You already know what happens during an Indian wedding ceremony.

What you may not realize is how much can happen around it.

The exchange of garlands. The vows. The pheras. The moments your family has been waiting to see.

But look beyond the ritual and you’ll find another story unfolding.

Your parents watching from the front row. A grandparent quietly taking it all in. Your siblings reacting to something happening during the ceremony. The look you share with your partner when the room briefly disappears.

Those moments are easy to miss if your photographer is focused only on documenting what happens next.

When reviewing a photographer’s work, look at their ceremony galleries differently. Don’t just ask whether they captured every important ritual. Look at what they noticed around the ritual.

Are the relationships present?

Can you feel the emotion of the people watching?

Do the photographs give you a sense of what it felt like to actually be there?

For a second-generation Indian couple, your ceremony may be rooted in something generations before you experienced. Your photographs should preserve that meaning while still reflecting the people you are today.

The rituals tell you what happened.

The moments around them tell you what it meant.