Navdeep and Justin had an amazing multi-Sikh wedding over Thanksgiving 2022 that we were so honored to capture! It was a total of 46 hours of coverage over six days!
Navdeep got ready at her home in San Jose while Justin got ready in Hayard. Navdeep was perfectly on time, while Justin, not so much! To make use the time we had, Navdeep got lots of great portraits of herself at the Gurdwara while we waited for the groom’s side to arrive. An hour and two times through the breakfast line later, the groom’s side did arrive and the Milni began.
Wedding Documentary specializes in both photography and cinematography for Indian weddings in the San Francisco Bay Area and we were doing both photo and cinema for this wedding.
During breakfast, we set up our flashes and audio inside the temple. Usually, we do 3-4 flashes in different configurations so we can turn off and on certain groups at different times. For example, we may have lights set up as backlights, but for a few shots, may not want a backlight so we can easily turn it off from our on-camera triggers. The same goes for key and fill light. We can adjust on the fly, the ratio of key to fill light and make shots more dramatic or less dramatic by adjusting that ratio.
For audio, we plug in to the house system so we capture all the mics and musicians’ mics that are being fed into that system. As a backup, we also place recorders on the book the podium, and musicians, so we have alternate sources of audio just in case we need it. This is the pro way to do it and I highly encourage everyone who shoots weddings to do it this way too.
The ceremony was beautiful and after the ceremony we did bridal party photos right in front of the temple. This was cool because it was convenient for everyone and with such a large bridal party, it is more time efficient to do the photos there instead of taking everyone to another location.
For the bride and groom shots, we went to a nearby park which I noticed on the way to the temple that day. It was a great spot with nice trees, and wide open spaces, and gave us just the right look we were going for.
After the ceremony, half of our team departs with the couple as they make their way to the houses for the Doli and the Paani Bharna. The rest of us either start editing the next day edit, go to another event that we may have that evening, or go rest for the next day.
If you are having a Sikh wedding in the Bay Area, I highly suggest going with Wedding Documentary. They have the best quality, price, and professionalism. When you hire a wedding professional, it is so important to have peace of mind that you have a team of pros who know how to handle any situation and do the best job possible!
Navdeep and Justin received all their photos before Christmas, so that is less than one month turnaround time and their films were delivered within two months of the wedding! And it was like 10 separate films for all their events! Incredible!