More than 750 people turned out for a traditional Hindu wedding celebration in Batavia over the weekend.
Sunday's ceremony began at 9 a.m. with the groom's family and friends walking (and dancing) from the Best Western Hotel on Park Road to the Clarion Hotel on Park Road. The wedding service took place inside the Clarion followed by a traditional Indian meal for lunch.
Married where Urvi, daughter of Kalpana Harish Patel and Harish Nathubhai Patel, and Sanjiv, son of Jyotiben Bimalbhai Avichal and Bimalbhai Bhukhandas Avichal
Urvi is a U.S. Army officer.
Thank you to the Patel and Avichal families as well as Clarion owner Chan Patel for allowing me to photograph the wedding. Everybody I met today was warm, kind and accommodating.
More pictures after the jump:
Thank you for sharing these
Thank you for sharing these amazingly beautiful moments with us! Now I wish I'd had a Hindu wedding.
The Bride was so beautiful!
The Bride was so beautiful! What an awesome event. Great pitures, thanks for sharing!
These traditional weddings
These traditional weddings are incredibly beautiful! Thanks for sharing, Howard!
My daughter-in-law, Stephanie, is from Trinidad and her parents from India. Her and my son traveled to Trinidad last Christmas for a traditional Hindu wedding. The pictures that Stephanie shared were very similar. While son and DIL are both Catholic, they have plans for a traditional wedding in the future. It is a three day ceremony with lots of food and lots of very colorful attire.
This is absolutely
This is absolutely beautiful-it truley makes the occation so much more lasting than over in a few hours and the bride is just lovely!make all the new brides think about a different type of wedding
Such a festoon of colors,
Such a festoon of colors, sights and sounds on such a grey day in drab Batavia.
Great photo-journalism. The
Great photo-journalism. The photos tell the whole story. Words are almost unnecessary. This is journalism at its best - showing many readers something they have never seen and probably not heard much about previously, and leaving us with a greater appreciation for our community.
Many thanks to these families for inviting you to do this.
James, thank you very much.
James, thank you very much. That was exactly what was in my mind when I was working -- tell a story visually and present something interesting about our community that we don't often see.
Thank you Howard for this
Thank you Howard for this post. Thank you to this beautiful family for sharing their experience. Wonderful!
Howard, Thank you for coming
Howard, Thank you for coming & bring the story to our community. It is true " A Picture speaks thousand words".
Just a minor correction, the names of Bride & Groom are switched. Urvi is Bride & daughter of Patel. Sanjiv is Groom & son of Avichal.
Sanjiv is West Point Graduate & have rank of Major. He has done two tours in Iraq.
On behalf of couple & their parents, I also want to thank many volunteers from Rochester, Batavia & Buffalo to make the event successful, this was not possible without their help & dedication.
Chan Patel(Clarion Hotel), Vibhu Joshi(Days Inn), Bharat Patel(Budget Inn), Jimmy & Lalu(Travelodge), Jay Patel(Best Western) & their staff did wonderful job to acomodate out of town guests & feel them at home.
Kudos to wonderful staff & employees of all the Batavia Hotels.
Once again Thank you all!!!
Pravin Patel (Urvi's Uncle & Batavian)