Bengali Hindu Wedding Ceremony
I take pride in the cultural diversity of my wedding couples. With Toronto being such a hotpot of backgrounds, I’m kind of surprised how few photographers are do the same. Many stick to their specialities and don’t ever learn about the cultures and traditions beyond their niche. And here I am, still eager after 10 years in the industry to photograph a new type of wedding ceremony.
To those who aren’t aware, the Bengali Hindu Wedding Ceremony has some distinct differences to the Indian Hindu Wedding Ceremony. It’s still part of the Southasian family, has a similar structure, and time table. But for one, the groom wears a topor headgear. The topor is typically fragile, made of sholapith and white in colour. It is believed to bring good luck.
The bride’s entrance for a Bengali Hindu Wedding is also pretty unique. With most cultures, the first look between the bride and groom happens during the bride’s entrance. With Hindu ceremonies, the bride’s entrance is usually obscured. In India, the bride walks in surrounded by all her siblings and cousins. Being buried in the crowd makes it difficult to see her until she’s right in front of the groom. With Bengali Hindu weddings, the bride’s uncle escorts her in as she hold large beetle leaves in front of her face. In fact, she walks around the groom several times checking him out before he ever gets a clear view of her face. Granted, these two already had a first look earlier in the day in the Mississauga Grand Lobby. So there were no beetle leaves involved. But Kalpita did get to do her traditional walk around to inspect the goods.
Hybrid Package
This is a relatively new service I offer. It gives you the benefit of one photographer for the day, as well as video coverage of the ceremony and reception. For Covid weddings that had to downsize their guest count, this package became a huge asset. I am trained as photographerand videographer. I am also able to transition between the two services throughout the day. Remember, the Hybrid Package is still a single shooter service. Meaning you don’t have to sacrifice a loved one at your wedding for the extra coverage. Video coverage of this event is at the bottom of the page. It includes a full runthrough of the wedding ceremony and the scheduled highlights of the evening wedding reception. All speeches and vows are uncut so you remember every word.
