Pakistani Wedding in New Jersey | Saliha & Danish

What a wild two weekends. Though I’m typically an Austin Texas wedding photographer, I flew to New Jersey for this one. It spanned two separate weekends of four days of wedding’ing. The first day, the Mehndi, was at La Neve’s Restaurant. If you’re not familiar with Mehndi, it’s a pre-wedding ritual organized by the family of the bride where decorative designs are created on the bride body and family using a paste, made from dry leaves of the henna plant.

The second day was the wedding at The Grove where the bride’s reception formally takes place. There was baraat, where the family and friends accompany the groom for the ceremony with a ton of drum and dancing. The formal contract ceremony took place and dinner along with dancing happened after.

The following weekend was the Valima, the most festive part of the wedding ceremony. It was a massive party in a tent, bigger than anything I’ve ever seen. The parents’ blessing and a TON (!) of dancing occurs for two days while the family is LIT-RILLY makes it rain.