Rena Effendi

Photographer

refendi.com

Bengali Weddings

Location: Istanbul, Turkey

Nationality: Azerbaijan

Biography: Rena Effendiâ€™s early work focused on oil industryâ€™s effects on peopleâ€™s lives. As a result, she followed a 1,700 km oil pipeline through Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, collecting stories along the way. This work was published in 2009... MORE

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Nargis and Rajib celebrate their wedding reception in the courtyard of the groomâ€™s home. This is their first official appearance as a married couple. A tent is erected in their village near Gazipour to greet guests and serve food.

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At a city wedding in Dhaka, the newlywed couple participates in the rusmat, a Bengali tradition during which the bride and groom exchange rings and flower garlands, as well as gaze at each other through a mirror.

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Ratna gets ready for her wedding day in Manehor in a village salon. Makeup artist applies layers of foundation to achieve a more fair skin tone.

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Younger sisters the bride for her wedding make up session. Posters of the Indian Bollywood stars adorn the walls of the a village beauty salon in Manehor.

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Cousin of the bride applies lip gloss to her younger sister's lips to prepare for the wedding party in Manehor.

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Bride Moly Sufia at her gaye holud in Kerenigonj a ceremony where guests cover the couple in turmeric paste and feed them sweets.

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Two large rui maach (rohu fish) are decorated to depict a groom and bride. The fish, which are meant to symbolize good luck and prosperity and will later be prepared for a meal, are sent to the brideâ€™s home the morning of her wedding day in Dhaka.

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Village scenes around the wedding near Gazipour.

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Two young wedding guests pose during Sufia and Ahmedâ€™s gaye holud in Dhaka.

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More than 2000 wedding guests in a lush wedding in Dhaka line up to be photographed with the bride and groom. Immediate family members are given the first priority.

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A groom smiles back at his bride in the reflection of the mirror during a wedding ritual of rusmat in Dhaka.

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A table set up for the bride and groom's party. The groom is served an entire goat buryani on heaps of saffron rice.

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Children wear colorful outfits and sometimes bindis to mark the special occasion of their family celebrating a wedding in Gazipour.

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Children wear colorful outfits and sometimes bindis to mark the special occasion of their family celebrating a wedding in Gazipour.

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Wedding guests in the courtyard of the bride and groom's home. Contrary to the city weddings, in most village parties the bride and groom are not seated together and photographed ceremoniously with friends and relatives. Bride spends most of her time indoors, in the bedroom of her new home, while the groom occasionally mingles with guests.

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Guests wait for the arrival of the groom at the ornate gate especially erected for the entrance to the wedding party in Manihor.

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An ornate gate is especially erected for the entrance to the wedding party in Manihor.

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The groom, Bilal, nervously waits for his bride as he shares a plate of palau and roast chicken with his family and his soon-to-be sisters-in-law Manehor, Bangladesh.

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Bride's party blocks the groom's entrance into the wedding with a red ribbon demanding that he pays a bribe. A playful tug of war ensues while the groom attempts to find a cunning way to avoid payment and break through the cordon.

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Ratna in her full bridal outfit outside her family home in Manehor.

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A rikshawalla waiting for his turn to take a bath inside a village pond in Manehor.

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Guests are served chicken roast, mutton buryani and fish curry along with rice and eggs in Manehor, a typical wedding meal spread.

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A table is set up for a wedding registry in Gazipour where family members count the money presented by the invited guests.

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Ratna, wearing her full wedding day garb, waits by the window of her childhood bedroom where she can watch as guests arrive.

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Saris are laid out to dry as the village prepares for a wedding festivity later that afternoon in Manehor.

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Bengali Weddings

Copyright Rena Effendi 2022

Date of Work Dec 2017 - Dec 2017

Updated Apr 2018

Topics Documentary, Family, Photography, Photojournalism, Weddings

This project documents a wide spectrum of wedding culture and traditions in Bangladesh. From luxurious venues and mega-productions to modest village feasts in rural Bangladesh, a Bengali wedding is always a seminal event in the life of a family, one celebrated with pride and vibrant rituals, morphed and modified through time, but highly respected.

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Rena Effendi

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