Who are you?
Rani by Neha Mahajan
ranibymahajan.com
facebook.com/ranibynehamahajan
twitter.com/ranibyneha
+91 9953684649
BB pin: 22475ED9

What do you do?
Rani is a solution for South Asians based abroad who want the most up-to-date styles straight from the capital of India. Our services allow those people living abroad the ability to buy traditional items and the latest fashions from New Delhi without being overwhelmed by coming to an unfamiliar city or even leaving the comfort of their own home. Rani specializes in all wedding related shopping consultation such as bridal outfits, bridal party outfits, bridal accessories, trousseau & gift packaging, jewelry, invitations, favors, puja supplies and MORE! We offer private consultations in Delhi, web conferences, teleconferences, and shopping escort services. We have a variety of packages to offer our clients that range from consultation services to plan a shopping itinerary, various packages for shopping escort services, and personal shopping services where we do the shopping for you.

Our team will create a personalized customer profile to understand the requirements and will ensure all items are completed on time and hassle free. Our team is known for their innovation and intuitive understanding of their clients

Where are you based?
Our office is in South Delhi, India. However, the unique aspect about our company is that we can do the shopping for you and have it sent to you anywhere in the world if you can’t come to India yourself.

Why do you do what you do?
The vision for this company started as I realized there was a demand from South Asian brides in the US for clothing, jewelry, invitations and more to be designed traditionally and fashionably from India. Many of these women, however, were either extremely overwhelmed once they arrived in Delhi or were unable to travel to India altogether. Shopping proved as very frustrating for many, as they were unable to communicate in Hindi and were unfamiliar with the Indian business culture. Many people also did not have any relatives or friends who could accompany them or give them tips about where to shop once they arrived in India. Most visitors come to India with a time constraint and need a personalized service that can help them get in touch with the desired vendors and the latest styles according to their tastes and budget. After I moved to Delhi, many acquaintances started contacting me about where to go shopping in Delhi and I realized that many of these people were clueless about how to get the best styles and deals in a limited time. I am extremely passionate about helping brides make their visions come true. Brides already are stressed out and we help ease their frustrations by planning their shopping itineraries and personally following up with the vendors to make sure their orders are completed to perfection and on time. Since I was born and raised in the US and am now living in India, I am able to understand both worlds and use this advantage to help my brides.

Do you work exclusively on South Asian weddings?
I have expanded the business to include not only brides but all visitors to Delhi who need assistance maneuvering around the city to get their shopping done. I offer a one stop shop for all your South Asian shopping needs. Describe some of your inspirations. I like things which are timeless and elegant for brides who do not feel they have the opportunity to wear their South Asian outfits very often. I love pieces which are classy yet striking and unique. Right now, I am in awe of regal floor length anarkhalis, anarkhalis with long trails, net suits with sequin sheeting or prints layered underneath, velvet appliqués, classy sari blouses with elbow length fitted net sleeves and gorgeous laces.

What are some mistakes you see most South Asian brides (and families) make?
They sometimes buy overpriced and out of date outfits from the US because of time & travel constraints. I feel South Asian brides in the US/UK do not have enough knowledge about the quality and value of fabrics and embroideries before making their purchases.

Do you cater to certain budgets only?
Not at all! We work with all budgets and do everything from a onetime consultation to one outfit to the entire wedding shopping for a bride. Also, all shopping itineraries are planned keeping the bride’s budget in mind.

Tell us about your strongest area.
We have very good relationships with all the vendors we work with. We have a large variety of preferred vendors to match all tastes and budgets. We are passionate about our work and truly enjoy making sure every bride is pampered & ecstatic about all her purchases.

Tell us about your weakest area.
We feel our services could help many brides to be, and are still working hard to increase awareness of our services globally.

How would you describe your working style?
Perfection and patience is our mantra when working to make our bride’s dreams and visions a reality. We also pride ourselves on keeping up to date with the latest fashion trends. Describe a particularly memorable wedding you’ve worked on. There was one client who came to India for two weeks and we worked on all her wedding outfits, bridal party outfits, jewelry, invitations, and gifts.  She had seen a beautiful Satya Paul couture lengha during fashion week. I was able to set up an appointment for her at the Satya Paul head office in Gurgaon and got the head designer to meet with us. We tweaked the lengha from the fashion show in order to suit her body type and style. After she left India, I followed up with Satya Paul to make sure the lengha was being completed on time, the finishing was perfect, and that it was shipping to her in the US on time! The lengha was stunning and the bride was thrilled to wear it for her reception.

What’s your number one wedding tip?
Make sure your outfit fits comfortably and perfectly. Any outfit will look gorgeous if it the fit is right and the bride is accessorized with a big smile!

In high school, 16 years ago, I spent a summer as a hockey camp counselor.  One of my campers was a six-year-old Chinese-American whirlwind-on-skates named Sean. One day, one of the Caucasian-American dads came up to me and asked about how Sean was doing. I thought it was very rude that he was asking me about another camper, and told him as much.

Turns out he was Sean’s father.

Waiter, may I please have some pepper with that foot?

Interracial couples are fast becoming commonplace here in America, as the melting pot of cultures integrates even further.  According to the Pew Research Center, 14.6% of all new marriages are of interracial couples – a rate that has doubled since 1980. Further, over 60% of people surveyed by Pew said that they would approve of a family member who wanted to marry someone outside of their race. At Sari Closet, the online sari rental service that I co-founded earlier this year, we are seeing similar trends amongst our customers.  And as more South Asians marry more non-South Asians, the demand for blended cultural experiences has grown exponentially.

But what is the best way to hold an interracial wedding? One way is to cheat, like I did: we held separate events for my (Muslim) wife’s community and my (Hindu) community. But the last event was really not fun, which is the “writing of costly cheques” ceremony.

Interracial weddings — like interracial marriages — are most successful when both cultures are equally represented.  The best man at my wedding, who was from Germany, married a lovely woman from Japan. Not only did both cultures get well represented in the decorations and food, but both fathers downed ceremonial pints of a blend of Loewenbraeu and Kirin Ichiban.

So it’s true that alcohol helps.

For South Asians, saris are definitely a key part of the equation.  If the groom is South Asian, many times the brides’ friends will want to wear saris, especially the bridesmaids. A non-South Asian in a sari will always stand out – in a positive way.  She will look gorgeous both because of the quality of the sari, and because South Asians appreciate that she took such an interest to participate in their culture – instantly making her an “insider” at the wedding or event. Given that, the experts at Sari Closet — who we call “saristas” — encourage non-South Asians to wear bold, bright colors and patterns.  What might feel loud or busy on an Indian woman will look stunning on a non-South Asian. Combining saris with garments from other cultures is also a great idea.  It takes some work, but the look can be stunning.

No less an expert than Vogue India’s fashion director, Deep Kailey, is a firm believer in fashion evolving across borders, even for saris. “With the world being so much more global than ever before, I think all the lines are starting to merge,” she recently told Republic of Brown. As a tip, she recommends that, “when wearing a sari, wear a beautiful Prada blouse, or get a shirt made to match your drape.”

Of course, some customs just won’t mix. As comedian / TV talk show host Craig Ferguson once said about his wedding, between his Scottish culture and his wife’s Jewish culture, “The only thing that didn’t really work out is that the Jewish tradition of dancing around with the bride and groom on your shoulders clashes with the Scottish tradition of no underwear under the kilt.”

Happy sari-ying!

Sreesha Vaman is the co-founder of Sari Closet, an online nationwide sari rental service. Follow him on twitter @sreeshafashion.  The opinions expressed herein are his own.

Who are you?
Sari Closet
saricloset.com
facebook.com/saricloset
twitter.com/saricloset
1.310.987.7219

Our goal is to connect South Asians in America, and their non-South Asian friends, with our culture and heritage through fashion. We provide everyone with the opportunity to wear that fabulous Bollywood look at weddings, festivals, cultural celebrations, and formal social events. At Sari Closet, customers can borrow gorgeous saris, buy all of the right accessories and jewelry, and design the perfect look for themselves. And if they need advice or guidance, our sari experts, who we call “saristas”, are ready to help.

We prefer the term “borrow” because we strive to retain the culture of borrowing a sari from friends and family. Put another way, we want our customers to think of borrowing from Sari Closet as if they are borrowing from a friend–one with an extensive wardrobe.

Where are you based?
We are based in California and ship nationally in the US.

Why do you do what you do?
South Asian women who have grown up in America still have many different occasions each year for which they need to wear a sari, especially for weddings. At the wedding and reception, they still need to look fabulous, and they don’t want to wear the same sari twice within the same social circle – a problem made even more difficult in today’s world of social media and instant photo sharing.

However, our generation does not have the culture of collecting saris that our parents’ generation did. Saris are expensive here in the U.S., and it’s very difficult to go to India to buy saris that will only be worn once or twice. Our generation also has grown up in a multi-cultural society. Our non-South Asian friends want to participate in our culture, especially at our weddings, but typically have no experience wearing a sari, and can’t justify paying top dollar to buy a sari that they will wear once, given that the economy is still recovering.

Sari Closet provides a simple, cost-effective solution to these pain points – so our customers can fully enjoy their weddings and celebrations without breaking the bank!

Do you work exclusively on South Asian weddings?
We do not work exclusively on South Asian weddings; we will provide saris for any occasions!

Describe some of your inspirations.
One of our biggest sources of inspiration is seeing our non-South Asian friends wearing a sari at a wedding. For them, it goes beyond the fact that they look gorgeous: when they are wearing a sari, suddenly they find themselves swept up into all of the festivities.

“Uncles” are pulling them onto the dance floor, “aunties” are conversing and joking with them (and usually trying to fix them up with the proverbial “nice Indian boy”!), cousins are getting them involved in traditions like stealing the groom’s shoes – and they feel like an insider at the wedding and the reception, and it augments their experience a thousand times.

We get this feedback constantly, and knowing the impact that wearing a sari can have, well it motivates us every day at the office.

What are some mistakes you see most South Asian brides (and families) make?
South Asian women that have grown up in America are very unique and creative in most aspects of their lives. So why do so many women copy-paste their wedding process from others? A lot of the weddings we have attended have had the same food choices, the same ceremony, and in some cases the same wedding hall. We should celebrate our individuality, and we shouldn’t be afraid to make our wedding day our own!

One reason I hear for this is that South Asian weddings are so much bigger than those of other cultures, that there are very few suitable venues in any geographic area. That could be, but there are other ways to make your wedding unique even with that number of guests. For example, Sari Closet provides bridesmaids packages, so that all of the brides’ closest friends are wearing a very similar sari theme and thus can be easily identified at the reception even amongst the hundreds of guests.

Another way is to add to the typical wedding or reception with another event that is distinctly yours. At Sari Closet, we really enjoy hosting “sari parties”, where the bride or maid-of-honor invites all of her friends over, and our saristas help them choose a sari for the wedding, teaches them how to drape a sari, and finishes off the look with jewelry.

Do you cater to certain budgets only?
We cater to all budgets, as our goal is to increase the number and variety of saris available to our customers at affordable, cost-effective prices.

Tell us about your strongest area.
Our strongest area is our extensive collection of saris. With over 135 saris in a wide variety of styles, patterns, colors, and embroidery work, we know that we can provide a great look for every woman for their next wedding.

Tell us about your weakest area.
Our weakest area is that our primary interface with our customers is our website and for as much time and energy as we have spent photographing our saris, the pictures just do not do justice to them.

How would you describe your working style?
Our focus is creating the right look for the customer for the wedding or event that she is going to. When a customer calls the saristas, we focus on how we can make our customer look fabulous – even if this means less revenue for us. Once, we had a customer for whom we had to suggest that she order less from us because what she wanted to order was not appropriate for the look that she was trying to achieve – but we’re willing to do that in order to create the right look for the customer.

Describe a particularly memorable wedding you’ve worked on.
One of our non-South Asian customers went to her first South Asian wedding and decided to wear a sari. She had never worn a sari before, so she called our saristas and asked for help. We walked her through a variety of different saris, chose one for her – Sari No. 8 – and taught her how to drape the sari.

She tweet pic’d a picture of her wearing the sari and she looked gorgeous. When she got home, she was beaming! She loved being able to participate in the Indian (Punjabi) culture of this wedding, and actually felt more at ease at the wedding because she was wearing a sari – she thought that her friends wearing Western dresses stood out almost as casual observers to the wedding, while she was right in the thick of the excitement and chaos! She also said that it was an adventure learning how to dance in a sari, but everyone had the same problem, so they all learned together. All in all, wearing a Sari Closet sari completely changed her experience at the wedding. That made us very happy.

What’s your number one wedding tip?
Sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of what is important at the wedding: the fact that two people are in love with each other and are going to share their life experiences together. The wedding isn’t the end, it’s only the beginning. As such, celebrate with gusto, and no matter what happens on the day, don’t lose sight of what is really important.

Oh, and tell your friends to borrow saris from Sari Closet!

With names such as Abhishek and Rekha, the theme for their reception was a no-brainer:  Bollywood!

Rekha:
“As we started brainstorming ideas for our Bollywood night, we decided to create movie posters with us playing the leading roles. Then came the other accessories such as the red carpet, the step and repeat and the photo booth with our personalized photo book.”

Like true Bollywood celebs, Rekha and Abhishek had a star-studded affair for their last event. Decorating dream-team Dream Occasions created a starry night inside the reception hall!

Venue: Chicago Marriot Oak Brook
Planner: Drish Couture Events
Decorator: Dream Occasions
Videographer: Delack Media Group
Photographer: High Dynamic Photography

Rekha’s finale outfit is gorgeous beyond words. Stay tuned for it!

When Abhishek and his family first visited Esplanade Lakes, they knew from the first impression that it would have to one of the venues. Esplande Lakes is nestled in a pond and the banquet hall is unique with its circular room, floor to ceiling windows, and breathtaking view. And to dress up this beautiful space, they brought in Drish Couture to work their magic!

Sangeet Venue: Esplanade Lakes by DoubleTree Suites Chicago-Downers Grove
Planner: Drish Couture Events
Decorator: Dream Occasions
Photographer: High Dynamic Photography
Videographer: Delack Media Group

Stay tuned to see Rekha’s stunning Sangeet Neeta Lulla lehenga!

What do you do?
I am first and foremost, a photojournalist.  My style exemplifies this.  I work to tell a tale – the story of love between two people.

Where are you based?
I am based in the sunny and culturally rich city of Fort Lauderdale, in South Florida.

When and How did you get started in the South Asian wedding industry?
I was inspired by the story-telling prowess of a young photojournalist whom I met on a trip abroad.  I took the talents of the news industry and applied those principles to telling the story of a wedding–ordinary people living extraordinary lives.

Why do you do what you do?
I want to be able to capture the emotion, the experience, and tell the story of a couple.  For them to share their story with their families, and remember their moments, forever.

Do you work exclusively on South Asian weddings?
I specialize in South Asian weddings, but am often commissioned to apply my talents in weddings from both West and East.

Describe some of your inspirations.
My inspiration comes from the people in front of my lens – people’s personalities and unique characteristics that make them who they are.  I am inspired by their happiness, their families, and their joy when they reminisce as they re-live those moments through photography.

What are some mistakes you see most South Asian brides (and families) make?
I’ve seen many brides stress themselves out on the most important day of their lives.  As their wedding photographer, being around the couple puts me in a unique position to watch their emotional roller coaster.  My advice to brides and their family is to always plan ahead, and when the day comes, don’t forget to stop and take it all in.

Do you only cater to certain budgets only?
Absolutely not.  I have the opportunity to meet people from all walks of life, and understand that people have different needs.  I want people to be absolutely thrilled with their photographs – no matter what they pay.

Tell us about your strongest area.
I never tire, never stop learning, and am always open to trying new and different techniques.  I always look at things from a new perspective, and most importantly:  I absolutely love what I do.

Tell us about your weakest area.
This may sound a bit cliché but I’m a perfectionist.  Everything has to be spot on.  If you’re not thrilled, I haven’t done my job.  Oh, and I spend far too much money on camera gear.

How would you describe your working style?
I’m not just another vendor you hire.  I want to get to know your story so I can showcase it to the world.  I’m all about people and what they have to say.  As far as what I’m like on the job, here are some adjectives:  a fly on the wall, fast paced, always on the move, doing whatever it takes to get the shot, quirky,  swift, always trying to make you laugh and loving every minute of it.

Describe a particularly memorable wedding you’ve worked on.
Earlier this year, I was commissioned to photograph a wedding in Santiago, Chile a few months following the earthquake.  The people, scenery and landscape completely embodied the bride and groom and put them in a place where they felt absolutely at ease.  It was obvious they were at home – both physically and mentally.  It was an absolute joy to play a part in capturing the both families watching the outpouring of love from both sides.

What’s your number one wedding tip?
Plan well in advance.  Book your vendors early – most of the best wedding photographers are booked early.  Do your homework and meet with several people until you find someone who’s work you love, and you both genuinely like.  When the day comes – trust in those who you put in charge.  As long as you’re prepared with the knowledge that every little detail will not go exactly as you planned — you’ll be just fine.  Finally – don’t forget to stop, look around, and enjoy the moment with those around you to the absolute fullest.

I spent two years planning every single little detail of my wedding to be the most traditional Bengali wedding it could be with a few modern twists. My husband, Tariq, and I are proud feminists and we wanted to make sure that our ceremony reflected that. We worked intensively with our priest and our parents to make sure that our wedding was both a very traditional Hindu Bengali wedding, but also incorporated our feminist values.

Aiburo Bhath (Rice Ceremony)
Aiburo Bhath is a traditional version of a bridal shower. A week before the wedding, my parents called all their close friends and relatives to the house to bless me.  A part of the tradition is for family and friends to feed the bride all of her favorite foods.

Gaye Holud (Turmeric Ceremony)
This very traditional Bengali ceremony entailed all the female members of my family getting me ready for the big day. It’s a ceremony that involved spreading turmeric (haldi in Hindi, holud in Bengali–both of these words simply mean “yellow” because the color of turmeric is a bright mustard yellow) all over my face and arms so to purify my skin.

Vedic Marriage Ceremony following Bengali Traditions
This was something my husband and I really spent a lot of time on, considering we wanted a truly traditional Bengali wedding but we were also 100% committed to bringing into focus our feminist values and belief in a marriage of complete equals. We were very clear that the Vedic ceremony was not something we were doing just for the sake of doing it. It was deeply important to us, and therefore we did not want to get up on the Mandap and simply repeat shlokas that we didn’t understand. So we spent months doing research, and having conversations with our parents, extended family and our priest, Sri Krishna Varanasi.

One of the things we absolutely insisted on leaving out was the concept of Kanyadaan, or the giving away of the bride, a ritual that is a part of ceremonies all over the world. Neither of our families believe it is ever possible to “give away” a daughter, and we equally believe that a son comes to the woman’s house as much as a daughter is added to the man’s family. We also chose to modify the concept of Sindoor Daan, or the marking of the bride by the groom with vermillion powder in the parting of her hair. We did not feel it right for one of us to “mark” the other, yet, to retain the ritual of Sindoor, Tariq and I chose to “mark” each other. So we both received Sindoor.

In these ways, we modified almost every step of the wedding. It was not easy to do, but it was so incredibly worth it. We cannot tell you how many of our friends (and even relatives and elders in the community) came up to us and our parents afterwards and told us that the ceremony had meant so much to them and that if they (or their children) were to have a Vedic wedding ceremony in the future, they would want to incorporate many elements of our ceremony into theirs. Even Sri Krishna-ji mentioned during the wedding that he would like to bring some of these ideas back to his school in India and potentially introduce these changes over there. It was one of the most touching experiences of our lives and Tariq and I will never forget the feeling of being able to share our beliefs and values with our community and having them be so openly embraced.

The Totto (Trousseau)
This is something that is very particular to Bengal and Bengali weddings, though I believe something similar happens in other states as well. The Totto includes gifts exchanged between the two families as well as gifts given to the bride by her own family. My parents and grandparents and recently even in-laws have been collecting things to give to us for a long time, and seeing all those things laid out on the day of the wedding was very special!

Traditionally, the groom’s family gives a gift of fish the night before the wedding which the bride’s family cooks and eats. Instead of doing that, my mother-in-law actually sewed and embroidered a cloth fish which she gave to my parents the day before our wedding when they came for the Gaye Holud and Mehndi/Sangeet! It was beautifully done.

Boron Dala for Jamai Boron (Welcoming the Groom)
During “Jamai Boron”, my parents welcomed Tariq and his Baraat (procession of groom’s friends and family) into our family. It is the very first thing that happens in the ceremony, even before I enter the Mandap. I think this is one of the least mainstream traditions and is very particular to Bengal, so setting up the “boron dala” or the plate of things that are used to welcome to groom, was a bit difficult to do since nobody really seemed to know what was supposed to be on it. The special ingredients include fruits, seeds, rice husk, incense sticks, five small clay pots, a conch shell, some water from the Ganges river, etc.

Credit goes to my Mom for painstakingly gathering all these things (many of which are also needed for the Gaye Holud ceremony for the bride the day before) and going to India and picking out the perfect shell, the perfect cup for the water, and of course the perfect decorative tray on which to arrange all of it.

Mala Bodol (Garland Exchange)
There is a point in the ceremony, Mala Bodol, where the bride and groom exchange garlands under a canopy that is held up by their friends. I believe this is a fairly universal tradition for Hindus. For their own wedding, my parents remember their canopy being a bit of a disaster and so my dad came up with the wonderful idea of stitching one for us. He went to a fabric store to find gold fabric and some sticks that are usually used for gardening (to keep flowers standing up). He took these to a tailor in New York and told him to stitch the fabric so that the gardening rods could be inserted into four sides of it. It worked like a charm. When it came time for four of my bridesmaids to hold up the canopy, they were easily able to just hold up the rods so their arms weren’t hurting by the end and the material wasn’t falling all over us!

Who are you?

What do you do?
I’ve been photographing weddings for the most amazing couples. It’s my job to be a storyteller, to find the essence and character of the bride and groom and communicate that in a series of beautiful photographs. I’ve been lucky to work with such amazing (beautiful and talented) clients.

Where are you based?
Columbus, Ohio.

When and How did you get started in the South Asian wedding industry?
While I majored in biology as an undergrad at Stanford, I took a photography class for fun and fell in love with taking pictures. So long, biology! After getting my masters in photojournalism from Ohio University, I became a globe-trotting photojournalist, covering every kind of story from the 2005 tsunami in Asia to births in Papua New Guinea to hurricanes in Florida and health care in Haiti. My images were part of the Palm Beach Post’s hurricane coverage portfolio that was one of three finalists for a Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Photography in 2005.

In 2005, I was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to spend a year on a documentary project on wedding rituals in Mauritius.  Mauritius is this tiny little island in the middle of the Indian Ocean with a vibrant and diverse Indian community. I’ve always been fascinated with rituals and ceremony. During this project, I just fell in love with the beauty and joy and emotion of weddings.

Why do you do what you do?
As a photojournalist, you see a lot of wonderful things and meet incredible people in every corner of the globe, but you also see a lot of suffering. After all the tsunamis, hurricanes and fires, I found myself really enjoying the joy of weddings. The moments, emotion, light, color and celebration of it all. It is an inspiring place to go to work.

Do you work exclusively on South Asian weddings?
I work with everyone.

Describe some of your inspirations.
Some of my wedding photography is completely photojournalistic – all about capturing the fleeting moments of the day. The photojournalist in me is inspired by Magnum photographers like Alex Webb and Raghu Rai, as well as many of the National Geographic photographers like David Alan Harvey.

However, painting is my first love. Two of my favorite artists are Henri Matisse and Wolf Kahn. Bright color palettes inspire me, whether in a piece of art, or in nature. I didn’t realize it until recently, but many of the portraits I make are more like paintings than photographs.

What are some mistakes you see most South Asian brides (and families) make?
It’s critical to carve out a significant chunk of time in the wedding-day schedule for bride/groom portraits. It takes time to get gorgeous portraits, so build that time into your schedule and you won’t regret it. Some of your favorite wedding pictures will come from that portrait session.

Invest in a professional photographer you really love. Photography should be one of your top wedding planning priorities. You’re thinking, of course she’s saying that, she’s a photographer! Seriously though. Do this thought experiment: your house is burning down and you have five minutes to collect anything you can grab and run. What will you take? Will you take your TV, your microwave, your shoes? Most likely you’ll take the things that have true meaning to you, the things that are irreplaceable. Like pictures and family albums. Your pictures are your history. They are valuable and historic.

Long after the cake has been eaten and the flowers wilted, you will still have your wedding pictures. In a couple of generations, imagine showing your wedding album to your grandchildren, as you explain the story of how Grandma met Grandpa (a story that no doubt has two completely different versions!) Your pictures are part of your family history. They are precious. So invest in a professional photographer you really love. Not a family member, not a friend, not Uncle Bob who has a fancy camera and will shoot your wedding for free (or say, $500). I’ve seen it happen, and that story has a sad ending.

Do you only cater to certain budgets?
I typically get hired for mid-to high-end weddings.

Tell us about your strongest area.
Wedding photography demands a diverse skill set. Many years of photojournalism experience has been the perfect training for capturing the fleeting (candid) moments that define a wedding. But my love for painting and my fine art background inspires my portraiture–I love shooting portraits. I think it’s difficult to find a wedding photographer that does both of those things well (posed portraits as well as candid moments).

This is how one of my brides answered this question on weddingwire.com:

“Uma’s cool, easy approach makes her a wonderful person to work with on this stressful day!! I had an outdoor wedding, and as the clouds came in and the rain came down, I was disappointed that we wouldn’t have the gorgeous sunsetting pictures across the lake as I had envisioned. She assured me the pictures would come out even better because of a little cloud cover. Bits of encouraging words like this were so valuable to me on my wedding day!!!”

Tell us about your weakest area.
My biggest weakness is cake. I love cake.
OK seriously. My weakness is that I’m very hard on myself. Perfectionism is great and all, but I’d rather be one of those devil-may-care types.

How would you describe your working style?
As a photojournalist, I take a ‘fly on the wall’ approach. I like to be so low-profile that people forget I’m there. That’s the best way to get natural, candid moments and emotion. Not easy to do, when you’re standing right there, clicking away with a huge camera! But it happens, and that’s the magic of it. When people are comfortable around you, they relax show their true selves. That’s when good pictures happen.

Describe a particularly memorable wedding you’ve worked on.
This was a truly one-of-a-kind wedding. Nikhil and Asha (who met at a Stanford reunion) got married in Little Rock, Arkansas. They wanted to combine the different cultural traditions represented by their parents: Indian, Jewish, Unitarian. The result was an Indian fusion wedding in the deep American south. The night before the wedding there was a sangeet. The following day, the baraat commenced before the ceremony. The ceremony was presided over by both a Hindu priest AND a Unitarian minister. The bride wore a white dress, while the groom was dressed in traditional Indian garb from head to toe (he changed to a tux before the reception). The couple wore traditional Indian garlands, walked around a sacred fire seven times. They exchanged rings, “I do’s”, a first kiss, and partook in a mixture of Indian and non-Indian wedding rituals.

This is the most fun way to watch this wedding:

Asha & Nikhil from Uma Sanghvi on Vimeo.

What’s your number one wedding tip?
No one tells you this beforehand, but you end up spending more time with your photographer on your wedding day than almost anyone else. Not only do you need to love their work, but you should also feel very comfortable with the person. When you meet them, ask yourself how you feel around them. Your instincts will guide you.

Lastly, enjoy your wedding! That should go without saying, but it goes by fast. So enjoy every beautiful moment.

Selecting: Take your favorites into account, the colors of the wedding, or the way the candies complement the dessert or wedding cake being served. Given the breadth of possibilities, plan the candy buffet in conjunction with the menu planning, reception layout and color choices. A good rule of thumb is to select coordinated candy colors for a more effective display!

Ordering: Too many is never a problem but too few will absolutely be! First, determine how many jars and types of candies you want based on your guest count, available table space etc. I recommend 7-10 (or more, depending on budget) types of candies and 15-20 pounds of each variety. A great place to find all types and colors of candy is CandyWarehouse.com.

Be Considerate: Label each jar and place within easy reach. Also take into account any special dietary considerations when preparing a candy buffet for your guests.
A few ideas: gluten-free candies, vegan/vegetarian candies, sugar-free candies, dried fruits and nuts etc.

Containers: Select glassware, crystal and other jars in varying shapes/sizes to match the theme and quality of items being used. Also remember to get scoops or tongs for each container.

Bags: Get crafty with paper lunch bags, half-mint takeout containers, clear cellophane bags etc. Personalize these items as much as you can!

Display: Mini floral arrangements spread out through the display provide wonderful accents. Also consider adding a few photographs from your times as children along the table or other fun and clever signage!

Photos: Elle Jae Weddings, Rich Frye Photography