Weddings are never a passing fantasy. For many, they're the most important life-altering event that celebrates every emotion- love, laughter, longing and loads of memories. For Hyderabadis, known for their zest for celebrations with every month having some or the other festivities going on, wedding is nonetheless the biggest reverie where they leave no stone unturned to make it a spectacle! Moreover, with the pandemic fear finally waning, people are in carpe diem mode. They're seizing every opportunity to make weddings exciting with out-of-the-box ideas for wedding shoots. We talk to the photographers from the city who tell us what’s stirring people’s imagination.
Keeping reel yet real
This year when South film stars Nayanthara and Vignesh tied the knot in Mahabalipuram, Netflix proposed to feature their wedding as a documentary on its platform. In no time, it insinuated the trend of narrative-style documentation of nuptials. Sumit Patil from One Fine Day Pictures who has done ample shoots in Hyderabad weighs on the trend, “In this new age of social media being a huge part of our lives, people insist on cinematic, larger-than-life shoots that make their special day stand out in a remarkable way. At the same time, they also want the preparations, conversations and all the little things captured in a documentary approach, where the raw emotions and the core of their story remain unadulterated. So we try to marry both the approaches and create a memory that stays relevant and intimate even after 10 or 20 years of marriage.”
Adding to keeping it real yet documentary style, city-based photographer Vivek Krishnan of Vivek Krishan Photography says, “We have noticed quite a drastic change when it comes to videos. People want more realistic videos and fewer Bollywood-like tapes. They prefer live sounds over just music and a lot more interviews of the participants in weddings for well-rounded storytelling.” He adds that after the pandemic, live streaming has been de facto.
Intimate yet extravagant!
People value close relationships more than ever now. One of the ways to honour such intimate bonds is planning close-knit soirée. But that doesn't mean muted celebrations, which was the case in the last couple of years. Now, they are ready to splurge a whopping sum on wedding planning if that makes their loved ones happy.
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So while intimate weddings are in, the extravaganza is also in high spirits! City-based photographer Vijay Pradeep of Rangde Photography shares, “We have seen that people have their own opinions on the guest list. Some wish to go for smaller groups making more value of the money spent for each guest. Others, on the contrary, have been waiting to call their relatives and friends for a long time and hence are making it overall big-scale. The trend of closer group, bigger celebrations is more on the rise." This is why destination weddings are back with a bang as people look past restrictions. Sumit tells, “After the pandemic, the craze for the extravaganza is certainly back, but with a newfound love for small intimate ceremonies too.”
People are also exploring uncommon locations for pre-wedding shoots. Vivek tells some preferred options in and around Hyderabad, “Charminar is chosen for beautiful sunrise shoots, Ananthagiri Hills for its natural beauty, Taramati Baradari for its interesting rockscape and Sri Seetha Rama Chandra Swamy Temple for stunning heritage shots.” Vijay adds that people are also discovering new places where indoor and outdoor shooting options are given with changing rooms for comfortable dressing and makeover. With that, Hyderabadis wish to make weddings as dreamy as possible.
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