This wedding photography story has Shalini and Akshat playing the lead roles of the bride and the groom. The wedding of Shalini and Akshat was an unforgettable affair. Their beautiful love story blossomed into a precious bond called marriage.

My involvement in this beautiful began one fine day when Akshat pinged me on Facebook to give the big news of his wedding. Immediately, he also inquired about my availability to do his wedding shoot. I was happy for him, and at the same time excited at the prospect of a great wedding shoot. He then went ahead and gave me the complete itinerary of his wedding. I immediately accepted the offer after hearing that his wedding is going to be held at Dehradun. My instant answer and excitement was for two reasons – first, I had never been to Dehradun, and second, Akshat and I go back a long way. You see, we studied at the same institute i.e. IIM Indore.

I love capturing photos at weddings and creating a wedding story for my clients. It just makes me happy to provide the couple and their families with a most precious gift for their lifetime. There’s a catch though; it is not always an easy job as it seems to be.

Continuing with the story, having completed all discussions and travel plans, I landed at Dehradun for the first time in my life earlier this year in the month of February. Akshat wowed me with his hospitality by taking time out of his busy schedule and coming to receive me in person. He showed me the way to the hotel where he had made reservations for me.

After settling in, I made my way to his house. The house had a pandal all set up and was beautifully decorated with lights. There I met his family members who were very pleasent. Oh! Gotta mention the aroma of the delicious food that was being cooked at his house, which I smelled almost immeditely :)

The Sangeeth was scheduled for the night I reached Dehradun. As par usual, I reached at the venue before anyone else did and had a word with Akshat to know the exact timing of the events that was going to take place during the sangeeth (As a wedding photographer, you need to plan ahead, but also on the spot and be prepared).

The night started with Akshat’s tilak function. And then the sangeeth function started with friends and relatives showing off their mind-blowing moves on the dance floor. Here are some photos from the tilak function and sangeeth.

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While the Sangeeth was half way through, Shalini, the bride, made her grand entry. She grabbed everyone’s eyeballs immediately as she entered the venue wearing her blue and yellow lehenga. This was the first time I met Shalini in-person, although we had conversed before, and I was blown!

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The next morning was the Mehendi ceremony of Shalini and she seemed a bit worried about the poses and how the photos would turn out to be. Btw, Did I mention that Shalini is a scientist? :D As a serious scientist, posing in front of the camera was really not her forte.

However, part of my job as a wedding photographer is to help the bride relax and enjoy her day. I befriended her and tried to calm her nerves by chatting her up a bit. To my surprise, she confessed to me that she had never worn traditional attires before in her life (not even salwar suits). Those words coming from an Indian bride was a surprise! But boy! she was being honest.

Aside from being a traditional-attire-newbie, she was actually quite easy to get along with and I was blessed with some beautiful shots. Here, check them out for yourselves:

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The last day of my shoot, was also the Wedding day and the Haldi ceremony. It was a hectic day for me as I had to travel back and forth between the two venues where the bride and the groom were having their respective haldi ceremonies. Plus, I had to capture some shots of Shalini getting ready before the baarat arrived, and wedding started.

The Haldi funtion in the morning was fun at both the bride and the groom’s place. Check out some of the haldi photos:

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The next thing on my agenda was me to take some shots of Shalini getting ready before the Baarat arrived. I traveled to her beauty salon where she was getting her makeup done. I managed to take some beautiful shots of the bride there, and also succeeded in irritating the makeup artist thoroughly. Haha! I managed to be on time for everything though (thanks to Akshat providing me with a dedicated driver to drive me around from one venue to another).

Shalini was wearing a beautiful red lehenga and looked drop dead gorgeous! As evidence, I provide down below some of the photos I captured:

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After the shots of the bride getting ready was covered, I quickly went on to cover the Baarat, where everyone was just dancing their hearts out. Check out the pics from the reception below:

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The Muhurtham was quite late at night. Meanwhile, everyone was eager to be a part of the wedding memories of this couple.

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After the wedding rituals were complete, the most heart-breaking moment arrived when it was the time for the bride to part from her family and move out to make her new home with her husband.

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However, Akshath’s family welcomed Shalini whole-heartedly as their own daughter. Here are some fun and loving moment as she entered her new home.

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I had a fantastic time capturing the wedding, and by the time the whole wedding ended I came back home with some nice memories for myself, and some new friends to hold on to.

Liked the photographs? Why not recommend us or hire us for a wedding? I promise you, you would love the experience with us!

Thank you for reading this post.

N.B. Events as described by Shivadeep Baruah, transcribed by the author.