A Jungle Island Wedding in Pink and Gold.
This beautiful Jewish wedding featured beautiful flowers great food and a Jewish traditions and a terrific couple.
Erica and Yaron’s love story began at a Shabbat dinner in Fort Lauderdale, Florida one April evening. Yaron introduced himself, they quickly hit it off, and the rest is history. Fast forward through their adorable aquarium proposal (read the full story below!) and the couple found themselves planning their dream Jewish wedding in Miami.
The bride and groom selected the city’s zoological theme park, Jungle Island, as their venue for a celebration that perfectly suited their style. “Jungle Island was a perfect match for our priorities, but more importantly, my mother is from Miami Beach and having the ceremony there was such a special connection,” Erica said.
It was a beautiful December wedding day that featured sunny skies at a lovely 86 degrees, setting the perfect scene for their outdoor ceremony. Erica and Yaron exchanged vows beneath a peony and hydrangea-covered chuppah that’s guaranteed to make any floral-lover’s jaw drop.
BELOW: Most of the weddings I photograph include a “First Look” The first look, or sometimes referred to at “The Reveal” is when the bride and groom see each other before the Ketubah. Because time is limited, and because everyone wants to enjoy the wedding day, extra time is added to the beginning of the wedding. This means that all the bride and groom and family pictures are taken before the ceremony starts. At a Jewish wedding it’s traditional for the ceremony to start after, or just before sunset. Because of the late ceremony start time, and because the bride and groom want pictures taken in great outdoor lighting, the only way to ensure all the pictures get taken is to do them before the Jewish ceremony starts. This means the bride and groom have to see each other. As a way of making this special, the photographer (Myself) sets up a special moment when they get to see each other in a private setting.
BELOW: Some of the rooms at Jungle Island have a gorgeous view of Biscayne Bay. I could not pass up this opportunity to take a bride and groom photo with the bay in the window.
In executing the proposal, Yaron and a group of mutual friends planned a trip to Tampa, Florida under the guise of a friend winning a free hotel stay. Once in Tampa, the friends decided to visit the local aquarium where they offer a backstage penguin experience because I absolutely love penguins.
During the experience, the penguin caretaker brought out one of the penguin’s favorite toys -a “peekaboo box” – to show me. In taking the top of the box off, I discovered it contained an even smaller penguin holding an engagement ring, and when I looked up Yaron was down on one knee asking me to marry him!
The bride and groom kept the party going with a ballroom reception that tied in their pink and gold color palette through every last detail. To cap off the evening, guests enjoyed desserts from an epic cupcake tower and lifted Erica and Yaron up for the hora on the dance floor.
