Corrine & Alan came back home to Long Island to get married a few weeks ago. Giving the happy couple red envelopes filled with lucky money is a tradition that many Chinese families follow (including my own several years ago). The Chinese character on the red envelope means “double happiness”, so how appropriate for us to take a photo of the 2 wedding bands on it!
Below is a sneak peek of photos. The day started with the groom and his boys coming to pick up Corinne with bouquets in hand, followed by some fun picture taking in Long Island City and Five Pointz, and then to the Coral House in Baldwin to get married. Actually, I skipped a stop. While Corrine got her makeup retouched, Alan & his groomsmen took a 10-minute break in the “rent-a-massage-chairs.” What an ingenious (and hilarious!) way to pass the time. To Corrine & Alan – thanks again for inviting us to be part of your celebration!
Next in our anniversary series is Reena & Ryan’s wedding at the Venetian Yacht Club in Long Island. This was actually our first Indian wedding, so it was even more special to us. We always enjoy learning about other cultures and really value being able to witness all these fantastic traditions firsthand. It one of the many things we love about being wedding photographers!
It took Reena hours to get ready.  And it’s not because she needs a lot of extra help to become a beautiful bride. Reena is naturally a beautiful woman, but an Indian bride on her wedding day has a lot of extra make-up and accessories.
This little girl is watching with rapt attention as everything is applied…
…and the final product is truly magnificent!
After spending so much time observing the detailed preparations and the pre -wedding emotions, James admits to getting a little emotional when the stunning bride walked into the ceremony. It was very sweet to see all of the tension disappear and Reena’s face light up when she saw Ryan.
The ceremony has many traditions, one of which involves rice as you can seee from the below.
This picture is actually from Reena’s sangeet. In an Indian wedding, the bride has a sangeet a few days before. It’s like a mini celebration with a lot of traditional dancing and singing. At her sangeet, Reena’s hands were painted with elaborate henna, which we found to be fascinating. The intricate patterns made her hand look like a piece of exotic art!
During the vidai part of the day, the bride says good-bye to her family. It’s a very touching time and as new parents ourselves, we can definitely understand Reena’s father’s feelings as he hugs his soon-to-be-gone little girl.
According to Reena, “we LOVE the pics… we really are speechless.” Since last year, we’ve photographed a charity event for Reena’s cousin and the wedding of the same relative’s professor. And, in 2 weeks, we will be photographing the wedding of another one of her cousins. Thank you, Reena, for always thinking of us!
Maura & Pete got married on May 1, 2009 and had their reception at the Royalton at Roslyn Country Club. To the happy couple – happy anniversary and hope Pete found a good restaurant for you to celebrate in tonight!
It drizzled a bit last May 1, but as you can see, the fun-loving Kemptons didn’t let the rain get them down.
This is our favorite picture of the bridal party. Their reflection on the limo’s hubcap makes for a very cool-looking photo, don’t you think?
The happy couple and their friends loved to do shots, so much so that the toasts were done with little shot glasses as well.
Maura and Pete had a very fun group of friends and family and the Royalton floor shook with all of their dancing and butt-slapping. These 2 groomsmen have obviously done the butt-slapping before – they have the technique down to a science!
We had a great time capturing all the merrymaking that night and we’re happy to say that the Kemptons loved what we captured. In Pete’s words, “all we can say is that we love them! You two were amazing on our wedding day and in seeing the first couple of shots we are amazed that you really were able to capture Maura and I as we were that day! We cannot begin to thank both of you for making our day even more amazing!”
To see more of Maura and Pete’s wedding photos, click on the following image:
