Lens: Sony e-mount 16mm f2.8 with fisheye adapter
Camera: NEX-7, ISO1600, f5, 1/20, raw
Today we shot the third and last day of the Pakistani wedding in London. During the last day, the Walima takes place to celebrate the first dinner of the couple as husband and wife. The groom’s family invites all their friends and the bride’s family members and friends, to publicize the wedding. It is by far the most festive event of the wedding ceremony, with a grandiose dinner and an intense dancing session.
It has been a great experience. Tough, for sure, I’m usually exhausted after a shooting a one-day wedding, so you can imagine how I feel after three in a row. But I loved the fact that, day after day, we almost became part of the family. At the end of a one-day wedding I always feel I connected with the couple and some of their friends and family members, and a three day event does nothing less than strengthening that bound.
It was also a very different community than Italians, and it was interesting to see the difference between the two families, one with English-Dutch origins, the other with Pakistani origins. Both of them, however, are extremely great hearted, and clearly willing to come along and aid the couple’s married life whatever it will take. I’ve learned, as a married man myself, that the two families are, after love, the second most important ingredient for a sustainable wedding.
So, I wish the best of luck and love to the just-married couple. I’m sure they’ll have a wonderful time during the honeymoon, and when back I’ll make sure to greet them with the exciting present of the (thousands!) image proofs of their wedding days.