Marian & Laurissa were married on a beautiful fall day at the Interfaith Center in Columbia, Maryland.
Marian and Laurissa wanted a casual, autumn-inspired wedding. “We tried to keep enough traditions that it still felt like a wedding, but we skipped the traditions that didn’t feel like us.”
“Our ceremony was led by the rabbi and cantor from our synagogue. We were unexpectedly nervous so it was nice to have familiar faces there with us. Both of us were very touched by the rabbi’s personal remarks. We were also glad we decided to write our own ketubah and have it read during the ceremony as vows. Marian’s dad played a beautiful clarinet solo with other musicians he arranged for the occasion. One humorous moment was that Marian had to try a second time to break the glass at the end of the ceremony – it was surprisingly difficult on carpet and in heels!”
Marian continues, “Our reception was in the renovated hayloft of a barn. We asked the DJ to play a few country two-steps to match the setting and we danced our first dance to Shania Twain’s You’ve Got A Way. Laurissa’s dad also impressed her by choreographing a country waltz for her father-daughter dance. It was great to see so many of our guests dancing during the reception.”
The personal touches really added to the style and charm of the wedding. Laurissa’s mom hunted down miniature pumpkins at a local farm to make place cards and Marian’s mom put together fall bouquets from the farmer’s market.
The couple had a hard time deciding on what kind of food to serve, “Both of us have been vegetarians for many years so we were so happy when we found a caterer that was up for the challenge of a mostly vegan buffet. Marian’s aunt made a stunning wedding cake and our favorite restaurant, Great Sage, made a vegan gluten-free carrot cake. We joked that our first compromise as a married couple was having two cakes so we could each have a bite of the cake we wanted during the cake cutting.”
I am thrilled to post this wedding today. Yesterday, on election day, Maryland voted on Question 6, which legalized gay marriage in the state.
Congratulations Marian & Laurissa!
I was also honored to photograph the couple’s engagement portraits last fall.
