We had a pleasure to be part of a winter Sikh wedding in Ottawa. Gurleen and Chetan had their wedding planned in Mexico. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances, they moved their Sikh wedding to Ottawa. The reality of weddings is that the show must go on and this couple enjoyed every bit of their Sikh Wedding in Ottawa.
Our wedding day started at the bride’s house where the bride was almost ready for the ceremony. In a very traditional outfit, the bride looked adorable. This was the first wedding in the family, so the excitement level was very high.
On the other end, our groom was getting his turban tied and dressed for the big day. The parents handed to their son, soon-to-be-wed, his palla and kirpan to complete his Sikh Indian Wedding attire.
Ottawa Sikh Ceremony Begins
The Gurudwara Sahib of Ottawa has a unique setting with a vintage church look. Ottawa has a very small close-knit Sikh community of devotees that manage the gurudwara. Everyone participates in weddings here in Ottawa.
Chetan’s baraat was coming in his new BMW as he danced his way to the gurudwara. Soon, we were ready for the milni ceremony.
Chetan walked in the Sikh temple in Ottawa with his brothers, bhabis and parents. The gurudwara temple was packed with family and friends as everyone awaited for the bride to enter. As soon the bride walked in the gurudwara, you could see the excitement on Chetan’s face as he wished to sneak a peek of Gurleen.
Anand Karaj began as the couple sat together in the presence of the sangat here in Ottawa. The priest requested the couple to go around the Sikh holy book along the the wedding hymns from Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Gurleen and Chetan were announced married as per Sikh Rehat Maryada, the Sikh Code of Conduct and Convention for Sikhism, at the Ottawa Sikh temple.
After the ceremony, a delicious catered meal was prepared by a local catering company. Meanwhile, the couple took the time to take family pictures at the separate hall at the Ottawa gurudwara.
Couple headed back to the bride’s house for the doli ceremony. Bride’s parents were prepared to get the doli rituals started. An emotional part of the day when the bride says her final goodbyes to her family.
Photography at Ottawa Science Centre
Fortunately, Ottawa has a lot of places that do not require permits. The Ottawa Science Centre is one of these locations where you can photograph without a permit. Since this Sikh Wedding in Ottawa took place in November, we had to mainly photograph indoors since it was getting pretty cold this time of year in Ottawa. Although, the architecture of the Hotel Fairmont Château Laurier was too tempting for us to ignore.
Reception at the Ottawa Sikh Wedding
Infinity Convention Centre was the reception venue for this Sikh Wedding in Ottawa.. This state of the art facility is one of the newest in Ottawa that can accomodate large Indian weddings. Thus, they do host a lot of Ottawa Indian weddings.
We started the evening on time with Gurleen and Chetan’s portraits. Since the wedding reception was at this beautiful venue, we did their portraits at the venue only.
Guests started to trickle inside the Infinity banquet and grabbed food and drinks. It was soon about time to welcome the bride and groom. The emcee requested everyone to stand up to welcome our couple.
Infinity Convention Centre was packed with excitement to see this couple walk in.
We had a couple of speeches from the bride’s sister and groom’s brothers. Bride’s cousins had prepared a special dance performance just before the couple’s first dance.
We kicked the night with jagoo and at that point everyone in Ottawa was on the dance floor ready to dance the night off.
Check out Gurleen and Chetan’s Sikh Wedding in Ottawa.
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