Today I bring you a very special blog post that features the wedding of my friends Hanif & Shirin.  About 3 years back, I made the official move to New York based off of the suggestion of my good friend Habib.  My brother told me that the one person I should most definitely meet is Habib’s cousin Hanif.  Sure enough, the more and more people I spoke to, they all had raving things to say about Hanif, and what an awesome person he was.  When I finally met him in person, I understood instantly why he had such an awesome reputation amongst the community.  Hanif is one of the most genuine and interesting human beings I’ve had the pleasure of meeting!  Hanif is intelligent, witty, very funny, talented in many things, a passionate community leader, one of THE nicest person I’ve ever met, and truly has a heart of gold.  If that wasn’t enough, although he is of Iranian descent, he can speak/read/write Bangla better than me and all of my siblings!  I’m about 95% sure that if my parents heard Hanif recite Bengali poetry, they will adopt him as our 4th sibling.  At that very first meeting, I also had the pleasure of meeting Hanif’s other half, Shirin “Bonu”.  Just like her counterpart, Shirin is also super nice, intelligent, compassionate, and super talented.  I’m not just saying she’s talented as in she’s talented, I’m saying she’s talented as in she’s an Emmy nominated producer!  Shirin and I connected instantly over our love of film and movies, and it’s a bond that’s only grown over the years.  Not only have we been great friends, but she also helped me land a part-time job at a local tv station, so we’re co-workers as well!  One thing was for certain when I met these two, and that was that they both really liked each other, and cared deeply for one and another.

Hanif & Shirin planned on having a small intimate wedding ceremony at their home, and then do a bigger celebration in their homeland of Iran.  I absolutely love the more intimate weddings since they are so personal and have such special moments throughout, so I was very down to help capture some of these moments.  This was an absolutely beautiful ceremony, with some really amazing people!  Hanif and Shirin’s family members were just as loving and caring as they are themselves, and even as a photographer, I felt like family being there.  It was a very sweet event, with lots of great people, food, and sweets!  Side note, Hanif’s mom makes one of the best baklava I’ve ever had!  The ceremony was beautiful and touching, the decor was charming and traditional to the persian heritage, the food was incredible… I mean I can talk about what an amazing everything was, but I rather let the photos do the talking for me!  Without further ado, check out the photos from Hanif & Shirin’s wedding below.