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We had a blast in Houston with both sets of family and friends of Tracy and Nidal (Nick). We went to the rehearsal Friday night and there was a huge party afterwards with a big reception as the rehearsal dinner. On Saturday morning Jeff took me to the Norris of Houston Salon and Day Spa where the ladies got their hair done. Jeff went to the church where he met up with one of Nick's cousins to go to Nick's parents house. This is where Nick's parents had a big celebration of the giving away of their son. This is a traditional celebration in the Arabic culture. Lots of food, family and friends. Dancing and singing filled the air. Jeff documented Nick along with family and friends spending time with one another before the guys had to start heading back to the St. George Orthodox Church for the ceremony.
With some combinations of different hair styles that Tracy had magazine clippings of her hair looked very elegant and chic. I got a ride over with Tracy as we went to her apartment to have the ladies finish getting ready. We pulled up to her apartment complex and the concierge took care of the car as we went up to the 15th floor where Tracy's den is. Trays of sandwiches and fruit were there for the ladies to eat lunch in between getting their make-up applied and their dresses on. Andrea Rohleder, a previous bride client of ours, did the make-up for Tracy using Bobbi Brown. The five bridesmaids wore indigo blue strapless with gatherings around the bottom. Fuschia sashes went around the waist and tied on the right side. Tracy wore a very elegant Sposa by St. Pucchi wedding gown from Now and Forever Bridal Shop. It had a sweetheart neckline with a mermaid fitting that had a small flare out and gatherings at the bottom. It had a chapel length train. She had a blusher for a veil along with a floor length one as well. Along the edges of the veil were beadwork and embroidery.
As soon as the ladies were dressed we were out the door and heading downstairs where the limo awaited to take us to the church. The church was very decorative with paintings on the walls and murials on the ceiling. Toulle lined the pews along with floral arrangements and a white runner ran down the center aisle. The groomsmen ushered the bridesmaids down to the altar where they awaited for Tracy and her dad to come down with all eyes on the bride as she looked absolutely stunning. Tracy's dad lifted the blusher following a kiss and hug as she handed over his daughter to Nick. The ceremony was very pretty as light filtered in through the stained glass and had all the traditional customs of the Orthodox faith with everything happening in three's. Following the ceremony the couple was showered with biodegradable white rice, and then we went back into the church as we did group shots and finished up with the two of them.
The limo transported the wedding party with the couple to the Westin Galleria Ballroom where the reception took place. The ballroom was filled with huge chandliers and the tables were all nicely decorated with tall arrangements of flowers in the center of every other table. Blue lights illuminated the vases to give a great glow and added atmosphere to the room. The wedding cake was very pretty being 5 tiers with the cake topper made by Andrea's mom using their initials, TBN. The groom's cake was chocolate 2 layer cake with sticks of shaved chocolate.
The wedding party was announced into the ballroom with Tracy and Nick following. As they entered the dance floor this kicked off the party started with their first dance song sang in Arabic that lasted 20 minutes. With 500 guests surrounding the couple to congratulate them the dance floor got filled with a sea of people. We were able to jump up on the platform where the head table was and shoot down. The videographers from Sawa Cinematography Production had a crane that they used non-stop throughout the reception to fly over the guests and get high enough to see the couple when they were dancing. Dinner had many courses and consisted of a bread bowl and onion soup, salad and the main course which was a very thick juicy steak, biggest shrimp we have ever seen and mashed potatoes. The DJ played background music as the guests ate. During most of the dances a live band played Arabic music and the same guy sang throughout. I have never seen people dance so much in my life to such long songs. The DJ played a mixture of Country, Polka and Pop songs. Everyone had a really good time celebrating the marriage of Tracy and Nick. Towards the end we watched the friends and Baba family pick up Nick on their shoulders and danced around. Nick requested that they go get Tracy and they went and picked her up with her sitting in a chair. This was all part of the Arabic traditions.
We want to thank both families making us feel so welcome and we really feel blessed by all our brides. We want to thank Andrea and Craig Rohleder for giving us the opportunity to do their wedding that led us to do one in Houston with Tracy, Craig's cousin. We want to also thank Nick's cousin for giving Jeff a ride to and from Nick's parent's house. I want to thank the ladies for letting me spend time with them and hang out making me feel like one of their old time friends. We took lots of pictures!!!! They should all be up by April 1st (for real not April Fools). You guys were really great and we hope you have a great time in California on your honeymoon getting to see the beautiful wine country. In May don't forget about us when you go to Greece and send us pics or a postcard. Please stay in touch.
Tyff and Jeff
