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 specialties and don’t ever learn about the cultures and traditions beyond their niche. And here I am, still eager after 14 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.
Reception
Both the ceremony and reception happened at The Vue and Clubhouse Eventspace. Due to the sheer size of their guest count, most of the event did have to be held indoors. However the couple was able to do their wedding photos around the golf course grounds even with a little bit of rain. The reception had a night full of speeches and family performances. And once all the formalities were over, we took everything outside for an evening of dancing under the stars and a photo booth to capture some great memories.
