Laurie Beck Peterson – Photographer

MARIA + MIKE

St. Demetrious Greek Orthodox Church

The Merion

When Maria and Mike came to me last year to talk about their 300 person Greek Orthodox wedding, I knew I was in for a great time.  I started at Maria’s house with her family, relatives and bridesmaids. My second photographer Rebecca started at Mike’s with his family, complete with all his relatives from Greece. I think this takes the prize for the most people that have been present at the getting ready session!  Many thanks to Rebecca for shooting with me once again and to Chris Rodgers of Xposed Film for being a great videographer to work with.

Although Maria’s house was feeling small with all the people, I was still able to find great locations to shoot.  I loved the color of Maria’s bedroom walls –  the room she and her sister shared until the wedding day.  It made a great backdrop for a portrait.

The big picture window in the living room and the conveiniently placed ottoman came in handy!

It is always a treat for me to shoot a wedding – especially a wedding in a Greek Orthodox Church, which was a first for me.

The church was absolutely beautiful!

With a little help from Maria’s mom, I was able to make sure I photographed the most important parts of the ceremony. The common cup of wine, the candles, the joining of the hands, the crowning, and The Dance of Isaiah to name a few.

I still had time to shoot the details and the kids who were a great source of entertainment during the ceremony.

I think I am still picking birdseed out of my camera equipment!

We stopped at Logan Circle for some formals on our way to The Merion in Cinnaminson, NJ.

I wasn’t quite ready for the large amounts of money that were being thrown on the dance floor.

Congratulations Maria and Mike.  I will be posting images from their earlier engagement session soon.

IRIS + SAMUEL

Iris and Samuel chose to have their formals at the beautiful Woodrow Wilson Hall at Monmouth University in New Jersey.  Although it rained most of the day, luck was with us for the formal session outside.

Iris had her Aunt, a fashion designer in NYC, design and make her dress.  As luck would have it again, her Aunt enlisted her friend who designs for Vera Wang, to make the beautiful veil seen in the opening shot in the blog!

In the Chinese tradition, it is customary for the groom and groomsmen to fill red envelopes with money to bring to the brides house before the wedding.  Providing they have filled them correctly, the brides family and bridesmaids will let the groom see his bride. Since the couple was getting ready at a hotel, Samuel and his groomsmen had to walk down the hall to Iris’s room to be let in.  Thanks goodness he put enough in there!

Sam’s Dad is a jeweler and ordered the rings that are on top of the beautiful chinese invitation Iris designed.

Iris had a keen eye for detail.  In addition to designing her invitations, she planned all aspects of the details of the wedding and reception, right down to the color themed candy bar. I loved the white and red chinese “to go” containers for the candy.

Iris poses here with her Aunt, the designer of the fabulous dress!