Ariel & Sathia
Dhamagosnaram Buddhist Temple in Cranston, Rhode Island
May 1st, 2019
There are a number of reasons that I love Rhode Island but one of the strongest, by far, is just how diverse the culture is in this big little state.
As a wedding photographer in the Ocean State, you're bound to come across all kinds of couples and all kinds of cultures and until I met Ariel and Sathia, I somehow managed to miss one of the world's biggest: Buddhist.
While Ariel and Sathia are planning to have an American traditional wedding ceremony in December, I was fortunate enough to get a sneak peek into Sathia's religious upbringing during the pair's May engagement session at Dhamagosnaram Buddhist Temple in Cranston and I loved what I saw.
Not only were these two so sweet together and so loving but the traditional religious attire they chose to wear and aspects of the religion they chose to bring into this shoot were something totally new and unexpected for me.
And what a great time it was getting to document it all.
Ariel and Sathia chose to wear two outfits of traditional Buddhist culture and I absolutely adored the way the colors popped for both of them. We started their engagement session outside near the incredibly tall Buddha statue overlooking an outside deck full of religious statues and monuments.
While the Dhamagosnaram Temple didn't have as many spots as I'm used to for the purpose of variety, I feel like we captured a lot of nice poses of the bride and groom in this area and, more importantly, I feel the shots were paid a ton of respect to Sathia's religion, culture and upbringing.
As much as I loved the traditional yellow and white outfits both Ariel and Sathia chose, I was excited to see their change of clothes as well as they told me they had a red outfit they'd be wearing and I ADORE that color when it comes to traditional religious clothing. And their outfit choice showed why.
Ariel and Sathia were great in front of the lens and quickly warmed up to the various poses I had in mind for them and I'm thankful because it made for a really fun shoot that just felt easy.
Even when it looked like the poses I had in mind made no sense, like the photo above when I shot through a tree, they went with it and I think the results came out great.
As Ariel, Sathia and I got ready to wrap up their engagement session, I felt really great about their wedding in December.
While that day will likely be a complete 180 from the traditional religious one we experienced on this cloudy May afternoon, I have no doubt the love they displayed for one another as we captured these photos will be on full display all the same.
At least I hope so. Because Ariel and Sathia were a blast to work with and I can't wait to get the chance to do it on an even bigger, grander stage come December.
-PJS
