let me start by saying i did NOT shoot ayesha's wedding; this was taken care of by two amazingly talented guys, saad of s2s photography and sahid of limon photography; you can see saad's post of the mehndi night and wedding pictures here.but, i DID do ayesha's mehndi, the night before the mehndi party! so i wanted to share a handful of shots from that night. a little background; ayesha is about eight years younger than me and i remember her toddlerhood quite clearly, from back when we were both growing up in the thriving raleigh, n.c. muslim community. for a long time, she was "little ayesha" and i was "big ayesha," and it has always been my great pleasure to watch her grow into the intelligent, happy, sweet-natured, beautiful young woman she is today. so i was thrilled when she asked me to do her bridal mehndi (henna), and of course i took my camera along! here are a few of the shots i took at her house that night. please don't forget to visit saad's blog to see her actual wedding pics!

edit: i forgot to add this before, and i'll add it in a comment, too, but i want to let everyone know i get a LOT of my mehndi inspiration from the fantastically talented Darcy Vasudev, a henna artist based in california and the owner of the Henna Lounge - the design on the back of ayesha's hands was largely inspired by one of her amazing designs! so thank you darcy! :)

here i had just finished the back of the first hand:

they were showing her a new collection of bangles and i couldn't resist taking a shot:

while her hands were being adorned, her husband mansoor was sweet enough to come sit by her and make sure she was watered and nourished throughout the evening :) are they cute or what!!!?

and some finished mehndi shots now: