The beginning was already an indication but how could I even imagine what was about to come? We were a team of photographers flown in from around the world to cover this destination wedding in India; yours truly for the documentary angle, Martin Hill from the UK for the portraits and Emmanuel Jambo from the US for the shots we would miss from the top of the hill or the terrace overview. Mike Cottril and his award winning ReelVision cinematography team, Jeff Wood and Rich Wakefield came from the UK. We were a winning team and we were out to rock the city.

Trying to fit this wedding into one post would be quite impossible so here is part one with the events of the first two days starting with the Ganesh pooja at the Oberoi, the haldi ceremony at the Leela palace and the most elaborate, stunning and fantastic ladies sangeet I have ever seen at the Zanana mahal in the heart of Udaipur’s city palace. I have never imagined the place could look so stunning and if the decor and the lights were not enough, the UK based RDB came over as a surprise for the bride to shake the house with some real desi beats and the old palace came to life with colors and smoke until the early hours.

Look out for part 2 coming soon with the barat, the colorful Mehendi at the Trident, the wedding at the Leela Palace and the incredible reception and fireworks at the Jagmandir.

Decor: Dhun Corado for Full Moon creative cervices
Wedding planner: Anita Patel for Tania-Tapel events worldwide

Sephi Bergerson is a wedding photojournalist based in India since 2002 and is available for Indian wedding photography and destination weddings in India, south east Asia, Africa and the Indian ocean.

I must have been to almost every palace in the Udaipur area but never before to Devi Garh. Nestled in the Aravali hills this spectacular all-suits 18th century heritage resort is definitely one of the most beautiful locations for a royal wedding in India. In all this luxury it was a pleasant surprise to see the simple and down-to-earth style and attention to detail.  It was a small wedding of about one hundred guests and a treat to be a part of.

Regardless of the number of weddings one attends, being a destination wedding photographer should never become a job. If it does you will become a photocopy machine for wedding images and every wedding will end up looking the same. In the world I live in this is not what a couple look for in the person they hire to document the most important day of their lives. The scariest thing for me about being a wedding photographer is to get bored. I have been shooting weddings for a few years now and am always trying to outdo myself. This is not an easy task but every now and then I feel there is a breakthrough and I find a new way to shoot an old subject.

The wedding itself is always rather easy to shoot. It has action and ceremony and as such will always yield good images. It is almost math. there are things one needs to cover, certain angles, few important moment but it is the reception that has always been tricky. No offense but people mostly talking or eating is not a dream subject. I am not a fan of on-camera flash and posed pictures of friends and family all smiling for the photo. It needs to be something else and I think I made some progress this time. I could have made a much larger gallery of images only from the receptions as I am very proud of those but really there was so much to show. Here is a small taste of it while Oli and Geeta and on their way to their honeymoon…

The decor and set up of the events was done by Vijea and Ankit of Regal-Weddings. This was not the first time I had the pleasure of working with them and as usual it was simply perfect. The make-up was done by Sanjay Relia and Geeta said she had never looked so pretty in her life. Great team.

Sephi Bergerson is a wedding photojournalist based in India since 2002 and is available for destination wedding photography in Udaipur, Jaipur, palace weddings in Rajasthan or a beach wedding in Goa or Kerala. Sephi is also happy to travel for wedding photography in Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritius, Maldives, Thailand and Sri Lanka.

How do I start to tell a story of a couple who decided to have a destination wedding in Goa alone with only two guests; the groom’s mother and the bride’s grandmother?  If a destination wedding in Goa is what you had in mind than check this one out.

Wedding or not, Linda and Jöerg had been considering to spend this year’s vacation in Goa as they felt it was time for a “real vacation on the beach”. They were missing India so ruled out a Mediterranean location and decided to come to Goa for reasons that could sounds like an advertisement from the Goa tourism board: ”a laid-back beach break combined with incredibly good food and, of course, some India but not in such an extreme variation”.

Then there was still the wedding to be planned. It didn’t take them very long to decide that they didn’t want to go for the “classic all-friends-and-family-big-event” kind of thing with a long guest list. Since they opted for a very simple and intimate wedding with no-one but the two of them they thought it might as well be abroad. Having opted for Goa as a honeymoon destination, the idea was to simply combine the wedding and the honeymoon.

The idea of Linda’s grandmother and Jöerg’s mom joining came a bit later. Initially, they were thinking of doing the registration part in India as well but found out, not to their surprise, that this would have been quite a bureaucratic scenario. Among hundreds of other regulations they would have required two witnesses from Germany. There was a quick thought of slightly breaking the “no-guest-policy” and taking the two ladies with them, which then seemed rather illusionary and a bit too adventurous. They then settled for the legal registration to take place in Germany (on a small island by the baltic sea not far from Berlin, again with no guests) and just do the church ceremony in Goa.

However, the idea of this really special India experience with two of the most important people in their lives somehow didn’t let go. Just a few weeks before the wedding they decided to give it a final try and the two ladies actually liked the idea. Though rather doubtful in the beginning regarding what will expect them in India, they quickly became very excited and of course loved the idea of attending the wedding.

We all met at the fabulous Alila Diva hotel in Majorda and spent some fun time together as Linda was putting on her own make up. We then proceeded to the Bishop’s palace in Panaji not before stopping at the Panaji bus stop flower market to buy some flowers and in the main market for rings. Not like a regular Indian wedding, we were on time to the church for an intimate and emotional wedding.

The mass was over in the late afternoon and we went on for a short walk at the Portuguese quarter in Panaji for a fun photo shoot before heading out for a street food dinner of Pao Bhaji and Sev Puri on Miramar beach. Wonderful.

Sephi Bergerson is a destination wedding photographer based in Goa  and available for assignments worldwide.

A Beach Wedding in Goa

Udit and Shivani’s wedding was held at the Intercontinental Lalit Goa resort and was one of those beach weddings that you hear about from people that keep telling how wonderful it was. When I lived in Delhi I used to wait for time off so to go to Goa and relax and now that I live in here it all takes a new meaning. I spend a lot of time on the beach and let me tell you that there is a good reason why Udit and Shivani decided to come all the way here for a their wedding. Here is a small collection of images from their red wedding on the blue beach. Click on the image to go through the gallery.

Goa Wedding Photojournalist

Goa as an attractive location for a destination wedding is not a new thing. All the major hotels have special wedding packages that make it relatively simple to organize one, even if you are based in NY. It seems that it is probably the most organized state in India in terms of the wedding industry with many wedding planners who cater to couples who have never been to India but wish to get married following Indian customs at “an exotic location”.

After nine years in Delhi we have moved to Goa in January and loving it. We took an old portuguese villa in the north and the girls simply love it. Twenty six coconut trees in our garden give us all the supply that we need to keep happy. If we get tired of those, there is also the huge mango tree that gives amazing mangos in May so when the wedding season is over I can have as many mango shakes as I want.

The party started with a mehendi afternoon of music and dance which was a good opportunity for the families coming from the UK and India to mingle and get to know each other. We then took a break and the barat was to start at 6:30pm. Now you know how it is with Indian weddings and the notorious Indian Stretchable Time (IST). If you say six thirty you should actually plan for seven thirty, but not this time. The groom’s side, being proper, showed up on time at 6:27 all dressed up and almost ready. I say almost ready as no one could have prepared them for the drumming and the band. It was the funniest thing to see but they did eventually warm up and even danced.

The wedding itself was the morning after and was a full fledged south Indian spectacle at the beautifully decorated amphitheater, after which the three of us managed to escape for an hour for a few fun pictures. If I remember correctly it was “Rent yourself a palace for the wedding and go take some pictures in the crummy village” in Fergus’s words. It was a blast!

It was not very difficult to feel under-dressed at Anu and Fergus’s wedding. Say what you want about the Brits but they sure know how to dress up. I was on the phone with my wife at one point and remember telling her I am at a party with a bunch of James Bonds having Gin & Tonic and listening to Indian music while the beautiful women wearing flowers in their hair were taking all the attention. “We could not possibly outdo the grandeur of Indian outfits” said to me one of Fergus’s uncles, “so we figured it is best to be English”. Simple and very convincing logic. I was in tears when Christopher gave his best-man-speech and said it was good to scratch the surface but very dangerous to be there if you are a whale as this is when you get harpooned. I could not see through the lens with tears in my eyes. Good old fashioned British humor that I only enjoyed on TV until now. Hard to believe but I’ve never been to England. Maybe it is time to go!

The location is of course incredible for a destination wedding and the views of Lake Pichola seen from every room are just the thing you want to see when you wake up in the morning. The wedding was fun right from the start. The first day, long and packed, started with Pooja’s mehendi, continued with Nikhil’s Ganesh pooja (which ended up with him and his brother being thrown in the pool outside the suite), followed by the mehendi in the inner courtyard and an evening dinner reception on the lawns. Traditional rajasthani dancers and Kawali singers added the colorful background music.

The morning functions started early as the wedding was supposed to be over by a certain hour but as it always is in India, time is a very fluid concept and everything was more than an hour late. The barat procession eventually started and although no horse or elephant were there for Nikhil to ride, it was no hindrance to the dancing party.

The wedding itself took place at the guava orchard facing the lake and was followed by a lunch after which everyone, exhausted from the long first day, simply collapsed and went to sleep. These are the moments that I always kick myself for forgetting my swimming costume at home. Seriously, I think I must add this to my packing list now.

We had about an hour on the morning of the last day before I had to leave for the airport and we used it to step outside the hotel to take some fun pictures. Some people feel very comfortable in front of the camera and some do not but I think that we managed to keep this morning session fun and relaxed and came out with great pictures that I have a feeling Nikhil and Pooja will not forget so easily.

From India Pooja and Nikhil went on and had another great party, this time a wedding at the Lanesborough Hotel on Hyde Park Corner in London. Go ahead and check out the beautiful images from the wedding in London by Mark & Marianne.

Fateh Garh is a beautiful and relatively newly built heritage hotel on a distant hill overlooking Udiapur’s lake Pichola. The view from the terrace of the city palace and the lake on one side and the Monsoon Palace towering over the landscape on the other side is nothing less than breathtaking. The place always makes me feel like I’m on vacation even when I come there for work.

Nilesh being Nilesh ( I managed to learn this about him in the short time we spent together) took everything upon himself to organize and produce this very small but difficult to put together wedding. It was not easy for him and the stress took it’s toll on his peace of mind but all in all it all worked out even better than he had expected and we even managed to see him smile quite a lot.

Wedding Photojournalist, Auto Rickshaw, Indian bureaucracy, Bloody Mary, Elvis in Udaipur

In the good tradition of being a wedding photojournalist, we all went together to the city registrar to make sure Nilesh and Ronita get the wedding certificate before they leave back to the UK. This was a potential horrible afternoon but I had a feeling that the good old fashioned Indian bureaucracy could turn out to be a great photo opportunity, and so it was. We were almost crying in laughter as they had to stamp their thumbs in ink and sign the documents. Nilesh could simply not believe that the clerk was using an old fashioned typing machine and later on simply stuffed their printed application in his back pocket.

That evening’s Mehendi took place on the open terrace at Fateh Garh accompanied by a group of Rajasthani dancers and Bloody Mary prepared by Nilesh’s uncle ‘Elvis’. For the life of me I cannot remember his real name as everyone there were simply Mr. Patel. Elvis was Elvis and will always be Elvis to me.

It was good to have a ‘day off’ after the mehendi as everyone was in need of one. Nilesh and Ronita only needed to make a quick jump to Jagmandir but quick jump was a little longer than expected. A spontaneous photo shoot in a parked auto rickshaw went a little further than expected. Being so absolutely in love with the auto rickshaws on the street Nilesh managed to organize one for the completely unorthodox barat. It would not be inaccurate to say that never before has a groom come to get married at Jagmandir in an auto rickshaw. It surely was a wonderful and happy procession.

Jagmandir can never be a disappointment. The beautiful palace in the middle of the lake is stunning. The wedding itself took longer that we all expected as the priest, despite being specifically instructed, decided to go about his own way. The evening light was beautiful indeed but after two hours everyone was happy to move to the reception area and have a drink and the small wedding party of only forty six really rocked the floor that night.

Here is to you Nilesh and Ronita. It was wonderful to meet you both.

Neemrana Fort Palace – A Grand Wedding in Rajasthan

Neemrana fort is located half way between Delhi and Jaipur in Rajasthan and is an amazing location for a destination wedding, but having been there more than once before I was a bit concerned that my pictures might be a kind of a repeat on the same theme. I was thinking this the whole way there and realy tried looking at things in a different way. Maybe it was the extra attention, the north Indian winter fog, or more probably it was simply Taru and Michael’s energy but it seems to have worked out just fine. It was simply a big party and I am sure that Neemrana fort must have shouldered itself a bit out of the fog at least when the music was playing.

Of all the locations I have seen in Rajasthan Neemrana is up there at the top of the list. It has this shock-and-awe effect on people that other palaces in Rajasthan do not have. I love looking at the faces of the guests on their first time to India coming to a place like this. If there is anything I regret about living in India it is the fact that I cannot be a tourist coming here for the first time anymore. You know how it is; when you live in NYC you simply do not care about the statue of liberty. The good thing about being a destination wedding photographer is that I get a constant reminder of what an effect this place has on people.Now try to imagine what Taru and Michael’s family must have felt.

But first thing first. The day started at the Casa dos Colaços, an old Portuguese villa in Margao where Jeannine’s parents live. I saw pictures of this house when Jeannine first wrote to me and knew there would be some fantastic photo opportunities there. The house is more than 150 years old and was only renovated a couple of years ago. What an amazing place. As if this was not enough, the wedding ceremony took place at the small chapel of Nossa Senhora on top of the hill overlooking the entire town. An absolutely lovely set up. “I now pronounce you man and wife” was as beautiful as I imagined it would be.

We ran to the beach right after the church ceremony and Jeannine was quick taking her shoes off. I think Kevin would not have minded getting in the water wearing his suit if it wasn’t for the reception that was coming up. We were on the beach at the Taj Exotica and didn’t have to go very far to meet the guests for an early evening cocktail and reception, but we would have no time to change out of the wet cloths so we had to skip it. Beach wedding or not, it was simply amazing.

Sephi Bergerson is a wedding photojournalist based in Goa and available for destination weddings worldwide

This was not the first wedding I covered in Udaipur, but the first at Fateh Garh. Beth and Prachish came with their baby boy Aarav, who was one of the coolest kids I have ever met. It is easy for me to say because I only have daughters, but seriously, this boy sat in my lap for about twenty minutes the first time I met him and I think we really bonded there. For the three days we were there I haven’t heard even the smallest cry from him.

I reached Udaipur in the afternoon and by the time I came to the fort everyone was having a beer by the pool, so I also took one. This was the pace of the entire wedding. Everyone was simply chillin’, this of course if we don’t count the dancing part. The reception that was held at the city palace started with everyone jumping to the dance floor even before the food was ready, and this was only the h’orderves for later!

There is a list of things one should pack when heading to a destination wedding. I read this on a website of a famous destination wedding photographer. I can’t remember if he had mentioned swim suit, but I forgot mine, which was really a shame. Other than that everything was perfect.