the long awaited wedding

I started to work as a wedding photographer here in Bangladesh for the past few years, probably in 2014 right after my sister got married. During her wedding, I took some photos just to keep a document of the process and the transformation she was going through during the most important event of her life. So documentation, was one of the reasons among many why I took a big jump from being a conceptual photographer to a wedding photographer. But I was disappointed very quickly! I will tell you the reason why.

To explain the reason I should start with the context of weddings in Bangladesh, well at least what it used to be once! Unlike in the west, here in this world's largest delta, wedding, marriage to be specific, is all about setting up new bonds between two families! And that is exactly why everything revolves around the family keeping the bride and groom in the center, that is the true beauty of a Bengali wedding! The reason why in the western world all the wedding photographs are focused on the bride and groom, which we have been successfully imitating these days, is because they lack this essence of community and family bonding in their culture. And the saddening thing, these days, around me, is that we are forgetting those cultural elements, rituals, and essence that made us who we are, that made us stand out completely from other countries of the world. We are adapting a confusing process that includes an extravagant amalgamation of western and other cultures leaving our own characteristics blunt! Weddings these days do not stand out as a rich cultural ritual but as a ''rich'' representation of a 'lifestyle' that can only be seen in some daily soap. Nevertheless, the process of a wedding, the tension, the wait, the small decisions taken by the parents, those emotional processes they go through, all the family and community coming together to make the day special within their ability, the soul of the event, everything given less important these days or maybe got missing in some cases! Well, I wanted to be THAT kind of a photographer who would be able to seize those moments.

This particular wedding is a bit different case! You won't get to see much of the bride and groom here in this storytelling because none of them were here in Dhaka during the process! The bride and groom both arrived two days before the wedding which was the reason why I did not get to photograph them that much. (may bad!). Besides, they had already hired other photographers and I was quite confident that there will be sufficient bride/groom photographs delivered by them at the end of the day. So I was a bit relieved and concentrated more on documenting the process of the wedding for the bride and the groom since they were missing this most important part of the wedding. A documentation of what went around while they were away. Only the bride's family activities are documented here since the groom is Canadian and did not have a family here in Dhaka.

The bride. The Doctor. The loved one. The sister.

Bride's mom decorating ''Dala'' ( decorative trays containing souvenirs for the guests )

Lighting and decorations going on for the wedding.

The most important feature to brighten up the day is the fairy lights! ta-daa!

and the outcome was absolutely magical!

up for photo sessions?

some more of the magical lights.

it's all about colors and glitters!

My aunt is extremely creative and a perfectionist! It takes a bit of time and effort to make her satisfied with any decision. Why wouldn't it be ?? After all, it's her only daughter's wedding! :D

A sneak peek of her creative crafts!

the most important ''tool'' for the entire arrangement!

the tension and the 'running all around' to make sure all the arrangements are taking place smoothly.

this required a lot of phone calls!

So everything was set up. and the tension, and excitement to welcome and greet a literally foreign family started to crawl up on the spines!

The soothing green somehow helped! and so the night fell and we eagerly waited for the next day to welcome the bride and groom along with his family.

the next day started with new enthusiasm! Like ???

Killing the mosquito !!!! :D

making nameplates with names that you won't be able to pronounce :P

welcoming flowers and decorations.

peace treaty :P

eagerly waiting for his daughter.

'' are they here yet ?? ''

The ''amma jamai ashche'' (mom the groom is here) moment! how people welcome/react to foreigners here in dhaka! trust me they are super friendly and hospitable.