Browsing Tag: The Charlotte Cake Man

It’s always fun photographing the wedding of two people you feel close to and adore. It’s a great honor to capture moments on a wedding day when you know not only what’s important to the bride and groom, but why. Aaron’s cousin, Josh, married sweet Linsey (a long-time friend of Brian’s family) on September 18th of last year. Aaron caught the garter at that wedding- we remember photographing it, and how Aaron wore the garter around his bicep for the rest of the evening… hehe! Indeed the tradition held true to its word, as Aaron soon-afterward proposed to Dena, and they planned their wedding for the very same weekend in 2011 as Josh and Linsey’s was in 2010! We truly fell in love with Aaron and Dena during their wedding-planning process, just as we had Josh and Linsey! They have a dog, Ruby, who is now pals with our puppy, Nahla after Brian and Aaron took them to the White Water Center for no other reason than to just hang out! We love getting to know our couples in these ways… we love feeling like we’re photographing the wedding of two of our good friends because they’ve become our good friends along the way : )

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Dena’s family is Greek, and as such she planned a beautiful Greek Orthodox ceremony at Holy Trinity Greek Cathedral in Charlotte. The church was gorgeous: ornate, elaborate, and formal- the perfect backdrop for Dena’s lace, mermaid gown from Treasures Formal & Bridal. Their traditional Greek Orthodox ceremony was full of symbolism and meaning. The couple’s reception was held at Founder’s Hall in uptown Charlotte. The colors of the marble inside Founder’s was actually a really beautiful and obviously more contemporary compliment to the colors used to adorn the inside of the Cathedral. There were many traditional Greek dances (ohh yes, where everyone joins hands and dances in a circle- very fun!). Aaron and Dena also went to great effort to make sure that everything about their big day made their guests feel close to them and a part of their relationship. Their ceremony program was several pages long, outlining each part of the ceremony, its history and a summary of what each sacrament represented. Instead of table numbers, each table was named after a meaningful milestone in Aaron and Dena’s relationship, with explanations written on the table cards of why each word or phrase was signigicant. There was a table where guests could write “Happy Grams,” a tradition from the summer camp where Aaron and Dena met when they were in high school! Their cake-topper was a confederate soldier and a yankee bride, representing Aaron’s southern heritage and Dena’s northern/Bostonian roots.

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It was so fun for us to know so much about this bride and groom going into the wedding day. We knew exactly what each part of the wedding, reception and decor meant and why it was important, because Aaron and Dena kept us updated and informed throughout their whole planning process! We felt like we were a part of the whole party, which gave us an invigorated inspiration while we were shooting : ) Enjoy this sneak-peak of Aaron and Dena’s wedding, y’all!