Last summer we were hired to photograph the three days of a traditional Indian Muslim wedding in Miami, FL. The festivities started with Mehndi ceremony, or as it is known in the western word – henna ceremony. We absolutely adore photographing Indian weddings for the colors that run a whole spectrum of bright and brave, the rhythmic music, the energetic dances, many religious and cultural traditions, and of course the food.
During the traditional henna ceremony a mehndiwali applies mehndi on the hands and feet of the bride. The event is very joyous and festive with the women singing traditional songs. The bride normally wears a yellow or green dress for the Henna celebration and uses only light, or mostly, no make-up. The groom will typically wear a casual Shalwar Qameez. The bride and/or the groom are brought forward in the ceremony under a decorative dupatta by their close relatives. In the bridal ceremony, a certain number of married women who are closely related to the bride apply henna to her hands, and feed her sweets. This ritual is supposed to bring good luck and longevity to the bride’s married life. Similarly, on the groom’s side, oil is applied to his head and sweets are fed to the groom.
Over the years of photographing weddings and traveling the world we understood that traditional Muslim weddings are probably the most important events in the life of a given community, with every friend and distant relative attending, wearing splendid costumes that are often adorned with gold and silver jewelry, and elaborate Islamic religious rituals that are followed.
These families are prominent members of Miami’s Indian Muslim community, and they were set on making sure that all the traditions are to be followed to the letter. The next posts will be about the other two days of this elaborate and beautiful wedding marathon: The Nikaah and Valimah.
