The last half of the day revolved around the Christian ceremony and wedding reception.  All in all, the day lasted 15 1/2 hours.  It was certainly tiring, but well worth every minute!  This was an amazing Indian wedding that we will not soon forget.  Prachie and Aaron are both amazing and accomplished people and it was a joy getting to know them over the course of those three days.  Equally wonderful were Prachie's parents and sister, who graciously invited us into there home and treated us like guests the entire time!  Thank you all so much and we hope you love the photographs!

I also want to give a special thanks to my wonderful second shooter, Melissa Dunstan, for her wonderful work, friendship and for sticking out for 12 hours of the wedding day :-) ... thank you so much Melissa!!

Another great shot by Melissa!

Aaron is a very talented musician, as are his friends that you have seen in the photos above.  He wrote a song for Prachie and played it on the piano ... it was breathtaking!

Melissa and I getting a little silly after 15 hours :-).

 

 

Prachie and Aaron's wedding took place on the third day of festivities at the spectacular JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix.  This venue is amazing ... and huge!  It contains several venues spread across the expansive resort grounds.  The first part of the day was dedicated to the Hindu Ceremony.  Prachie's dress was stunning and all the details and colors were mesmerizing!  Prachie's mother is from Nepal and so aside from the Indian customs there were also some Nepali customs infused into the wedding as well.  I just loved all the pagentry, beauty and meaning that is implied in every aspect of the hindu ceremony!

On Friday, day two of Prachie and Aaron's Indian wedding, we again spent the day at Prachie's parent's home, this time for the Haldi, or Turmeric, ceremony.  Turmeric is a yellow spice which is made into a paste that is then applied to the bride by her family and friends during the ceremony the day before the wedding to give her radiant skin.  The Haldi was very festive, with music playing and everyone having a great time!  Following the Haldi ceremony, Prachie changed into a beautifully beaded dress and prayers began, after which guests arrived for food and the Mehndi Party, where all of Prachie's female family and friends had their henna done.

There were so many cute kids at this wedding :-)!

In April we had the privilege of documenting Prachie and Aaron's Indian wedding!  The wedding was a three day event filled with lots of love, laughter, color and tradition that ultimately culminated in a wedding day consisting of two full weddings, one Hindu and one Christian.  It was an amazing experience and because there were so many aspects to it, we have broken it up into four postings.  This first posting is from Thursday, the first day of celebration.  We spent the day with Prachie's at her parent's home for her Mehndi (henna tattoo.)

Megan and Colton were married March 27, 2010 at a relatively new venue just south of Phoenix called the Windmill Winery.  The Windmill Winery is located in Florence, Arizona and is a really cool venue to shoot at.  It has an old turn-of-the 20th century barn that was relocated all the way from Wisconsin and plenty of vintage John Deer tractors and oh, did I forget to mention all the chickens :-).

The pursuit of chickens was a major goal of the day as almost everyone in the wedding party including the bride chased them around in an effort to catch one for the couple to hold in a photo.  At sunset we finally heard a resounding "baa...baaaaakk" and we new they had finally achieved their goal :-).  The rest of the day was filled with plenty of love, laughter and beauty ... a beautiful event!

We first met Megan a year-and-a-half ago through one of our past brides, Paige.  We did a boudoir shoot for Megan (and Paige) and have loved her ever since.  We loved Colton just as much the second we met him for the couple's engagement shoot and have been looking forward to this wedding ever since!  Megan and Colton are very big into the outdoors and hunting and fishing which was a running theme at the reception.  Thank you both so much for such a wonderful and unique experience :-)!  XOXOXO!!