Sikh Wedding Photographer in Rochester
For Sikh couples marrying in Rochester, through the jago night and the morning at the gurdwara, with more than a thousand wedding days behind the lens.
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Wedding photography from £750
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The short answer
Your Sikh wedding photographer in Rochester, at a glance
Every Sikh wedding in Rochester is photographed by Kaushik Bathia himself, a London based professional with twenty five years in the darbar hall, over a thousand weddings and five European Gold awards to his name. Two lenses, no bag and no tripod inside the darbar hall. Travelling light means we can move slowly and silently between the few positions we have agreed, and nothing of ours clutters the space. Multi-day Sikh weddings are a speciality in Rochester, from the pre-wedding maiyan and mehndi to the baraat, the four laavan at the gurdwara, the doli and the reception afterwards. Grandparents are often the reason an album is treasured decades later, and years of experience has taught us to seek them out early, before the hall fills and the day carries them away. Options include a second photographer, a pre-wedding shoot at a place that means something to you, and hand bound albums. Travel is quoted openly and never used as an excuse to say no to Kent.
Rochester runs Southeastern high speed services on HS1, so a London sangat can be here inside an hour for a morning anand karaj. Coverage inside the darbar hall means head covered, shoes off and a still position at the side while the four laavan are walked and the ardas said. Milni and sehra bandi are photographed outdoors when the Medway weather allows. Upnor Castle or The Historic Dockyard Chatham then take the reception, and the doli closes the day. Borstal, Cuxton and Wouldham lie just outside for relatives who need a bed.
Serving Rochester
A warm welcome to Sikh couples in Rochester
Most Sikh couples booking us will use two buildings between morning and midnight, and what each demands of a photographer differs. One of them you do not control at all: it runs to rules we did not write, and inside it our whole task is to go unnoticed. The other you are paying for, which converts lighting from a fact you accept into a choice you make. High speed services into Rochester also mean a sangat coming out from London can skip the overnight stay.
Underestimated in almost every schedule is the stretch in between. Cars get reloaded, elders have to be fed, and nobody has ever changed clothes as fast as a timeline claims. We count that stretch as covered time instead of a break in it, since a family folding unposed into chairs earns album pages just as the ceremony does. If the clock permits, Castle Gardens will take a small group away from the traffic.
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What we offer
What is included in your Rochester Sikh wedding coverage
Getting Ready
Fast Online Gallery
Every Sikh ritual
Honouring the maryada of the gurdwara
No two gurdwaras hold identical maryada, and a camera is no grounds for bending it. Our questions go in beforehand, and there are three: which spot may hold a camera, whether that camera may move at all during the laavan, and whether a balcony exists. The morning is decided by those replies. Side on and long, the palla reads and so does the walking; get the side wrong and you have photographed backs. Better to hear a restriction a week out than at the door.
Kirtan and ardas both repay stillness, so we plant ourselves and let the singing fill the space instead. Milni, hours earlier, could not be less alike: outdoors, brisk, unrehearsed, two families taking the measure of one another on a forecourt. Down among plates and running children, langar tends to hold the strongest candids of any Sikh day, and briefs leave it out again and again. One of us goes outside ahead of the doli and shoots back towards the door.
Why choose us
Quiet, covered heads and always in the right place
Our plan for the morning follows what the building allows, not what would suit us, and we say so beforehand so that nothing gets argued where the congregation can hear it. Soft shoes, a lot of reach on the lens, and a standing spot cleared beforehand with the people in charge will do more for you than a car full of kit.
Good to know
Wedding photography in Rochester, frequently asked questions
Please do include them. Those nights produce the noisiest and least guarded pictures anyone takes all week. Because they usually run in a family home instead of a hired room, the lighting problem is a completely different one.
Within whatever the committee allows, yes. Our default is to take one spot at the flank, put something long on the camera, and move not at all while singing is under way. We confirm the rules with the hall ahead of your date.
Yes. Guest numbers alter the formals and the reception; they do not alter the ceremony. At that size we would want the groupings written down, and a loud volunteer on either side, or the formals will swallow your evening.
Ring us or fill in the form; put your date and your location on it. Our reply, where we can give one, arrives that same day and is either yes or no, unqualified. No date is reserved until an agreement is signed.
Yes. Your album is laid out from the selection you approve, and a proof goes to you for signature before printing begins. It is sized so a full spread from the Rochester ceremony keeps its detail on paper.
More in Rochester
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Guides
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Recent weddings
Recent Sikh weddings near Rochester
Milni · Anand Karaj · Laavan · Mehndi · Jago
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