Koh Samui is a large island off Thailand’s east coast, known for its white sand beaches, coral reefs, and jungle-covered hills. Shiva Samui resort overlooks the sea, offering a tropical setting where an Indian destination wedding feels right at home. Here, bright colours stand out against lush greenery, the Gulf of Thailand takes the place of the Aegean, and an open-air mandap replaces the traditional stone chapel.

Hina and Shamshir travelled from London, while their families and friends came from all over the world. Together, they filled the resort with colour, music, and the special warmth that comes from Indian and Thai hospitality coming together.

Two ceremonies took place at Shiva Samui. The civil ceremony and the traditional Indian wedding, with the mehendi session the day before, the baraat procession, the pheras around the sacred fire, the exchange of vows and the family blessings that hold a Hindu wedding together. Each ceremony has its own rhythm, its own light and its own sequence of moments that cannot be missed.

Then the monsoon arrived. Heavy rain fell, just as it often does in the tropics, but the wedding went on. Guests danced in the rain. This is what happens when a destination wedding meets weather that won’t let up, and a couple with no intention of stopping either.

A two-ceremony destination wedding in a tropical resort requires preparation that accounts for both the Indian wedding traditions and the civil forma, different lighting conditions, different sequences, different proximity requirements for each ceremony. We mapped the day in advance and covered both ceremonies with the attention each one needed.

The monsoon was not in the plan. Covering a wedding in heavy tropical rain requires protecting the equipment while staying close enough to photograph what matters. We stayed. The rain produced some of the most distinctive images of the day.

Before arriving we had learned enough about Hina and Shamshir to understand what this wedding was, a love story that had crossed continents to find a safe haven in Koh Samui, which is precisely what the word Samui means.