Sikh Wedding Photographer in Ware

We are fully insured, with both public liability and professional indemnity, and sending the certificate to your gurdwara committee or venue in Ware before the day is no trouble at all. Venues increasingly ask for it as standard now. It quietly marks out a seasoned professional from someone who simply owns a good camera.

We do, gently and unobtrusively. The ragis and their kirtan give the Anand Karaj its tone, so we record the musicians, the listening sangat and the two of you before the Guru Granth Sahib. Relying on silent cameras and available light alone, we make sure the shabads carry on undisturbed by any shutter noise or sudden burst of flash. Open air sessions near Ware tend to use the riverside gazebos and the grounds of Ware Priory beside the River Lea.

Yes, all four. Nothing matters more in the Anand Karaj, and we photograph each laav as you walk around the Guru Granth Sahib with the palla joining you. By keeping to unobtrusive positions we follow every circuit without getting in the way of the granthi or the sangat, and the relatives who steady your steps are captured too. In and around Ware that has included Fanhams Hall and Hanbury Manor.

Then preparation covers it. We contact the gurdwara in good time to learn its guidance on photography, and where we can we go beforehand or come very early on the day to walk the darbar hall, assess the light and meet the sewadars. With a quarter of a century of Sikh weddings at gurdwaras all over Greater London behind us, a new one is soon familiar. We know Ware well, including Scott's Grotto, an eighteenth century underground grotto built by the poet John Scott and the largest in the country.

Absolutely, that is what a full day of coverage is. We turn up for the tying of the sehra with the choora chiming from the night before, walk the dhol-led baraat to the gurdwara, photograph the Anand Karaj and the langar, and remain at the reception right through until the dancing peaks and your story is fully told. Ware and neighbouring Great Amwell, Wareside and Widford are all covered.

Often, and with real care. We help the non-Sikh family understand what will happen during the Anand Karaj, from covering heads to sitting on the darbar hall floor, so everyone feels comfortable, and we photograph both sides of the family equally. Blended celebrations, with two sets of traditions in one wedding, make especially rich photo stories. Ware is easy to reach: Ware station is on the Hertford East Branch Line, with services to London Liverpool Street via Broxbourne.

Of course we can. For very large gatherings we choose a spot that offers room and soft, even light, arrange people up steps or on a balcony where possible, and direct clearly yet kindly so nobody is standing about. Given how many hundreds attend Sikh weddings in Ware, we are thoroughly used to group photographs where each person is visible.