A Starborough Manor Haldi Ceremony

Something new for me this weekend – I absolutely loved capturing this Indian pre wedding ceremony for Jenita and her family at Starborough Manor in Kent.

My knowledge of Indian wedding traditions leaves a lot to be desired, but I did my best to learn about what was happening and why whilst I captured all the fun, beauty and colour of it all (all of Jenita’s family were so great at explaining all of the different things to me, which was so helpful!)

That being said, there’s still a pretty good possibility that I may have got some things wrong in this write up and I apologise if that’s the case.

We got started when Jenita’s family arrived at Starborough Manor for lunch before the ceremony. 

The very proud parents of the bride had a nice little cuddle as they watched everyone arrive.

Before long the bride herself arrived and a few final additions were made. I absolutely
loved how colourful and vibrant everything was – so beautiful.

After lunch, proceedings began with plenty of prayers and plenty of singing from the
watching family members.

I guess the full belly and the singing made this little guy feel sleepy!

One of the things that struck me was how joyful and emotional everyone was. It was
a genuinely beautiful experience and there was so much love in the room.

The part I really loved photographing came next – I believe it is called a Haldi ceremony and it is where a mixture of Turmeric, oil and water are mixed together to form a yellow paste which is then applied to the bride – and not always carefully!

And sometimes she retaliates! 

I was told this is traditionally done to give the skin a beautiful glow come the wedding day. It’s also a lot of fun and a big crew of mischief makers (my kind of people!) took great pleasure in telling Jenita how they were going to make sure she looked Marge Simpson before they were done!

I can’t tell you how fun and joyous this whole event was and even though I left there with a little more knowledge about Indian wedding traditions than I had when I arrived, there is still so much I don’t know and need to discover.

What I do know though, is that they are fun and colourful and proper celebrations – I loved it!

That’s all for this little sneak peek, folks. I’ll add one or two more pictures from this day to the Facebook and Instagram pages as I edit them, so feel free to follow along over there. 

Big thanks to everyone who made me feel so welcome, took the time to explain the traditions to me and made sure I got to eat lots of delicious food!