Indian Hindu Wedding in Tampa & Palm Harbor at Innisbrook Resort

Indian Hindu Wedding in Tampa & Palm Harbor

Mekhala Sastry & Kunal Khanna have a 4 day Indian Wedding Celebration with Saris, Ferrari, & Drone

The Indian Hindu wedding in Tampa of Mekhala Sastry & Kunal Khanna. We show this 4 day Indian Wedding in a 9 minute highlight video. Such a spectacular time of honoring family, following sacred traditions, beautiful colorful Saris (Indian dresses), and delicious Indian Cuisine.  Any Indian Hindu ceremony can be challenging with limited space and a variety of events happening. This ceremony was extra challenging, with a total 7 PHOTOGRAPHERS & VIDEOGRAPHERS, along with parents & family, made for a crowed area under the mandap (a canopy similar to a Jewish huppa). 2 of the videographers were operating cameras for the big screen projectors, and we had 2 videographers for the making of this video. At times I found myself doing yoga positions to contort my body to be able to squeeze through people and obstacles to get the shot and try to be as unobtrusive as possible. This is a challenge that I certainly enjoy having done several Indian Weddings. The photographers on this wedding was Buffy and her staff with Life Long Studios http://www.lifelongstudios.com/who were great to work with. She referred this wedding to us so many thanks to her. Wedding took place at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor at Inverness Hall.

This 4 day wedding celebration started with the Mehndi Celebration at the brides parents house in Tampa. The bride and her female friends and family members had intricate henna patterns drawn on their hands and enjoying home cooked Indian Cuisine

On Day 2 of the celebration, Mekhala was dressed up with fine Jewelry wearing a colorful orange & fuchsia sari. The bride and groom with close family and friends celebrated with sacred ceremony and food.

Day 3 of this Indian Wedding Celebration moved to Palm Harbor at the Innisbrook Resort for the Sangeet. The Sangeet is a time to honor family members. A floral garland is placed on the grooms family members to symbolize acceptance into brides family. After mingling and a meal, there was bhangra dancing (a frenzied Punjab folk dance).

Day 4 is the day of the main ceremony. It begins with the baraat (the grooms processional). This is always one of the most entertaining part of a Indian Wedding. Sometimes the groom will come in on a horse. In this wedding, Kunal arrived in a orange convertable Ferrari. Guests dance around him to the beat of the dhol, an Indian drum. We shot this with a drone which was perfect due to the crowds of people that surround the groom, being able to have a camera with elevation was perfect. The drone is ideal for filming a baraat.

The ceremony took place inside Inverness Hall at Innisbrook Resort. The priest, groom, bride, and bride’s parents sit beneath the mandap, (a canopy). The Indian Ceremony has several rituals.

HAVAN (Lighting of the Sacred Fire)
The couple invokes Agni, the god of Fire, to witness their commitment to each other. Crushed sandalwood, herbs, sugar rice and oil are offered to the ceremonial fire.

KANYA DAAN, in which the bride’s parents give away the bride. Then the couple joins hands and circle around a small, enclosed fire (the agni) in a ritual called the mangal phera.

SINDHOOR (Red Powder)
The groom applies a small dot of vermilion, a powdered red lead, to the bride’s forehead and welcomes her as his partner for life. It is applied for the first time to a woman during the marriage ceremony when the bridegroom himself adorns her with it.

The JAIMALA (also known as exchange of Garlands). The bride and groom exchange garlands to sybolize acceptance of each other. Sometimes the bride and groom will play with each other making it challenging for each other. Kunal leans his head back to make it hard to reach for Mekhala.

The SAPTAPADI (also called the seven steps) is one of the most important rituals. The Bride & Groom take 7 steps and each step corresponds to a vow groom makes to bride, and a vow the bride makes to groom. The groom usually leads the bride in the walk. After Saptapadi, the couple are considered husband and wife.

After the ceremony we use the drone to film the bride and groom’s recessional down the run way. They then proceeded for a meal and pictures. In the evening the reception took place with speeches, and entertainment by a ballet presentation, as well as the traditional cake cutting.

If having a Indian Hindu Ceremony it is absolutely important to have photographers and videographers who are familiar with Indian Weddings, as well as ones who are in good shape.  There are shots where you have to shoot very low and other shots where it helps to have elevation by standing on something, and doing all this to try to be unobtrusive, yet capturing the emotion at the same time, takes a versatile and experienced photographer.  See our enthnic video page for more on our Indian Weddings.