Sep 04 2017

Delara & Nikhil’s Wedding at Belle Haven Club

Delara & Nikhil were married on a beautiful sunny Saturday at Belle Haven Club on the coast of Greenwich, Connecticut. Officiating the proceedings was Senator Richard Blumenthal, and guests had come from far and wide to celebrate their union. I began the day at the Delamar Hotel where Delara and her bridesmaids were getting ready, and my assistant photographer was with Nikhil and his groomsmen at his parents home. We brought them together for a first look at Belle Haven Club and walked around with them capturing portraits of the two of them before pulling in their bridal party and family for group shots, and we finished ahead of schedule so there was time for everyone to cool off indoors. I went upstairs with the bride and her bridesmaids and made what might be one of my favorite bridesmaid pictures ever of their squad with their hands in the pockets of their gowns, looking tough and serious! I personally just love dresses with pockets and I knew I wanted to show them off in a photograph but the expressions on their faces took it to another level! Guests arrived and were served refreshing drinks as a string quartet played prior to the ceremony on the lawn facing the ocean and we prepared to shoot the ceremony. It was full of meaningful readings and the couple wrote their own vows. After the ceremony guests were treated to a cocktail hour by the sea, complete with an oyster bar, and at sunset the club staff fired the canon and pulled down the ‘colors’ (flag), a yacht club tradition. Once invited to sit down, they entered the tent, complete with a dance floor and festooned with ornate white lanterns hanging overhead. Just before their grand entrance my assistant and I captured a few sweet shots of the couple enjoying a moment alone before they were announced, and then it was on to their first dance. Delara and Nikhil’s siblings and parents were prepared with speeches full of funny anecdotes and there were lots of laughs all around. I had shot their engagement party in the city earlier this year and a welcome party at a friends’ home the night before so I was familiar with many of the faces and it was so fun to capture this beautifully diverse crowd enjoying the dance floor together as the band played throughout the evening. When it seemed like a good time to take them out of the tent for a few minutes I captured a few portraits with the darkening night sky and the party in the background. At the end of the night Delara and Nikhil hopped in the club’s launch boat with some champagne and were driven back to their hotel– it must have been a glorious moonlit boatride! Congratulations to Delara and Nikhil and their wonderful families on this fabulous celebration!