Queens, New York Weddings
Long Island, New York Weddings
Cape Cod, Massachusetts Weddings
Style: Documentary/Editorial
2025 has been quite a year.
I, personally, had a lot of milestones— retiring from the NYPD, turning to photography full-time, celebrating my son’s first birthday, and shooting over 35 weddings (107 projects!) this year alone—including one of my most ambitious weddings to date; that of my friends Ghavin and Rosie.
I’ve known Ghavin for most of my life. He’s one of my older brother’s best friends from high school, and in fact is one of the few people who encouraged me to pick up a camera. Rosie has helped me to reach new heights with my business, working to build the Kelvin G. Photography team and diving into new projects with me (stay tuned for a special announcement closer to 2026!). When they approached me about their multi-day celebrations that not only expanded my knowledge of different cultures, but different settings as well (Cape Cod— a bucket list location for me) and even different film formats, I knew that telling their love story was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up.
PART 1: Engagement
Ghavin and Rosie are both native New Yorkers, so their engagement shoot focused on capturing their love in places that mattered most to their NYC identities. We started off at Union Square in Manhattan, moving down Broadway to end up in NoHo off of Bowery, ending the evening in the hidden little alley at Extra Place. One of my favorite things about this shoot was the couple’s sense of direction; they had a clear vision in mind, and let me play with that vision to produce intimate images that displayed their connection, with the city almost acting as another character in the shot. Like silly teenagers, we bounced around lower Manhattan, stopping at St. Mark’s Place in the East Village for a slice and a soda. Throughout the shoot, I used the familiar scenes of our youth in NYC to hint at the couple’s next chapter.
PART 2: Hindu celebration
Family and community are very important to Ghavin and Rosie, so their nuptials spanned months to be able to honor both of their cultures. Ghavin’s Guyanese Hindu background was represented in July, with a 3-day celebration of movement, music and color.
The first day (Friday) started with the combined Haldi and Maticoor/Digdutty ceremonies, celebrated alongside Mehendi Night— each part signifying an element of the couple’s preparation for the wedding. Mehendi Night was mainly for guests to get traditional henna tattoos, as the bride had already gotten hers applied earlier in the week. The Maticoor rituals featured the bride and groom’s mothers asking Mother Earth for a blessing on their children’s marriage; the Haldi ceremonies saw the couple rubbed with turmeric to purify their bodies for the next day’s wedding rites.
Bright and early Saturday morning, both bride and groom got ready for their wedding– a 4-hour event at Golden Terrace Banquet Hall in South Richmond Hill, Queens, NY. This was a day that was jam-packed with music, dancing, and community. Ghavin’s sister, professional Indian dancer Alyssa, choreographed the couple’s respective entrances down the aisle, and then on top of that came family photos for an hour straight! The bride requested that all pictures of the Saturday ceremony be in color, in order to best capture the vibrant and exciting energy of the occasion itself.
When the Western-style reception at Sand Castle in Franklin Square, Long Island started in the afternoon, I was glad to get some time to switch gears and get into party mode. Ghavin wore a robins-egg blue tuxedo jacket, adding his own twist to the typical groom attire. His classic look was perfect in the July heat, like cool water alongside the ice-like sequined lace of Rosie’s A-line gown.
The party was boisterous, blissful and the absolute picture of abundance– 300+ people enjoyed the food, drinks, dancing and good cheer with the couple, who were running on fumes and adoring every minute of it. “I’ve never felt so loved,” said the bride.
PART 3: Cape Cod
The final installment of Rosie and Ghavin’s story came in September, with a Unitarian ceremony at the bride’s ancestral hometown of Barnstable, Massachusetts. Rosie’s family has been in the area for over 300 years, and she had dreamed of getting married at the local Unitarian church and hosting the reception at her family’s farm just up the way since she was a girl.
As the second official celebration of the couple evolved, one friend reminisced that “it was less like a formal gathering and more like a family barbecue with old friends,” since many guests at the Cape Cod wedding had also joined the festivities in New York. Because of that, the shots taken on Cape reflected a more relaxed, documentary-style vibe– really getting to the heart and soul of Ghavin and Rosie’s connection. The backyard setting was a fairy tale, from the caterer to the DJ to the landscaping– everything was romantic and elegant (even the dancehall and soca playlists felt right in tune, wafting through the crisp New England air– one neighbor later mentioned that it sounded so fun, he’d wanted to crash the party and join along!)
Throughout these weddings, I leveraged a mix of styles– documentary, fine art, editorial– and mediums– digital, film, Polaroid, Koda Porta and more– to tell the story of Ghavin and Rosie’s adventures. You can really feel the warmth of the couple coming through the images; whether wrapped up in the ritual or in each other’s arms on the dance floor, you can almost see the aura of love that will keep them connected forever.
In 2025, there was so much to capture. There were laughs, there was drama, but mainly, there was love. I can’t wait to see what next year brings.
