It was not what you would call a beach wedding in Goa, but we did make it to the beach of course! Right after the church wedding – which was my first Roman Catholic wedding, believe it or not – and before the reception at the Taj Exotica in south Goa. Jeannine wanted pictures on the beach at sunset and as much as I am not the beach-and-sunset-type wedding photographer, I would have done it and tried my best to avoid the kitsch, but I didn’t have to! Lucky for me, and for Kevin and Jeannine I hope, you can’t really see the sunset in Goa at this time of the year and the beach was gray and windy. Kevin had to struggle with the veil flowing in the wind and I simply love the results of that photo shoot!

Goa Catholic community

The Goa Catholics are an ethno-religious community of Roman Catholics and their descendants from the state of Goa, located on the west coast of India. They are Konkani people and speak the Konkani language. Portuguese seafarers arrived in Goa in 1510, and Catholic missionary activities soon followed, as Pope Nicholas V had enacted the Papal bull Romanus Pontifex in 1455, which granted the patronage of the propagation of the Christian faith in Asia.

A Roman Catholic Wedding in Goa

But lets stay with the wedding in Goa. The day started at the Casa dos Colaços, an old Portuguese villa in Margao where the bride’s parents live. I saw pictures of this house when Jeannine first wrote to me and knew there would be some fantastic photo opportunities there. The house is more than 150 years old and was only renovated a couple of years ago. What an amazing place. As if this was not enough, the wedding ceremony took place at the small chapel of Nossa Senhora on top of the hill overlooking the entire town. An absolutely lovely set up. “I now pronounce you man and wife” was as beautiful as I imagined it would be.

We ran to the beach right after the church ceremony and Jeannine was quick taking her shoes off. I think Kevin would not have minded getting in the water wearing his suit if it wasn’t for the reception that was coming up. We were on the beach at the Taj Exotica and didn’t have to go very far to meet the guests for an early evening cocktail and reception, but we would have no time to change out of the wet cloths so we had to skip it. Beach wedding or not, it was simply amazing.

Sephi Bergerson is a wedding photographer based in Goa and available for destination weddings worldwide