J & C: New Orleans Inspired Wedding
Wow – what a wedding! This was such a fun New Orleans inspired wedding that I was fortunate enough to capture. I was super pumped for this wedding as soon as I met with James & Cristina for the first time. Hearing them talk about their relationship, vision for their big day and how they wanted it captured – I knew I wanted to be there!
I started the day at their residence in Old Lyme which was absolutely beautiful. We had great light coming through the windows in the the kitchen/dining room where Cristina and her bridesmaids got their hair and make up done. Cristina and James wrote each other cards and gave each other some small presents for their wedding day, so we pulled a chair over by the window for Cristina to read it. I love these moments, with all of the emotions running through you on a wedding day a card like this is a great way to incite emotion – and it did! While wiping some tears from her eyes her mom came over for a nice hug and a beautiful moment it was. Rather than putting on her dress at their house and then traveling to her parents home for the wedding she decided to put on her dress in her childhood room.
We traveled over to Cristina’s parents house in East Haddam where the ceremony and reception would take place. This was the first time I got the see their vision come to life as there were a few tents on the property where they would have the ceremony and reception. I had been to the property a few times before including a walk through a few weeks before their wedding where we ran through the timeline and tried to envision the way their New Orleans inspired wedding would be laid out.
Once Cristina got into her dress with the help of her mom, we took her up into a loft type room that had a beautiful window with a bench, and of course great light coming in. We spent a little bit of time up there while her dad finished getting ready for their first look. She stepped out of the room and starting walking down the stairs to meet her father and it was a magical moment. It is always so special to be a part of this moment and one that definitely hits home for me as I have a 1 year old daughter and oh boy that’s the first thing that comes to mind.
It’s not time to get married! Cristina went out the front door to get into her horse drawn carriage that would take a lap around the pond on the way to the ceremony site. James would arrive before Cristina escorted in a beautifully restored car driven by a long time family friend. Dr. Jazz from New Orleans lead the bridesmaids with their parasols down the aisle and around the outside of the ceremony tent as he played. This was such a cool performance and the first time I have ever seen this done.
Quickly after the ceremony they went for a short carriage ride away from the cocktail hour where we would take a few pictures of just them before joining in on cocktail hour with the guests. We didn’t have long so we made the most of our time. After a few family portraits during cocktail hour they were able to mingle and greet their guests.
Check out some of their images below or head over to some of my other blog posts!
