South Indian Telgu/Tamil Wedding | Vaidica Vidhya Ganapathi Center|Sri Vallabha Maha Ganapathi Temple| San Martin, CA

Neeharika and Arun celebrated over two days of wedding festivities. The first day featured Mangala Snanam for both bride and the groom and Pellikuthuru for the bride, and the second day was the wedding itself.

Day 1 blog is here. Wedding day began bright and early with getting-ready photos of the bride: we captured outfit and jewelry details, using the haldi decor to create a colorful backdrop for those shots. Neeharika, a trained Bharatanatyam dancer, moved gracefully and was completely at ease in front of the camera, which resulted in many beautiful photographs. We also captured warm moments with her brother and father.

We then proceeded to the temple for the wedding. At the venue we photographed the groom and groomsmen first; once the bride arrived we captured the full bridal party together. Throughout the day we made many lively and candid images and recorded footage for both photo and video, including drone shots. The bride was then escorted for Gauri Pooja and other rituals before the groom’s Kashi Yatra. The groom’s family is from the East Coast and is Tamil, while the bride’s family is from the neighboring South Indian state of Telangana. Both families wanted a traditional South Indian temple wedding, and that vision came beautifully to life.

One of the standout moments was the showering of rose petals from the umbrella during the Kashi Yatra. After the groom’s welcome and Ganesh Pooja, the bride entered in a traditional basket Pelli Butta , a beautifully decorated bamboo basket carried by her maternal uncles, symbolizing her as Goddess Lakshmi, who shouldn't touch the ground as she's brought to her groom (Lord Vishnu). carried by her uncles — we captured this on drone as well, and it was especially striking from above. Following the Jeera Gala Bellam ceremony and the lowering of the curtains, the bride was gifted a saree from the groom’s side and changed her saree and returned to the mandap for the remainder of the rituals. After the ceremony concluded we took portraits of family and friends and then bride and groom at the mandap, we also got some portraits of them outdoors. Sit back and enjoy the slideshow from this beautiful wedding.