This was a Gujarati Hindu wedding ceremony on the top floor of the Rio Grande, which allows for great views over the city during daylight hours

Dhol drummers

Petals and floating candles in a bowl at a Hindu wedding

Hindu god Ganesh .

Hindu priest conducts the wedding ceremony

Hindu Ganesh

Bride and groom exchange wedding garlands

Fire as part of Hindu wedding ceremony

Hindu bride’s henna on her hands.

If you would like to see more Hindu wedding pictures, or Asian or reportage UK wedding photos click on REEL LIFE PHOTOS or  for even more wedding pics visit our Facebook page! xx Elaine and Jorge

Vishal’s Hindu wedding comprises of several individual ceremonies. After the Mayan (Miyaan) comes the Sangeet – bit of fun for all the wedding guests – then the  Sainth, a religious ceremony with oils,  natural plants and seeds. The priest conducts the ceremony – which could be on the floor of the temple, or as here in the family home.  The key family members sits round in a circle in front of the priest, and participate throughout.

What a beautiful buttercup yellow sari with mehndi - so just couldn't resist starting with this glorious splash of colour!

natural green leafy plants during the Sainth ceremony

The coconut always appears at Hindu weddings, and has many different levels of significance

The coconut is passed to one of the family by the Hindu priest.

The marks on the coconut maybe perceived as representing the three-eyed Lord Shiva so it brings good luck.  Sometimes it is smashed to reveal its soft white centre, representing the human brain, as it looks a bit like a human head, thus the ego is squashed and presented to the Lord.

flower petals in a dish - all part of life...

Here is more of the evening’s story in pictures…..

Hindu priest with the Groom's Father

Colourful offerings

Oh such happiness!

Oh little baby...!

Prayers

Hands...

Young and old sit down on the floor together.

The headdress that the groom will wear the next day at his Sehra Bandi and Baraat

Candles are lit...

Hands held out above the burning candles...

 Money is given here too.

Just a moment in time, as the candles are passed round and hands add money to the tray.

Petals garnish the offerings, like so many strands of hundreds and thousands on fairy cakes

Blessing from the priest for the little boy

Glasses of milk brought in by the Groom's mother

Happy smiles again as the milk arrives.

Time for gifts...

Presents.

So much happening!

Everyone - nearly...

Groom Vishal and his brother Dinesh causing a stir!

Night!

Visit www.LeedsWeddingPhotographers.com for more info or to contact Elaine, the wedding photographer here.

This is the second wedding we have covered for the same family of boys in the South Yorkshire town of Barnsley, so now we feel part of their extended family: many hours work – but all great fun.

Its a bit like a Stag-Do where the bridegroom is smothered in a turmeric paste and coloured powders, but in front of all his family and close friends in the garden of their family home.

Vibrantly coloured pigments ready for use in creating a Mayan wedding design

Wonder what this is going to be used for...

Let's start with a little snack before the ceremony starts

Such rich colours...

beautiful henna designs

hands fit for a magazine..

more beautiful henna designs

The women start to get ready for the ceremony.

The arty bit begins...

beautiful little detail...

birds-eye view of the art in progress

Art in the making...

Almost ready...

One of my favourite shots of the artists at work

Now we see the artists too...

All set!

The groom's mother make the first move. Here she is about to smear him with thick turmeric paste

Oh how they are loving it!

The groom's torment hots up!"

Oh such fun!

How carefully they avoid his eyes and mouth. Seems they all love him!

Ooh this is getting a bit daring!

I actually won first prize in an international  wedding  photography  competition – $1,000, from the Professional Wedding Photographers’ Network and was awarded the top wedding photographer excellence award for pictures from this couple’s Hindu wedding this year 2012, just days after the wedding had taken place!

More pics and wedding info on www.LeedsWeddingPhotographers.com

We love showing you clips from recent weddings but the past three weddings have all been for the same couple who have requested that we don’t show their faces to the world, so unusually for Reel Life Photos they have been hidden away under a password.  Here are a few we can show:

See More Hindu wedding photos here on Reel Life Photos Facebook Page

and here on our website

  I was once asked where  all our best wedding photos were!  Well, they are all there in our online  galleries –  all the little gems –  but buried between the vast expanse of variety that makes for human life.  Having documented so many facets of this, I thought it was time to revisit a few faces, and to give myself a short breathing space, away from the constant converting of images and preparation of  chosen photos for printing,  for other (albeit very important) people.  Its been over 3 years since  I designed the visual aspect of our existing website,  so have been busy the past two evenings, putting together a selection of some of my favourite recent images, which will soon be making their appearance on the home page –  thanks to Mark  and his web-techies in Huddersfield at www.e-connected.com .  Hope you all like the new-look, when it goes  live.  In the meantime here are a few from a beautiful Hindu wedding from last year, that are no longer on the site .  They also had an church of England wedding ceremony, which was hard work to fit all in one day.  Bhavi was an incredibly good organiser, though!

   We have another Hindu wedding to video & photograph Spring 2008, in Leicester – as soon as I get back from a wedding in Jacob’s Creek in Australia – and we have a wedding in Ullswater in Cumbria in January, so it looks like being an exciting start to the year.