Metleshwari & Daniel’s Vaishnav Temple Wedding

We walked into the Vaishnav Temple to the sweet sound of traditional Indian blessing songs. Met processed to the mandap and sat down for the first blessing. The drums in front of the church started rhythmically pounding awaiting Dan’s arrival; my heart went aflutter and I started welling up. Shooting Met and Dan’s wedding was a dream for me!

Once again, I had the opportunity to photograph a coming together of not only two hearts but of two cultural worlds. Met is Indian and Dan is Irish, so they’re actually getting married twice–their second wedding was in Ireland–at the time of this blog, they’ll be doubly married. They love each other, they really love each other!

I didn’t get to officially meet Dan until everyone erupted into an impromptu celebratory dance in the aisle, but I could see during the ceremony, even under his traditional wedding turban, that he was incredibly devoted to Met. Both of their eyes were covered with beads, but under the mandap, the touch of their hands, whispered moments, and sometimes humorous tied-together walks around the fire translated who they were and their closeness to each other. I knew before I had both of their eyes that they were cute as can be and so in love!

This became all the more clear when I was able to steal the two away for a short portrait session. Met, being an incredibly low-key lady was dying to get out of her heavy albeit gorgeous wedding sari (I don’t blame her–I had to hang it up for some pictures and it was a workout) and Dan was valiantly supporting her weight through our session. Their relationship shined so sweetly through this though; it was perfection. Met was turning loopy and giggly (her nickname is Tinkerbell and it suits her perfectly) but managed to endure our photoshoot with Dan gently whispering that it was almost over in her ear. I was totally torturing her but I had to keep shooting their sweet interactions!

Dan and Met, it was such an honor for me to photograph your gorgeous wedding and capture your adorableness together. I wish you a lifetime of happiness and I can only hope to taste rice pudding as good as your mom’s again!

Sydney Angel