Amir & Nasrine Wedding Day 2 - Pithi Ceremony | 5th Avenue Event Hall | Buford Indian Wedding Photographer

If you have been keeping up with us on the blog, yesterday I wrote about Day 1 of Amir and Nasrine’s wedding which was the Mehndi and Henna party at their homes on Friday night. For Saturday we headed up to Buford, Georgia for the second day of activities including the Pithi ceremony which took place at 5th Avenue Event Hall by the Mall of Georgia.

Nasrine looked stunning again today and with the help of her sister Momina, family and friends, added a crown of yellow flowers to perfectly complete the outfit.

Today was an evening ceremony and dinner reception so we were just hitting sunset. After Nasrine was fully prepared we stole her outside the event hall to take a few portraits in the gorgeous light. The location looks amazing as well… but in actuality we are across the parking lot from the event hall and had to dodge a few cars here and there that were arriving guests. This is just one of the many reasons why I love photography – making our brides and grooms look fabulous in any situation!! Portraits below by Zac with the rest of the amazing photos in the post by Betty.

As the bride’s Pithi ceremony began, the tradition is that arriving guests come to greet the bride on the stage. The guests give a monetary gift and feed the bride a bite of fruit that is around her, then applying some of the tumeric paste to her face.The second part of the night is where the fun begins – the groom’s Pithi ceremony! Amir arrives and makes his grand entrance much to the delight of his side of the wedding party :). The immediate family partakes in a ritual similar to the bride, each coming up to Amir and presenting a monetary gift while applying the tumeric paste to his face and giving him chocolate.Once the family has their turn that is when the fun starts for the guests. A plastic tarp is laid down for good reason… it’s going to get real messy, real fast! The family has the first honors……and then all heck breaks loose! Everything from raw eggs to chocolate syrup to ranch dressing is used to cover the groom as a final farewell.Yeah that was crazy there for a second! They literally had to hose him down outside. Now that the crazy parts are over, the remainder of the evening is pretty low key by comparison. Dinner service begins for the guests and there are more presentations of gifts to each side. The bride and groom still cannot see each other and even though they are both on the stage, they have a small screen between them and the help of Nasrine’s friends as they keep her hidden behind a sheet.Fun times yet again! Another long evening but we haven’t even started the fun yet when the real ceremony begins on Sunday!

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Wedding Photography Equipment List (B&H Affiliate Links)
Betty’s Photography Equipment
Nikon D700 Digital SLR
Nikon 50mm f/1.4G
Nikon Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8G
Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II
Nikon Speedlight SB-900
PocketWizard PLUS II Transceiver

Zac’s Videography Equipment
Canon EOS 5D Mark II Digital SLR
Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L
Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS
Canon 50mm f/1.2L
Canon 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS
Canon Speedlight 580 EX II
Canon XF100 HD Professional Camcorder
Tiffen Steadicam Merlin
Litepanels LP-Micro
Manfrotto Fluid Video Monopod
Manfrotto 501HDV Fluid Video Tripod
Zoom H4N Handy Digital Recorder
Rode Shotgun Videomic

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Zachary long and Betty Feng are wedding photographers based in Downtown Atlanta and love photographing multicultural South Asian weddings. View our wedding portfolio at http://www.FengLongPhoto.com/ and use the Contact page to inquire on 2011 and 2012 availability.