Hindu Wedding Photographer in Southall

Serving Southall

Getting married the Hindu way in Southall?

Southall is the heart of London's Punjabi community, with landmark gurdwaras and countless banqueting halls. Country houses, community centres and temple complexes across Greater London all host Hindu weddings, and we have worked at many of them within reach of Hayes, Hanwell and Norwood Green. We photograph the ganesh puja and the invocation that starts the ceremony with a steady, respectful hand, holding the priest, the fire and the family in a calm opening sequence.

Across the mehndi and sangeet nights we blend into the celebration, photographing the music, the dancing and the henna up close without ever staging the fun. Our method is unobtrusive; we read the rhythm of the rituals, anticipate the next moment and stay out of the way while the ceremony carries on undisturbed. We move through the crowd gently at the reception, reading who is about to speak or dance, so the candid moments are photographed cleanly without us being noticed.

Over many seasons we have come to know Southall closely. Southall is the heart of London's Punjabi community, with landmark gurdwaras and countless banqueting halls, so we are just as at home photographing a Hindu wedding in Wembley or Greenford as we are here. Local wedding venues we know near Southall include Spice Village Southall, The Saffron D'Or and Mehfil Banqueting.

Southall is a large west London suburb long nicknamed Little Punjab for its established Punjabi and wider South Asian community. Southall station on the Elizabeth line, one of the few stations in England with bilingual English and Punjabi signage. For portraits away from the celebration, Osterley Park, a National Trust estate with parkland near Southall works beautifully, and Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha on Havelock Road, one of the largest Sikh gurdwaras in Europe adds a real sense of place.

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Every Hindu ritual

The rituals that make a Hindu ceremony

During the pheras we walk the pace of the priest, and each round around the agni is photographed cleanly, from the trailing of the knot to the reaction of your parents. The groom's entrance sets the tone, and we photograph the baraat building around him, the family dancing him in and the moment the mandap comes into view for the first time. We photograph the kanyadaan and the hastamelap as one flowing sequence, holding the giving of the hand and the binding of the union so the story of the ritual stays whole.

During the vidaai we photograph the family gathered at the door, the rice, the last held hands and the goodbyes, treating the farewell with the tenderness it asks for. We photograph the reception entrance as a highlight, the announcement, the walk in and the cheer from the room as you arrive to celebrate with everyone you love. At the reception we photograph the details you planned and the moments you did not, from the cutting of the cake to the uncle who takes over the dance floor.