The combining of cultures often leads to greats romances and beyond beautiful results – and this wedding is no exception. Asya Photography captured it all, from the beautiful Bride and her maids to the grand ceremony and sweet pics with her new Husband. Get captivated in our Vault right this way!
From the Bride… We knew since the beginning our wedding was going to be a large party. Ash has a big family and a lot of friends, plus he is an only child so we knew it meant a lot for his parents to share the day with everybody. With that being said there were only a handful of venues in NJ that could hold the amount of people we had in mind (300 was our original number). We went to several venues and there was one I really loved but while waiting for a call back from that venue I decided to make an appointment at The Florentine Gardens. We fell in love as soon as we walked in the door. After that day we disregarded the other venue. I had a vision in my head for our wedding and I wanted the overall feel to be romantic and full of flowers. Florentine Gardens has floor to ceiling windows that face their beautiful gardens, grand chandeliers and an overall elegant, old school look. Also, after talking to one of the wedding coordinators it felt like they actually cared about making our day the most special one and not like a business transaction.
While dress shopping I had a very clear picture in my head of how I wanted to look on my wedding day. I knew I wanted an all-lace dress and that’s exactly what I got, simple, romantic and elegant. My dress is Dennis Basso which was purchased at Kleinfelds. My veil is a cathedral veil with a border of the same lace of my dress.
I didn’t work with a certain theme, but I knew I wanted flowers, romance, elegance and classic. The overall color scheme was blush, ivory and gold. After meeting our florist I decided to add a touch of green from the eucalyptus leaves from our flowers. I wanted the gold to be the focal point for everything. This was carried throughout the whole wedding. Our flower girls had gold shoes and baskets, our centerpieces were gold candelabras, frames displayed throughout our venue were gold and ornate. Ash’s church is full of gold so that was a perfect fit.
We got married through Ash’s church. He was raised in the Coptic Orthodox Church. It is very similar to the Catholic Church except they still have a lot of older traditions and they sing a lot of hymns throughout the ceremony. The ceremony starts with the priests and deacons singing hymns as they walk in. They also sing while the bridal party and bride walk in. Typically in the orthodox tradition the bride and groom walk in together but it was super important for me to walk in with my dad. Ash and his family have been part of St. Mary for a long time and the Father Mark has been a friend of the family for many years. He was able to obtain a special permit in order for us to have a mixed ceremony. My parents do not speak English, so I really wanted for them to understand and be part of the ceremony. I was able to get in touch with the priest that married my sister 10 years ago, also a good friend of ours and he officiated part of the ceremony as well in Spanish. It was really special.
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Photography: Asya Photography | Floral Design: Pink Dahlia | Wedding Dress: Kleinfeld Bridal | Ceremony Venue: St. Mary's Coptic Orthodox Church | Reception Venue: The Estate At Florentine Gardens | DJ: The Estate At Florentine Gardens | Bridal Boutique: Kleinfeld Bridal