Avon and Tracie were married on October 10th, 2015, with a ceremony and reception at Grey Rock Mansion. This is a throwback wedding for me, but I loved the people and the pictures and wanted to blog about the experience.
One of my abiding memories of this time in my life is actually the fact that Nadia, my wife, was 9 months pregnant with Hakeem at the time of this wedding. She had been having contractions and multiple scares for the last couple of weeks, so I was pretty nervous to go shoot a wedding and leave her. Being the RN that I am, I had arranged a plan in case of emergency, but thank God, Hakeem waited until the next day to make his entrance into the world—and life has never been the same!
I actually met Avon and Tracie through a previous couple of mine—Sarah and Jarvis. I had gone to middle school and high school with Sarah, so it was fun getting to see them in the bridal party for this wedding. It’s always an honor when old couples recommend me; it shows me that they appreciated my work and that they trust me to do good work with their friends and family as well. I even had the opportunity to capture Avon and Tracie’s engagement session.
Avon and Tracie met in high school, but Avon was a little intimidated to ask Tracie out, because her dad was a teacher at their school. Avon wanted to ask her out to prom and was directed to her father, who thankfully approved the date, because he knew that Avon and his friends were good kids.
On the day of the wedding, we started out with “getting ready” photos, followed by portraits of the bridal party—shot separately so that the first time Avon and Tracie saw each other would be at their ceremony. I’m glad we waited for that moment at the ceremony, too, because seeing Avon tear up when he saw Tracie walk down the aisle touched my heart. It’s beautiful to see people who truly love each other so much!
Immediately after their vows, Tracie and Avon jumped the broom—an African-American custom—before they walked back down the aisle together. We then gathered all their family and the bridal party for portraits at the altar.
Family was clearly important to both Tracie and Avon on their special day. During the wedding, Tracie and her father shared a special moment together—which was actually featured on a Father’s Day special on Huffington Post Weddings!—and you could feel the emotion in the air. Avon’s father also had a touching moment during the wedding, though for an entirely different reason. Avon’s mother had passed away earlier that year, and her presence was sorely missed. At one point, Avon’s father picked up a photo of his mother, and the whole family took a teary moment to reminisce.
After the photos, it was time for the reception, where a lot of people let loose and got the chance to enjoy themselves out on the dance floor. My favorite part of the reception, though, was during the bouquet and garter toss. All the women jumped for the bouquet, but all the men ran away from the garter. Their reactions were PRICELESS! Avon was trying to get the garter to go straight to one particular person, who faked him out and jumped to the other side—I loved it.
Avon & Tracie, congratulations again on your wedding—I had such a good time looking back on it! And congratulations also to Sarah and Jarvis, who just had a baby!
