Beauty is Truth » wedding posts

nadiya & khuram: wedding

beautyis — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:19:06 +0000

i can’t tell you how excited i was to start my new year off with nadiya and khuram’s wedding! i’ve known nadiya online for a little while now and we have a lot of friends in common – both “IRL” and on facebook :). she is herself an artist and photographer – a beautiful soul inside and out – so was truly honored that she asked me to take some pictures at her wedding! it turns out also that i only had a few degrees separation from khuram, too – he’s the cousin of a friend of mine, and knows my own family (previously unknown to me though!) anyway – held at the nur center in falls church, virginia, their ceremony was beautifully simple, bringing together nadiya and khuram’s families and closest friends to celebrate with them. thanks so much, both of you, for letting me be a part of this!

2011: year in review

beautyis — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 20:42:28 +0000

so everything takes me a while with the whole new baby and two kids instead of one thing… here, two weeks into the new year, is a selection of my favorite images from wedding and portrait sessions through 2011. at the very end down below, there’s an image my second shooter amber wilkie took of me (five and a half months preggo and looking a hot mess after eight hours of shooting) with some of my most awesome clients – osman and lubna, at their walima in july in DC. and the very last image, i just blogged prior to this – but it might be my most favorite image from all of 2011 :) thanks SO much to my family, all my clients and my amazing second shooters for taking this journey with me last year – can’t wait to get started on 2012!!

rachel & reed: maryland wedding

beautyis — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 05:56:58 +0000

i’ll always remember my last wedding of 2011 as one of the most simply beautiful, love-graced, genuine weddings i’ve ever photographed: just like rachel and reed themselves, and their love for each other – plain to see, bright enough to shine on everyone who joined them to celebrate at their latesummer ceremony. it was such an honor to be chosen to capture the day, and such a pleasure to be welcomed so kindly by not only both families but their guests as well.
the two-part wedding began with the signing of the ketubah in the presence of their families, and continued with a ceremony out on the green lawn behind the lodge at little seneca creek, under a simple chuppah. after some portraits, the couple and their families joined their guests inside the lodge for an evening of warm celebration.
thank you so much, rachel and reed, for inviting me and my second shooter jessica shepard to capture your day. i wish you both the best in your new life together! and thank you, too, to jessica, for being there for me :)

raj & swetha: philadelphia wedding

beautyis — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 04:34:48 +0000

having grown up in north carolina, i am never as worried about hurricane weather as i probably should be… so i wasn’t terribly apprehensive about getting up to philadelphia for raj and swetha’s wedding the weekend of hurricane irene, in spite of all the hype.
still, it had its impact – rain all day, and a good chunk of the lovely couple’s guests were unable to make it at the last minute. but let me tell you… nothing could dampen the spirit of the guests who remained, or dim the obvious joy of raj and swetha themselves as they celebrated the last of their wedding events.
raj and swetha got married earlier this summer, also in philadelphia, in a traditional hindu ceremony photographed beautifully by zoshia minto. this reception that i had the honor of joining was held at the hilton city avenue, and included a traditional religious ceremony as well as a reception replete with performances and speeches that drew admiring applause, laughs and tears alike from everyone present (i’ll always remember the john locke shirt!)
raj and swetha, thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of your day – and for making me feel so welcome and taking care of me too :) hope the images below bring back some wonderful memories for you and your families!
also, several of the images shared below were shot by my second shooter marcella treybig, whose support, energy, talent and creativity were an incredible help to me the whole weekend – thank you for everything, marcella!

bismah & danish: wedding

beautyis — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 19:03:39 +0000

i first met bismah back in early summer 2010, when her older sister mahvish got in touch with me about doing family portraits. they are two of six children in one of the most beautiful families i’ve ever met, and thankfully they liked my portraits enough that they also brought me along for mahvish’s wedding a couple of months later. so i was super excited to learn that bismah – who, along with her sister sehrish, make up a pair of jaw-droppingly gorgeous (and once you get to know them, utterly adorable) identical twins – was also engaged and planning on getting married in july 2011.
i’m proud to say that through all these shoots, i can finally tell them apart from each other :) i have been truly blessed in all of my clients, but the way the ameens have made me feel like a part of their family is something special – being able to witness, capture and experience their kindness, good nature, happiness and above all their love for each other has been absolutely one of the best parts of my (it’s hard to think of it as a) job.
love these girls so much, and i’m so happy to see you happy, bismah!
bismah wears hijab, but kept her hijab on for the course of the wedding so i’m sharing a bunch of these images – but keeping out images of other women at the wedding, including many family members, out of respect for their wishes of privacy. the wedding was held at martin’s west in baltimore. also, some of the images shown below were shot by my second shooter, the ever-amazing jessica shepard – thank you once again for all your help!!

osman & lubna: walima: washington, dc

beautyis — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 04:57:14 +0000

so excited to share a few images from the third and final event of osman and lubna’s epic wedding saga! their walima – or groom’s side reception – was held at the national building museum in washington, d.c., a truly majestic venue in itself but quite jaw-dropping when designed and decorated by design artist taimur baig, who will soon be launching his own event website, and planner/decorator prabha bhambri. nothing, of course, looked more amazing than lubna herself… but the night was truly made memorable by the hilarious and moving speeches of the couples’ family and friends, and the warm welcome osman’s family gave to his bride and her family.
i had again the indispensible help of virginia photographer amber wilkie, who captured some of the stunning venue shots shown below and the awesome dance images later on, aside from helping me throughout the night; i also had the pleasure of working for the second time this summer with videographer natasha from dolce studio films.
osman and lubna, again, i can’t thank you enough for allowing me to be a part of this journey with you both! may your marriage always be as blessed as it clearly has begun :)

osman & lubna: shaadi: san ramon, ca

beautyis — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 05:27:38 +0000

it’s ramadan now – the holy month of fasting, the most blessed month of the year – so i’m thinking a lot these days of my blessings. and one of the greatest, without a doubt, is to have a job for which i spend months actually looking forward to the most difficult part: shooting a wedding. osman and lubna’s shaadi (wedding ceremony and reception) answered every moment of my anticipation… so i hope you’ll forgive the excessively long blog post below! there were so many moments i wanted to share – so many lovely details and memories, from the gorgeously lit and ornamented stage to the traditional kashmiri rituals throughout the event, to lubna’s own classic and stunning beauty.
the event took place the night after their mehndi, at the san ramon marriott, nestled amid the high, rolling golden hills and mountains just east of the bay area. lubna’s makeup was done by the talented san francisco-based artist farhana baig. the couple followed the tradition of actually making their vows and signing the marriage contract in separate rooms, and lubna gave a family member permission to speak her consent to the groom. after the traditional “rukhsathi”, or bride’s leavetaking (in this case, in a car), the newlyweds came right back to the hotel for a rousing, song-filled welcome by the groom’s family, before finally saying good night.
once again, i had the indispensable help of photographer faraz shah, who helped me be in two places at once! please stay tuned for the third event – osman and lubna’s walima in washington, d.c.

osman & lubna: mehndi: fremont, ca

beautyis — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 04:37:34 +0000

it’s hard to even know where to begin… osman and lubna’s wedding has been sort of the epic adventure of my summer 2011 season. i first heard from osman (who shares the same name as my own husband, and we think that might be one reason why my little boy took to him so easily :) ) some time after i shot the wedding of his friend hiba back in october 2010. can’t say i wasn’t beyond excited to hear that the bride’s side’s events – the mehndi and shaadi – would be held in the san francisco bay area! but this is all to say – not so much that flying out to california to shoot a wedding was an amazing opportunity, but that it was such an honor that osman and lubna trusted me enough to bring me across the country to be their photographer. i have no words for how blessed that makes me feel…
so i had met osman briefly before, because he lives here in maryland, but i finally got to meet lubna this night – the night of their mehndi, which was held at chandni banquet hall in fremont, ca. lubna’s family welcomed me with open arms and lubna was one of the sweetest brides i’ve ever encountered. i think i might have enjoyed the event itself as much as any of the guests – especially the groom-harassing rituals: see below, for the shoe-stealing and the arm-holding. it got pretty intense in there :) but the dances were fantastic, the kids were adorable, the love was everywhere. osman and lubna (and your family and friends), i hope this selection of the pictures brings back some great memories from that night! stay tuned for images from the shaadi…
one final note: i would never have been able to do this by myself – i had the generous and invaluable assistance of photographer faraz shah from santa clara for both california events of this wedding. faraz, i’m eternally grateful for all the glasses of water, your being where i couldn’t be, and most of all your amazing pictures! thank you!

suzanne & abdel rahman: san ramon wedding

beautyis — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 07:00:24 +0000

back in december 2010, i was unhappy that i had to miss suzanne’s actual wedding ceremony at home in north carolina. i had known suzanne and her little brother farris since farris was my fourth-grade student, back in my super-brief teaching days at al-iman school in raleigh; suzanne was a couple of grades ahead of him, but at such a small school where i knew half the parents anyway, i knew her there as well. this was in the late 1990′s – after i moved to maryland in 2000, i didn’t see much of suzanne at all again until meeting her at our friend yasmin‘s wedding last year. she’d grown into such a graceful, calm-spirited, lovely young woman… hopefully you can see some of that in these pictures, which were taken at the reception given by the groom’s side of the family at crow canyon country club in danville, california (near san ramon), earlier this month. suzanne was breathtaking as a bride, and these two as a couple kinda made me melt.
suzanne, it was such a joy to see you so happy there, and i’m SO glad i was able to see you again – being the one to actually photograph your day was just the icing on the cake :) thank you, both of you and your families, for everything!
suzanne wears hijab (the islamic headscarf), so i will not be sharing any of the images we took without her hijab on. here’s a selection of portraits and candids from other parts of the day and evening! and, many thanks again to the fantastic vida carson from philadelphia, who just happened to be in the bay area at the same time as me and spent a good portion of her last day in california shooting this wedding with me!

fuad & trish: long island wedding

beautyis — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 20:16:26 +0000

remembering fuad and trishita’s beautiful summer wedding in long island last month, i can’t help thinking smugly that i DO have the most stunning brides in the world as my clients! when trish stepped out of her golf-cart transport to join us for a midday portrait session, in the gardens at crest hollow country club in woodbury, i think my second shooter shari deangelo and i were a bit enchanted – trish looked like she’d stepped off the screen from a classical indian movie. lucky dude you are, fuad :) but i also remember the intensely amusing, hard-core haggling that went on in the traditional bangladeshi rituals of the “gate” – preventing the groom from entering the hall until he pays up – and the groom’s shoe-stealing, which has a similar outcome, the moving poem that trish’s mom read out loud about her daughter, the incredible viennese dessert table (complete with sparklers and chocolate fondue fountain – see below!) and so much more that made this wedding beautifully memorable for everyone, even shari and i as photographers.
fuad and trish, i can’t thank you enough for the honor of being a part of your wedding and i pray you are both blessed in your marriage as you move forward in your new life together! and shari – who, by the way, is someone i admire tremendously as a photographer and i still can’t believe she seconded with me – thank you for your invaluable support on all levels!