I was introduced to Faiza and Nadeem through a mutual friend and was given the wonderful opportunity to work with them on their multi-day wedding. I quickly noticed that from their families to their friends, everyone loved them whole heartedly. They are one of the warmest and nicest couples with whom I have had pleasure of working. Nadeem comes from a prominent family in Augusta, GA and met Faiza – a Triangle native – on one of his medical school rotations. Quickly, the two hit it off and shortly thereafter, decided to get married.

Their wedding consisted of three days – mehndi (the bride’s henna ceremony), shadi (main wedding hosted by the bride’s family) , and valima (reception event hosted by the groom’s family). The first two days of the wedding were held here in the Triangle while the third day was held in Augusta. I also had the award winning Nashville wedding photographer Evan Baines as my second shooter for this wedding, so be sure to check out his work also.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the shadi coverage and couple’s session from the valima. As per the request of the couple and their families, the more intimate compositions have been kept private:

I had a fantastic time shooting the first part of Rabia and Naeman’s wedding this past weekend in Miami. Both families contracted me to shoot all the events and the second part of the wedding – reception hosted by the groom’s family – is this coming weekend in Brooklyn.

Rabia is probably the most laid back bride I have had up to date. She’s beautiful, the family is wonderful, the event was amazing, and Naeman is just one lucky guy. She’s lived in Miami all her life, so I have no idea how she’s going to deal with the winters up north. Apparently, people down in Florida think 50 to 60 degrees is actually cold.

Naeman is from Brooklyn and actually went to the infamous CUNY Brooklyn College the same years I did. I don’t know why, but I automatically like people from NYC – makes me feel like I’m dealing with family. Even before I met him in person, I said to my wife “you know, I like this guy, I think he’s gonna be chill“. I wasn’t wrong. My wife says I’m just biased. I think she tries to deny the fact that us New Yorkers are just… well… “better”.

Naeman got up and did some hardcore bhangra on the dance floor. I made a separate slideshow dedicated to just the dance, so be sure to check out both slideshows at the end of this post.

Also, be sure to check out their COUPLE’S SESSION in NYC.

Here are the two slideshows:

We had an amazing time yesterday with Samiya and Hadi – these two are nothing but classy. They both are the type of people that you can meet with and just talk to for hours. Hadi took about fifteen minutes to get ready in his bathroom while Samiya took about two hours or so. Some times I feel we guys have it lucky. We were blessed with a beautiful day, albeit a little on the hot side, and absolutely gorgeous natural light.

It was truly one of the most relaxed wedding receptions we’ve ever had. The first two days – the henna ceremony (mendhi) and wedding day (shadi) – were held in Florida. We were commissioned to take care of the third day – the reception on behalf of the groom’s family (walima). Everything was pretty straight forward starting with a small brunch at the Hadi’s house followed by the preparation period and finishing off with a dinner reception. One thing to definitely note is that everything finished before schedule. Yes, it’s true – everything finished early which means Hadi’s brother Hani gets a big shout out for being super organized.