Priyanka and Anshul's Engagement Ceremony

A few weekends ago, I was tasked with taking pictures of Priyanka and Anshul�s engagement ceremony. Priyanka and Sean work together and after we did a brunch date together I couldn�t help but like these two. They come packed with amazing vibes and Priyanka has the best smile! At first, I was very hesitant to take their pictures and asked Sean why he even told them I take pictures because I�m no professional and I don�t have the equipment, blah, blah blah. And trust me, I told Priyanka and Anshul too. They didn�t care and said they just wanted nice pictures. Nothing fancy, just nice pictures. Well, that I can do.

I�d never been to an engagement ceremony before and I truly enjoyed it. To be honest, the traditional attire alone was enough for me to love it but that's just me being basic. There is a priest involved that blesses the engagement of the couple. In American culture, the female usually doesn�t know she is about to be engaged and is surprised. It's kinda funny how much of a big deal is made to surprise the female with a proposal. In their culture, there is no surprise. The female knows and everything is planned for the priest and family members to be there to give their blessings on the engagement. It is really beautiful.

Gifts are exchanged, blessings are bestowed and rings exchanged. After the ceremony, an amazing Indian lunch was served and let me tell you, I left so full that I didn�t eat for the remainder of the day.

I also loved their entire family. They were so, so welcoming.
And their smiles came so freely that it was almost too easy taking their pictures.

I will say that this experience certainly taught me a lot. I'm use to taking pictures in situations that I can somewhat control. Basically this means that if I don't want to take the picture, I don't, especially if I know that it will produce an image that I won't be so proud of. In this case, you have to take the shot even if you know that the backlight (shooting in front of a window is not ideal) is not going to produce a desirable result, or that the smoke coming from the burning of incense will produce cloudy pictures OR that a person will insist on a picture in an extremely sunny area with no shade ... I learned that I can't control every situation and it certainly challenged me in ways that I don't usually challenge myself because, well, I take pictures for fun.

OK, I know you want to see pictures so here we go! Oh yes, apologies for the sheer amount of pictures in this post ~~but you know by now that I'm extra and get ridiculously carried away~~.