Fast Online Gallery
Your photographs arrive in a private online gallery within weeks, ready to view, share and download, so relatives overseas can see the wedding almost as soon as it is over.
Sikh Wedding Photographer in New Malden
Photography for Sikh wedding celebrations in New Malden, through the Anand Karaj and every laav before the Guru Granth Sahib, and the reassurance of twenty-five years behind the camera.
★★★★★ Rated 4.8 from 539 reviews
Wedding photography from £750
Bespoke packages · fast response · free consultation
The short answer
Your Sikh wedding photographer in New Malden, at a glance
Recognised with five European Gold awards, Kaushik Bathia is an award winning Sikh wedding photographer based in London who welcomes enquiries from couples marrying in New Malden and elsewhere in Greater London. Our documentary style means the day is followed rather than staged, so your photographs show the wedding as it actually happened, laughter, tears and all. Doli farewells are as carefully covered as the laavan themselves. So are the jago, the mehndi, the sehra bandi, the baraat and every hour of the reception that follows a wedding in New Malden. Punjabi weddings in Greater London have been part of our diary for two decades, so the halls, hotels and banqueting suites are familiar ground. Fine art albums, parent copies, engagement shoots and second photographer cover are all offered, and although the studio is in London, weddings anywhere in Greater London or the wider UK are genuinely welcome.
Direct trains from London Waterloo make New Malden reachable for a sangat coming from across the capital, which matters when the anand karaj is held at a gurdwara elsewhere in south London. Before the Guru Granth Sahib the four laavan are sung, ardas is offered and heads stay covered with shoes left outside, all photographed from a distance. Choora and kalire happen at home beforehand. The Royal Oak suits a smaller reception, and Beverley Park takes the portraits. The High Street and Burlington Road mark the Koreatown at the centre.
Serving New Malden
For Sikh couples marrying in New Malden
New Malden is a diverse south-west London area. From darbar halls to hotel ballrooms to marquees raised on private grounds, we photograph Sikh weddings throughout Greater London, Kingston, Worcester Park and Raynes Park included. Vows in a Sikh wedding are sung rather than spoken, and understanding that changes how the ceremony is covered, since the meaning lives in the ragis' verses and not in a moment of speech.
Stillness is our default inside the darbar hall. We choose a position early, hold it through the kirtan, and let the sangat settle around us rather than working our way between them. Small details carry the story, the kalgi, the chooda, the rumalla over the Guru Granth Sahib, and we photograph them cleanly so their meaning is kept for good. Across the four laavan we time our frames to the walk itself, catching the palla held between you on each circuit of the Guru Granth Sahib.
Over many seasons we have come to know New Malden closely. New Malden is a diverse south-west London area, and we photograph Sikh weddings here as readily as in Barking and Dagenham or Barnet. In and around New Malden, we have photographed at venues such as The Royal Oak.
New Malden is a diverse south-west London area home to the largest Korean community in Europe, with many Korean shops and restaurants earning it the nickname Little Korea. New Malden station is on the South Western Main Line with direct trains to London Waterloo. For pre-wedding and couple portraits, we love spots such as Beverley Park, an open green space with sports pitches and a playground, with the concentration of Korean businesses along the High Street and Burlington Road, known as Koreatown close by for a striking backdrop.
Check your date
What we offer
What is included in your New Malden Sikh wedding coverage
The Four Laavan
Each laav is photographed as you walk around the Guru Granth Sahib, using longer lenses so the ceremony is covered closely without our ever stepping where we should not.
Mixed-faith Weddings
Where an Anand Karaj sits alongside another tradition, we plan coverage across both ceremonies, giving each its full weight and both families an album they recognise.
Every Sikh ritual
The ceremonies that make a Sikh wedding
The milni outside the gurdwara is where the two families formally meet, and we photograph the garlands, the embraces and the gentle laughter as each pairing steps forward in turn. Hukamnama is taken after the ardas, and your faces as the day's order is read are worth more than any posed portrait, so we hold position and simply wait for them. During the ardas we lower the cameras to almost nothing, holding one or two respectful frames of the standing congregation with hands folded as the prayer is offered.
Kalire tied above the choora are photographed close before the shaking begins, so the detail of the gold work is kept alongside the moment they finally drop on a cousin's head. The mehndi evening moves at its own gentle pace, and we photograph the trays of sweets, the green and gold of the outfits and the anticipation building through the songs. The groom's side has its own jago and its own noise, and we can split our coverage across both houses so neither family's celebrations are missed.
The whole celebration
The joy of the baraat, the emotion of the doli
A maiyan is bright, messy and full of affection, and we hold on to every turmeric-stained hand and shared smile. Across Greater London the pre-wedding nights follow their own rhythm in each family, and we learn yours before we arrive.
Because gurdwaras hold the Anand Karaj in the morning, we plan an early start so the getting-ready hours are never squeezed. Winter weddings lose the light by four, which changes everything about portraits, and we plan the day backwards from sunset so you are never photographed only in a dark car park.
Why choose us
Understanding what the Anand Karaj means to you
Every anand karaj follows the same structure and every family fills it differently, and holding both of those truths at once is what a thousand celebrations eventually teaches you. Redundancy comes from having been in this long enough to have seen equipment fail. Dual card recording, spare bodies and duplicated backups are habits formed by experience rather than marketing.
Early starts do not bother us; we are frequently on the road before dawn so we are in place and ready well before the baraat forms up. Scouting a venue we have not worked in before is part of what you are paying for, so we arrive early in Greater London to walk the darbar hall and the reception room before anyone else does.
Where we travel
Covering New Malden and Greater London
Coverage should never be shortened by a journey, so if your reception in Greater London is an hour from the gurdwara, that hour is planned into the timeline rather than taken out of the photography. We keep travel simple when we quote, so couples in Greater London know exactly what is included before they book.
Check your date
Good to know
Wedding photography in New Malden, frequently asked questions
Absolutely, we would love it. Between the decorated pots carried on heads, the sticks, the dancing and the late-night singing, the jago yields some of the happiest photographs of the wedding week, whether it snakes through the streets of New Malden or fills a family home. We bring equipment made for movement in low light and simply go with the fun.
For big celebrations we suggest one, and for hectic multi-event weddings we regard it as almost essential. As one of us stays inside the darbar hall for the laavan, the other is free to catch the guests, the arrivals and the wider scene. With hundreds of people and events overlapping, two cameras plainly capture more of the day's reality. In and around New Malden that has included The Royal Oak.
Your photographs come as a private web gallery, guarded by a password only you hold, and it runs on phones, tablets and computers alike. You can pull down the files, gather favourites for the album design and forward the link to loved ones anywhere in the world, sparing everyone the wait for a posted memory stick. New Malden and neighbouring Motspur Park, Coombe and Old Malden are all covered.
The milni is among the parts of the morning we love most. As each pair of relatives steps forward to exchange garlands and embraces, we capture both the formal moment and the laughter around it, the playful lifting contests included. We get to the gurdwara in New Malden early so that nothing of the two families greeting one another slips by.
Absolutely, mehndi evenings are some of the most rewarding to shoot, so rich in colour, sound and detail. We capture the henna designs taking shape, the dancing, the outfits and the family around the bride. Whether your mehndi unfolds at a New Malden home or in a hall, we set our lighting to preserve the atmosphere yet still show every delicate line.
Not necessarily at all. It is common for families to pin down the gurdwara and hall later than they had hoped, and we fully understand. Reach out the moment your date is set and we will check the diary straight away. If we honestly cannot cover it, we will tell you plainly, and where possible point you to photographers we trust. For New Malden bookings, getting here is simple: New Malden station is on the South Western Main Line with direct trains to London Waterloo.
Usually a few weeks, though it depends on the time of year and how many days of your celebration we photographed. A multi-event Sikh wedding leaves us with a huge body of images, and we edit each one on its own rather than running them through in a batch. We would sooner give you a gallery worth keeping than rush to meet some fixed deadline. Open air sessions near New Malden tend to use Beverley Park, an open green space with sports pitches and a playground.
More in New Malden
More wedding & photography services in New Malden
The same team, experience and care across every wedding and service we cover in New Malden. For weddings of every tradition in New Malden, see our wedding photographer in New Malden page. Browse our Sikh wedding photography page, the wedding photography overview, all areas we serve, or nearby Kingston upon Thames and Richmond upon Thames. We also photograph Sikh weddings across Greater London, including Bromley, East Ham, Uxbridge, Neasden, Havering and Hounslow.
Guides
Wedding guides for New Malden couples
Recent weddings
Recent Sikh weddings near New Malden
Milni · Anand Karaj · Laavan · Mehndi · Jago
Planning a Sikh wedding in New Malden?
Tell us about your celebration and we will send availability, ideas and pricing, wherever it takes place.
Check your date