We had the opportunity to photograph Jessie and Josh’s wedding recently at the beautiful Glen Magna Farms in Danvers. There were so many wonderful details and moments to photograph and Jessie and Josh are just a beautiful and warm couple. Josh has a wicked sense of humor and Jessie is his calming balance. Just like Rene and I! (I only wish I was as funny as Josh, though….) They’re so perfect for each and so obviously and completely in love and I still get chills when I think about some of the beautiful moments during their ceremony.
Jessie and Josh incorporated many Jewish orthodox traditions into their ceremony and it was just beautiful to be able to step back and document each moment for them. Before the actual ceremony, there is the signing of the ketubah. Here is their rabbi during that portion of the ceremony:
Jessie also had the honor of having her grandfather in attendance at their wedding as well. Her grandfather is in his 90s and it was very apparent that he is the patriarch of their family and is given so much well-deserved respect and love.
While the ketubah signing was taking place, the girls were upstairs in the estate getting ready with Jessie! Here are some details of Jessie’s dress and her flowers. What was especially wonderful about this is that Jessie is wearing the same dress her mom wore when she got married! It is absolutely stunning and looks so gorgeous on her. How special is that!
And something a little different with their rings. Josh’s ring is completely custom made and the center portion actually moves and spins! It is just stunning!
Up to this point, the men and the women have been kept separate. But when it was time for the bedeken – or veiling ceremony – Jessie and Josh would finally be able to see each other for the first time on their wedding day. While Jessie waits in one room, all of the men form a circle around Josh in another part of the house and then escort him in to see Jessie, while a melody is sung aloud by everyone present. It was truly an exciting and very special moment to witness.
Here the men are leading Josh into the room where Jessie waits for him. Josh is there on the left, trying to catch a first glimpse of Jessie.
As the melody being sung crescendos, the excitement builds and as you can see from Jessie’s reaction, it’s a wonderfully exciting and very emotional part of the ceremony:
And then the actual bedeken takes place:
Jessie and Josh then had beautiful ceremony in the perfectly manicured gardens on the property which included a dove release at the very end! Afterwards, we spent a little bit of time with them alone for their own portraits. We were walking around the house and just fell in love with the grand old library and especially how this beautiful light fell on them:
We just couldn’t get enough of Jessie and Josh and are just dying to share the rest of their images with them. They are on a VERY well deserved honeymoon – for an entire month! – in Thailand. It’s somewhere we are dying to visit ourselves so we’ve promised to hold their photos hostage until they come back and share all of photos from their trip with us!
We hope you guys are having a wonderful time and we can’t wait to see you soon!
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