it’s all greek to me

I was so excited when Christina asked me to photograph her wedding! We are both part of the Greek community in Houston, so our families knew each other growing up.  Christina’s church, St. Basil the Great Greek Orthodox Church, is absolutely gorgeous. I always think it looks like a little slice of the Mediterranean in the middle of Houston! One thing I loved about working with Christina and Sean was the importance they put on capturing their heritage throughout their wedding day.  I enjoyed photographing all of the special moments throughout the ceremony from an Orthodox perspective.

Greek Orthodox ceremonies are filled with traditions (many of which appear in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2” if you’ve seen that!). My favorite part of the service is when the bride and groom are crowned with stefana and named the king and queen of their own home. They then take their first steps as husband and wife when they walk around the table on the altar 3 times. Also, I love that Christina wore her mom’s veil during the ceremony- one thing we have in common! Likewise, I wore my mom’s veil for my wedding exactly 6 months ago from today. (Happy anniversary, Alex!)

importance of family heritage

I’m a firm believer that everyone needs to go to a Greek wedding at least once in their lives! We don’t break plates, but we do love to Greek dance! As soon as the dance floor opened at the reception, guests were dancing all night. (I’m not going to lie, I put my camera down for the first minute of a song so I could get the urge to dance out of my system- haha!!) It’s always fun seeing guests from all generations on the dance floor together. At one point during the night, Christina and Sean led dancing guests all around the banquet hall because there were too many people to fit on the dancefloor!

After an exciting night, guests took home koufeta, traditional sugar-coated Jordan almonds. The almonds are packaged in odd numbers to represent the indivisibilty of marriage. Then, to bid the bride and groom farewell, everyone lined up for a sparkler exit outside of the church. Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Philbrook! I’m so honored to have been a part of your big day!

Thank you to all of the incredible vendors who helped make this day possible!

Ceremony- St. Basil the Great Greek Orthodox Church, Reception- St. Basil the Great Greek Orthodox Church (George Kostas Educational Center), Photographer- Kati Hewitt Photography, Dress Designer- Essence of Australia, Dress Shop- Houston Bridal Gallery, Hair- Svetlana from Josephine’s Day Spa, Makeup- Makeup by Marybeth, Florist and Coordinator- Mary Gregory, Sandra Alaniz, and Partners in Petals, DJ- DJ Kevin England, Videographer- Weddings by Ricardo Luis, Cake- Whole Foods, Groomsmen Attire- Generation Tux, Bridesmaids Dresses- Vera Wang from Nordstrom Rack, Invitations- Crane & Co. from Bering’s, Photobooth- JPL Entertainment, Catering- Charlie’s and Co., Ceremony Music- Echo Shen Harpist