Mehndi, haldi and sangeet photography

Yes, each is quoted and staffed as its own day of coverage. They are different problems: a mehndi is long and unstructured, a haldi is fast and messy, and a sangeet is a stage performance under coloured light. Treating them as filler around the wedding day is how they end up under-covered.

Function coverage is part of the wedding package rather than priced item by item, and packages run from ₹2 lakh to ₹25 lakh. Each function is its own crew, day and edit, so four functions is roughly four times the work of one. Guest count and whether it is a destination wedding move the figure as much as the function count does.

Haldi and sangeet are the two most commonly regretted omissions. Haldi because it is the least formal and most joyful hour of the whole wedding, sangeet because it is the only function where your family performs for each other. If budget forces a choice, those two usually deliver more than extending reception coverage.

Two, and this is the function where it matters most. The action and the reaction happen simultaneously in different parts of the room, and a haldi is often over in forty minutes. One photographer will capture either the paste being applied or the person laughing about it, not both.

Stage and room are metered and white balanced separately, because coloured wash designed for an audience swings skin tones between green and magenta on camera. We expose for the stage during performances and switch settings for the audience, which is where the better photographs usually are.

If you film one function, film the sangeet. The performances are choreographed and the music is part of them, so stills alone under-serve what actually happened. A photograph of a dance is static; a cut of the same performance with audio is the thing people rewatch years later.

Lit properly rather than shot at high ISO in whatever corner the bride is sitting in. Detailed henna needs close, sharp, well-exposed frames, and the bride's hands are usually held still in poor light. We bring light to those frames specifically, then shoot everything else in the room candidly.

Two hundred to four hundred edited images per function, varying with how long it runs and how many people are there. Haldi often produces the fewest because it is the shortest, and that is the correct outcome rather than a shortfall. Each function is delivered as its own edited set.

Separately. A mehndi set and a wedding set are different things, and merging them into one gallery means neither reads properly. Each function gets its own edited set, and a preview from each goes out within a few days of it happening rather than after the whole wedding.

Cover the receiving line efficiently and properly once per family group, then spend the rest of the evening on everything that is not the line. Set the stage and backdrop lighting before guests arrive rather than adjusting it with a queue waiting. The entrance, speeches, first dance and first hour of dancing are where a reception looks like an event.

It needs covering but rarely justifies the whole evening. A line produces hundreds of near-identical frames by its nature. We photograph every family group once and well, then move to the parts of the reception that produce different images. Full-evening line coverage is the most commonly over-bought thing in wedding photography.

Yes, and it is the normal arrangement. Continuity helps: by the third function we know your families, we know who matters, and we know where the light is at that venue. It is also more efficient than engaging different crews, because nothing has to be explained twice.

That needs two crews, and it is more common than people expect at large weddings where the bride's and groom's sides run parallel functions. Tell us at quoting stage rather than the week before, because it changes the staffing plan rather than just the schedule.

For a sangeet, ten minutes at the rehearsal is genuinely useful. It tells us the order of performances, where each one moves on stage, and where we need to stand. Without it the first thirty seconds of every performance is spent working out where it is going, and that is where the best frames usually are.

It depends on the venue and the airspace. Many hotels and banquet halls prohibit drones indoors or over guests regardless of permissions, and some cities have airspace restrictions that rule it out entirely. We check the venue rules and the airspace before promising aerial coverage rather than turning up hoping.

Fast lenses and available light wherever possible, with off-camera light introduced where the room genuinely cannot support it. Direct on-camera flash is avoided because it flattens the room and tells everyone they are being photographed, which changes their behaviour and ends the candid coverage.

Yes, and home functions are often the best ones. The rooms are smaller and the light is harder, so it needs a photographer comfortable working close in tight spaces, but the images are usually more personal than anything shot in a banquet hall. We walk the house beforehand where we can.

The schedule with realistic timings, venue addresses, a list of family members who must be photographed, and a note on anything the venue restricts. For a sangeet, the running order of performances. A short call a week before covers all of it and is the difference between a crew that anticipates and one that follows.

A preview set from each function within a few days of it happening, which matters more here than for the wedding day. During a multi-day wedding people want the mehndi images before the reception. The full edited set for each function follows on the delivery date written into your agreement.

Usually yes, subject to crew availability on that date. Adding a function is adding a day of coverage and a day of editing, so it is quoted rather than absorbed. Tell us as early as you can, because during peak season the crew you want may already be committed elsewhere on that date.