Ali and Afsah’s wedding was the first destination wedding photography assignment for us. We felt as excited as we felt privileged to have had the opportunity to cover this amazing wedding. Excited because we’ve never been to Seattle before and privileged because we appreciated the vote of confidence from our clients. So, after a long week, when we woke up at 5am on a Saturday our usual feeling of sleep deprivation and crankiness was replaced with a growing sense of adventure and thrill!

By 11am we were in Seattle. Thanks to the time difference in our favor, having flown from the East to the West coast, we managed a couple of hours to prepare before moving onto the shoot. We double checked the batteries, triple checked the cards and at around 1pm, off we went!

Saturday, Day 1, was the day of the Shadi, aka wedding. The formal signing of papers took place in a local mosque in Redmond. This was an enriching experience for us since we’ve never observed a wedding in a mosque before. The formal contract signing took place after Duhr prayers. After the Nikah (the signing) and brief celebration, Nuva and I parted ways. Nuva went with Afsah to follow her prep, while I stayed with Ali’s family. Later, we reunited in Lynwood Convention Center for the reception from bride’s side. It was a warm gathering of friends and family who have traveled from all across US (so we were not the only ones with the rush and rust of attending destination wedding!). Here are some of the glimpses from that day.