One of our favorite weddings of 2014 was Sonam and Harjit’s! They had multiple days of events including a Mehndi, two Sangeets, Haldi ceremonies, a Choora ceremony, a Hindu wedding, and then finally a Sikh wedding and reception!
Here we are showing their Hindu ceremony at the San Ramon Marriott hotel. This renovated hotel is really nice for Indian weddings because they have a great parking lot for Baraats and a very nice foyer for guests to mingle before entering the ballroom. Sonam is Punjabi Hindu, while the Harjit is Sikh. Even though they have the same culture in terms of language and food, their religions differ in that the Hindu ceremony needs to be witness by the holy fire or “Agni” and the Sikh wedding is witnessed by their religion’s Holy Book.
Getting ready took place in the bride’s hotel room and we took her lengha outside to photograph it under natural light at the gazebo. Christal from ArtistybyChristal.com did a great job on her hair and makeup. We got some stunning portraits of Sonam before the wedding and we captured the groom’s procession to the Mandap in the parking lot.
The ceremony included the participation of both the bride and groom’s parents and the rituals were performed beautifully over the course of about an hour. After which, we took the bride and groom outside for portraits before they headed inside for lunch. Once everyone had eaten we went back to the bride’s house for the Doli ceremony. This is the part of the ceremony where the bride officially leaves home. Sonam threw rice as she walked out of her family’s home going to live with Harjit and his family. They went off into the sunset to get some rest for their Sikh wedding the next day.
Stay tuned to see their Sikh wedding photos at the San Jose Gurudwara up next!
