Grand Victorian Convention Centre
The Grand Victorian Convention Centre hall takes you back to the Roman era with its grand pillars. The hall offers exceptional artwork and high ceilings. This venue is perfect for any large elegant South Asian Weddings. For my cousin Neha’s wedding, it was the Grand Victorian Convention Centre hosting her Hindu Wedding Ceremony.
Wow! What an epic multi day event. It was jam packed with fun people who just wanted to drink up a storm and party even harder. But hey, it’s my family so I knew that going in. The bride’s family also hosted a small churda the day before. It’s a small prewedding ceremony where the bride’s family offers their blessing. This wedding video includes footage from this event.
This was the first wedding I’ve ever captured for my own family. As such, it’s also the first wedding they’ve seen me in action. That alone was a unique experience to have. With so many doctors in my family, my career path as a wedding photographer/videographer wasn’t always accepted. So there was definitely a sense of pride when it came sharing my passion with them.
Ceremony
We kick things off with morning prep at the bride’s family home. This couple is actually local to Atlanta, Georgia. They married there this past winter. So today’s celebration is more for the bride’s Canadian family to celebrate with them. Accordingly the bride’s side has a lot more members with more bridesmaids as well.
The Hindu ceremony was a traditional three hour event. The first time I filmed a Hindu wedding, I underestimated the length of the ceremony. I generally film a ceremony across three different cameras. Times that by three hours and it’s a lot of batteries and memory cards. So this time I was uber prepared. Resultantly, it was a full run through which is always a good keepsake to have.
Evening Festivities
The portrait session for the couple and bridal party was at Chinguacousy Park. I was expecting a rainy day so I had a full trunk of umbrellas available for the downpour. While some photographers prefer to cross their fingers and hope for the best, I come prepared and ready for any weather. It is Canada after all. We’ll get sun, rain and snow in the same day.
The evening festivities were are Khazana Restaurant. They don’t specialize in weddings however they are really good when it comes to Indian cuisine. There were a few speeches and first dance. But for the most part, it was a family reunion as we hadn’t seen the bride in a long time. And for a lot of them, this was the first time we really got to meet the groom.