A Wedding Meant to Be, from a Traditional African Ceremony to a Traditional American Ceremony
Clarice and Kweku were destined to be together, currently living in Frederick, Maryland, they were born and raised in Ghana, a country in West Africa and known for its lush green forests and its animals. Kweku's sister had been trying to get Kweku and Clarice together for 15 years and I am sure there were tears of happiness in his sister's eyes when she heard that Kweku had proposed to Clarice 8 months after their first meeting, they would soon be planning a wedding
Traditional African Ceremony
.
The wedding on May 27th was a celebration of joy for Clarice and Kweku. Clarice had pulled off a very large scale wedding with a vision from handmade dresses for the girls to wear during the Traditional African ceremony (in pictures above), to the bouquet toss during the reception after the Traditional American Ceremony and it was Clarice who had contacted Consolvo Images and requested that I photograph the details of her wedding day. Everything was planned and orchestrated with help from her day of coordinator. Clarice had booked the church along with it's two separate halls for each event. One hall for the Traditional African ceremony, the church sanctuary for the Traditional American Ceremony and the 2nd call for the Reception where there was a Money Dance, First Dance, Cake Cutting and Bouquet toss after both ceremonies. For those of you who don't know what the Money Dance is, it is a chance for all of the wedding guests to dance with the Bride and to offer money to the newlywed couple.
I've had the honor of photographing a traditional African Ceremony with a Money dance, once before and it is an amazing experience to be a part of.
The venue, All Saints Episcopal Church was the perfect place for both ceremonies and for the reception. It had 4 floors with an elevator (great for carrying camera equipment up and down). The Bride and the bridesmaids were able to get ready in a room on the first floor and the groom and groomsmen got ready in a room on the 3rd floor. Each hall where the ceremonies and reception were held, was big enough to accommodate 100 people. The church sanctuary was gorgeous with stained glass windows. Parking is a bit hard to come by on the street in front of the church or on the side at Patrick Street but, there is parking available at the courthouse garage across the street from the church.
Traditional American Ceremony
Check out the pictures from each of the ceremonies and the reception. I was amazed at the amount of time and energy that went into planning the two ceremonies and the reception. As a candid wedding and events photographer, I truly enjoyed capturing the candid moments during Clarice and Kweku's Traditional African Ceremony and their Traditional American Ceremony and Reception.