Shira & Graeme | VisArts wedding | Rockville, MD

I met Shira and Graeme on their wedding day - Shira with a black salon robe draped over her and Graeme with a big anticipatory smile on his face before I brought in his bride. These hip cats live in London, of all the swanky, desirable places to reside, but brought it on home so they could get married in Shira's temple, where her father is the rabbi. And let me warn you now, they rocked the reception at VisArts so hard, I am showing just way too many photos from their klezmer dancing. Shira and Graeme: rockville town center wedding photography We started the day at Shira's family home in Rockville and at the Bethesda North Marriott. Apparently in England there is none of this "getting ready" coverage, so they thought the whole thing was rather amusing. getting ready before jewish wedding mom helping her daughter dress before the wedding walking down her family stairs before the wedding Then we scooted to VisArts at Rockville so the heroes of our story could have a "first look" and do some portraits at the Rockville Town Center. first look at visarts at rockville They were, needless to say, delighted to see each other. first look images from visarts at rockville wedding Shira and Graeme, it turns out, are much sillier than I thought they would be. We'd had a couple phone conversations, one Skype call and plenty of emails, but none of that prepared me for how ridiculously cuddly and giggly and silly these two are. Picking up on the vibe, we paused to take some photos with this giant bagel. It's a wedding bagel! wedding portrait in front of a giant bagel And they wanted some "street" portraits, so I obliged. "street" wedding portraits wedding portraits at rockville town center I actually got them to do this for a split-second... wedding portraits with a rockville town center mural ...because most of the time it was straight this. Shira has the best laugh and she employed it *all day*. Not sure I've seen a bride laugh more on her wedding day - good times! wedding photography in rockville, maryland bride with her flower girls at jewish wedding bride with her parents before signing the ketubah bride and groom laughing through the parents Shira's father is the rabbi at B'nai Israel, and he performed their marriage ceremony. bride's father prepares before the ceremony prayer books at b'nai israel temple jewish wedding ceremony in rockville jewish wedding photographs from b'nai israel wedding moment from the wedding at rockville synagoguebrid jewish wedding ceremony in maryland wedding photojournalism at jewish wedding in rockville bride and groom holding hands during jewish wedding ceremony moment during the wedding at b'nai israel temple baby during the wedding wedding photojournalism at jewish wedding in rockville, maryland mother looking at her daughter during jewish wedding ceremony jewish wedding ceremony at rockville, maryland temple first kiss at jewish wedding ceremony in rockville recessional from jewish wedding ceremony in rockville, maryland It had stopped raining by then, so we paused for a second in the garden to take some nature-y photos. portraits of the bride and groom in the temple garden wedding portraits outside the temple bride and groom portraits outside b'nai israel Back to VisArts, for their not-quite-but-very-close-to-farm-to-table wedding, complete with potted herbs. room decor at visarts wedding in rockville wedding decorations at visarts wedding in rockville mother of the groom giving the blessing over the challah People sometimes ask me what my ideal shooting conditions are - outdoors, bright lights, big weddings, small ones, etc. I now have my ideal shooting condition - half an hour of klezmer dancing, with a rowdy crowd and a ridiculously happy couple. everyone at the wedding dancing with the bride and groom Okay so I've photographed a lot of weddings. I've seen the hora. This was the hora + 25 minutes of additional joyous, rambunctious, comedic dancing. It was so awesome. klezmer dancing at visarts in rockville bride and groom during jewish dancing groom dancing during klezmer time at visarts in rockville dance scenes from visarts jewish wedding groom going nuts during the hora bride and groom during the hora at visarts bride downing champagne during klezmer dancing women dancing around bride during klezmer dancing everybody goofing around during klezmer dancing at visarts flower girl dancing the hora at visarts in rockville father of the bride dancing during klezmer at visarts klezmer dancing at visarts at rockville wedding flower girl above the crowd at visarts at rockville wedding It was rad. speeches at visarts at rockville wedding Apparently in other parts of the world, it's traditional for the groom to give a speech at the wedding. I don't think Graeme realized this wasn't common in America until our drive from the temple to VisArts. "So do all the grooms start with 'my wife and I' during their speeches?" he asked. "What speech?" I said. groom gives a speech at visarts at rockville bride and groom on the side of the party at visarts at rockville wedding dancing during wedding reception at visarts groom and his mother dancing at visarts at rockville wedding bride and groom dancing at visarts at rockville bride and groom artsy-fartsy shot hands at visarts at rockville wedding bride and her father dancing at visarts at rockville bride and her father hugging at visarts A second set of Seven Blessings. pouring wine for the seven blessings And they declared the day a smashing success. bride and groom during seven blessings at visarts at rockville wedding Congratulations Shira and Graeme! Shira & Grame's vendor team: Coordinator: Katie Wannen, The Plannery (an awesome, awesome lady) Ceremony venue: B'nai Israel Reception venue: VisArts at Rockville Getting ready venues: Shira - home; Graeme - Bethesda North Marriott Caterer: Glorious Kosher Florist: Willow Oak Flower & Herb Farm Ceremony musician: Marc Irwin, piano Reception musicians: Twilight Hair & Makeup: Elle Alise Shira's lovely dress: J. Crew Graeme's dashing suit: Daks