really honoured that Anish & Seema allowed us to be a part of their very special weekend. Really excited to be back in the flow and can't wait for our next wedding in two weeks time!
