Posts tagged: destination wedding photography

A few weeks ago, we held our 3rd Annual AKP Wedding Photography Bootcamp at Le Meridien Gurgaon. If you happened to have missed out, read the story and see the photos here. It was a 2 day intensive and hands-on workshop with 25 participants and we had a blast conducting it.

Not only did we talk about how to shoot brilliant wedding photos, we showed our lovely participants how to do it using live shoot modules and re-created a whole wedding using models, actual wedding outfits, professional makeup, a mandap set and a real panditji! All in the hotel premises.

Le Meridien did a stellar job of hosting us and being our hospitality partner, no holds barred. Their banquet and operations team were incredible and we wouldn’t have managed such a successful event without them. The food and service was brilliant, with much attention paid to our every whim, fancy and last minute requests!

The Le Meridien Gurgaon is conveniently situated very close to the Guru Dronacharya Metro Station, just after the Delhi-Gurgaon border. It’s just a few minutes away from Cyber City as well. The rooms offer a lovely view of the Aravalli hills or the city skyline – both an amazing sight.

The rooms are comfortable and chic, with a gorgeous Presidential Suite – perfect for the bride/couple to occupy during a wedding.

An all-day dining restaurant serving world cuisine, a specialty coffee bar which turns into a full fledged wine and cocktails bar in the evening and a pool-side nightclub cater to a wide variety of moods and occasions.

During our bootcamp, we began our wedding day re-enactment with the boudoir shoot of the bride and groom, getting ready in the luxurious and beautiful Presidential Suite of the hotel. It had enough room to comfortably fit twenty five of our participants, ten of the team members, the bride and groom as well as the whole makeup team. There was still room left over for the actual boudoir shoot as if there was no-one else in the room!

In addition to the space and grandeur, the Presidential Suite had lovely large windows with a lot of natural light and made a great location for the boudoir and portrait shoot. The sun-filled corridors outside the room also gave us a lovely backdrop.

Just like in a real wedding, we always manage to sneak in some time for couple portraits and some couple shots, minutes before the wedding ceremony, we took our participants to the lovely landscaped entry of the hotel – lush green and beautiful fountains which added so much character to the building facade backdrop.

Apart from the lawns, Le Meridien also has a spectacular poolside, ideal for couple shoots and pre-wedding shoots but sadly we ran out of time to shoot there (as is always the case group activities)!

We ended our wedding day with the actual wedding ceremony which was held on the spacious and elegant terrace of the hotel, which overlooks the Aravallis. We did up the terrace with our beloved mirchi lights and a beautifully decorated mandap in the centre! The terrace was well equipped with lights and space, which catered to the needs of our bootcamp perfectly – giving everyone ample space to shoot and move around!

All in all, Le Meridien Gurgaon is a great venue to host your wedding (or other occasions) – it would work wonderfully even if you moved your entire family in there and treated it like a destination wedding! The venues are pretty, food is great, hospitality team is warm and helpful and the location oh-so-convenient. If you haven’t paid it a visit, their Sunday Brunch is a great starting point!

Le Meridien Gurgaon was our hospitality partner for the AKP Wedding Photography Bootcamp 2016, but the photographs and opinions in this article are our own.