Jonathan & Lana were married on a quiet December day.
It was an intimate gathering of close friends and family celebrating
the love of two people whose hearts first met at this very place,
Folly Beach in Charleston, South Carolina. Loved ones traveled
from near and far, (DC, Philadelphia, New York, Russia),
to be a part of Jonathan & Lana’s story. Lana is from Russia,
where they have all sorts of wonderful wedding traditions.
One of the traditions in which they partook was the comical
“Paying the Ransom” or “vykup nevesty”, where the groom is asked
to give something for the bride, either money or jewelry. In this case, the groom was asked a
series of questions, and each time he answered correctly he could move on
and be that much closer to seeing the bride for the first time.
However, if he answered incorrectly, he had to pay for it… literally.
Finally, when the groom has paid his ransom for the bride,
he is finally able to see her… or so he thinks. Typically he is led to
someone who is not the bride, but instead someone dressed as a fake bride,
either a child, another woman, or in Jonathan’s case, he was led
to a man wearing a red feather boa and bright red lipstick.
And this is when a bigger ransom is asked of the groom,
at which point he is finally able to see the bride.
The ceremony was held on the porch of the beach house. It had
rained all morning but managed to clear up minutes before the ceremony.
Fortunately, the clouds remained and created a lovely soft box in the sky.
It was a small and beautiful ceremony, vows exchanged under a Chuppah,
Jewish wedding canopy, followed by, “I do’s”, a kiss, and “Mazel tov!”.
We slipped away after the ceremony, down the back stairs
to the beach for a few photographs of the lovely couple. There was
a cool breeze that lingered by the shore; Lana’s dress and veil danced in the wind.
The softness of the light was like something you could only dream of.
It was entirely romantic in every which way.
The reception was held in the house, warm wishes and laughter spilling
from every corner of the room. There’s something about smile and laughter
that act as the best translator there is (Lana’s family primarily spoke only Russian),
but alas, we felt as though we had talked the night away with them in smile language
(it’s the easiest language to learn!). We wish you two all the smiles in the world.
Congratulations, Поздравляю, & Mazel Tov!
