A Guyanese Indian wedding in New Jersey or New York is a Hindu wedding with Caribbean rhythm: the matikor and dig dutty on the Friday night, the dye (haldi) the next morning, a ceremony under the maro with the bride in yellow and then red, and a reception with chutney, soca and tassa. We photograph and film them in Queens, Long Island and New Jersey.
The Indo-Caribbean community in Richmond Hill, Ozone Park, Schenectady, Jersey City and across Central Jersey has its own way of holding a Hindu wedding, and it does not look like the ones in our Gujarati or Telugu guides. The rituals are older in some ways, the order is different, the tassa drums replace the dhol, and the reception is a Caribbean party. We photograph Guyanese and Trinidadian Indian weddings as part of our New York and New Jersey season, and this guide is for couples who want a photographer who knows the matikor from the maro before the weekend starts.
What makes a Guyanese Indian wedding different to photograph?
Three things stand out. The pre-wedding nights, the matikor on the bride's side and the dig dutty (or the groom's own night) on his, are religious and raucous at the same time, with the women of the family dancing in ways the photographer is sometimes asked not to photograph; we ask first. The ceremony has its own sequence under the maro, the bamboo-and-palm mandap, with the bride in yellow for the start and changing into red for the pheras in many families. And the reception is loud, late and fully Caribbean: tassa at the entrance, chutney-soca on the floor, a rum punch, and a dance floor that does not clear until the venue turns the lights on.
The matikor and the dig dutty
On the Friday night the women of the bride's family go to a riverside or a corner of the yard, or in New York a corner of the car park with a basin of water, to dig the earth and make offerings to Mother Earth; then the night turns into dancing and teasing songs in the house. Some families keep parts of the matikor private and we are glad to step out; most want the singing, the drums and the grandmothers dancing photographed, with one small warm light so the diyas and the yellow saris read as they are. The groom's family holds the same night at his house, and with two homes in play we send a photographer to each.
The dye, or haldi
The next morning, or the same night, the bride and the groom are rubbed with the turmeric paste (the dye) by the married women, seated on a pirha under a sheet or a canopy, with the yellow everywhere. It is the brightest, happiest set of photographs of the weekend and it needs daylight, so we ask for it in the yard or by a window rather than in the basement. The mehndi and haldi guide covers the practical side of photographing turmeric on skin.
The ceremony under the maro
The groom arrives with his family, with tassa drummers rather than a dhol, and is welcomed at the door by the bride's mother with the aarti and the parchhan. Under the maro the pandit runs through the kanyadaan, the havan, the pheras and the sindoor, with the bride's brother and the kangan and the lawa (the parched rice) thrown into the fire by the siblings, and the family's Hanuman flag and the jhandi sometimes standing outside. It runs two to three hours, and in a Guyanese home the pandit often chants in Hindi and explains in English, which keeps everyone with it. We light the maro the same way we light any mandap, before the family sits, so the fire and the yellow and red of the bride's saris stay true. Our Hindu wedding photographer page explains how we do that in a hall or a temple; the ceremony timeline guide shows the hour-by-hour.
One detail matters for the photographs: the outfit change. In many Guyanese families the bride starts the ceremony in yellow and changes into red partway through, and the groom's own family may dress her in the red. Tell us when it happens, so we have a photographer in the room and a clean set of portraits in each.
The reception
If the ceremony is the Indian half, the reception is the Caribbean half. The couple enter to tassa, the room is Guyanese and Trinidadian food and the dance floor is chutney, soca and the occasional Bollywood set. It is also the darkest room of the weekend, in a hall in Richmond Hill or a ballroom on Long Island, so we light the floor from two corners and the stage from the front and stay until the end, because the last hour belongs to the aunties. The reception lighting guide explains how we keep a dark hall looking like a celebration rather than a flash photograph.
Where Guyanese Indian weddings happen
Queens first: the halls along Liberty Avenue, the mandirs of Richmond Hill and Ozone Park, and the banquet rooms at Russo's on the Bay and Terrace on the Park. Then Long Island, where the larger receptions go to Leonard's Palazzo in Great Neck and the halls of Nassau County; and New Jersey, where families in Jersey City, Edison and Somerset use the Central Jersey halls that host every kind of South Asian wedding, among them Royal Albert's Palace and The Imperia. Our Indian wedding photographer in NYC and Long Island pages cover the city side.
A luxury Guyanese wedding weekend in New Jersey
More and more Indo-Caribbean couples are holding the whole weekend at one estate or ballroom in New Jersey, with the matikor at home on Thursday, a joint sangeet-style evening on Friday, the ceremony under a maro on the lawn on Saturday morning and the reception that night. It photographs beautifully, because the yellow of the dye and the red of the ceremony finally get daylight and a green backdrop; the outdoor Indian wedding venues guide lists the gardens and estates that allow a maro and a havan, and the best Indian wedding venues in New Jersey covers the ballrooms.
| Day | Event | Our note |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday night | Matikor and dig dutty | A photographer at each house; we ask before photographing the dancing |
| Friday morning | The dye (haldi) | Daylight, in the yard or by a window |
| Friday evening | Sangeet or cook-night | One warm light; the kitchen counts |
| Saturday morning | Groom arrives with tassa; ceremony under the maro | Maro lit before the family sits; the outfit change covered |
| Saturday afternoon | Portraits and the bride's departure | Thirty minutes of daylight for the couple |
| Saturday night | Reception | Tassa at the entrance; floor lit from two corners; we stay |
A Guyanese wedding asks for a photographer who can stand quietly through a two-hour havan and then keep up with a tassa band at midnight. That is the photographer we try to be.
Photography and film from one team, two photographers on the wedding day, travel to Queens, Long Island and anywhere within ninety miles of New Jersey included; the investment page shows how the matikor, the ceremony and the reception fit into one collection, and the South Asian wedding photographer page covers everything else we photograph.
Frequently asked
Do you photograph Guyanese and Trinidadian Indian weddings?
Yes, in Queens, on Long Island and across New Jersey. We know the matikor, the dig dutty, the dye, the maro and the tassa, and we plan the weekend around them rather than around a North Indian template.
Can parts of the matikor stay private?
Yes. Some families keep the women’s dancing off camera, and we ask before the night which parts to photograph and which to step out of. The singing, the drums and the grandmothers are usually what the family wants kept.
Do you cover the bride’s change from yellow to red?
Yes, if we know when it happens. We keep a photographer in the room for the change and make a clean set of portraits in each outfit, because both belong in the album.
Where do Guyanese weddings usually happen in New York and New Jersey?
The halls and mandirs of Richmond Hill and Ozone Park, Russo’s on the Bay and Terrace on the Park in Queens, Leonard’s Palazzo and the Nassau County halls on Long Island, and the Central Jersey banquet halls for families in Jersey City, Edison and Somerset.
Do you film the reception as well?
Yes, with one team for photography and film. The film crew records the tassa and the pandit’s mantras separately so the sound is clean, and the highlight film carries the music of the night rather than a track laid over it.
Planning a Guyanese or Trinidadian wedding?
Tell us the dates and where the matikor, the ceremony and the reception will be. We reply within a day with availability and a collection built around the whole weekend.
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