Arvinder & Raj's Sikh Wedding - Choora & Jaggo | ZaraZoo Wedding Photography

Many of you probably don’t know that ZaraZoo started out covering Asian weddings in London. And even though we are based in South Africa, this year we have shot no fewer than 15 Hindu, Sikh and Muslim weddings in the UK!

For Arvinder and Raj’s wedding, we traveled all the way up to Blackpool. This post covers some of the pre-wedding ceremonies, the Mayian, Vatna, Choora bangles and Jaggo. Still to come over the next week will be Arivinder & Raj’s Sikh wedding as well as their civil wedding at the magnificent Knowsley Hall!

I came to know of Arvinder & Raj’s wedding through my good friend Aziz of Aira Photography – Thanks Aziz!

Photography by Stefan Steenkamp

I love covering Asian weddings and have a special place for the Sikh people. They have an amazing lifestyle centered around the family. They are generous, kind hearted and they can party! They actually remind me a lot of South Africans!

The pre-wedding ceremonies are all designed to bless the bride, her family and the groom. We missed a few of the other ceremonies, but joined the family for the Mayian (coloured rice) ceremony that is normally done together with the Vatna, where family members rub yellow tumeric paste on the bride. This was followed by the Choora (ivory Bangles) is dipped into milk and put unto the bride. Then the celebrations really picks up pace with the Jaggo when the bride and family members dance with copper pots (with candles on top) on their heads.