It was an early morning Skype video call with Nivedita & Sandeep. Neetika and I (Manas) had woken up a little early and they stayed up till a little late to compensate for the time difference between India and the US. Yep, planning a wedding remotely takes a little extra effort from everyone involved :)
So, we are in the in the middle of this intense conversation discussing all the events and requirements in detail and I can’t help but think that Sandeep’s face looks familiar …so does his surname. Eventually we figured out that his elder brother, Srikanth was my senior at IIIT-Hyderabad. Small world!!
Nivedita & Sandeep’s concerns about “candid” wedding photography were something that most couples deal with today. They preferred interesting moments from the wedding while the parents primarily wanted coverage of rituals and family members. A lot of people (including photographers) think that these requirements are mutually exclusive but we strongly believe that if you have the eye for the right moments, all key rituals and people will automatically be covered. In fact, coverage can and should be a byproduct of good story-telling. This story is a case in point.
After a couple of conversations, they decided to take the leap of faith and the onus was on us to make sure that the parents were equally wowed by the pictures. No pressure :)
Soon we found ourselves in the beautiful city of Visakhapatnam to shoot their 3 day wedding at Hotel Daspalla & Novotel. We were really impressed with Sandeep’s planning and execution skills. In spite of large families on both sides and multiple events spread over those 3 days, he went out of the way to make sure everything started and ended on time.
Our high points from this wedding were the Idly & chutney breakfast at Nivedita’s home, our shoes getting drenched by a rogue wave within 5 mins of the couple shoot, Niveditha’s super-cute niece Kavya (who was all over the place), catching up with Srikanth after 15 years, Sandeep’s goofy sense of humour and Nivedita’s patience to deal with it.
Here’s one of our favourite wedding stories of the year!