I shoot a lot of really big wedding celebrations, but my heart definitely loves a wonderfully intimate wedding ceremony. Claudia and Harry convalidated their marriage with a beautiful ceremony at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament on a beautiful Friday in September. Their family lives very far so in the initial planning stages it was just to be them (and me 🙂 but her Mother made a special trip from Mexico just to be there for them and it was the most heartwarming ceremony with just her mother and some close cousins present. Oh, and about 25 teenage girls who were touring the Cathedral from the Academy of the Sacred Heart who Claudia and Harry invited to sit and watch.

It was kind of serendipitous actually. As we were shooting on Belle Isle (which is soooo amazingly gorgeous this time of year) a group of senior citizen women (about 30 or so) were dropped off by bus right outside where we were shooting. They walked by and oooed and aaaahhhed at Claudia and Harry and gave them sage words of advice (such as “don’t forget, she’s always right 😉 Claudia referred to them later as her angels and it was the sweetest blessing. When we got to the church and all of the young girls were touring they were in aw of Claudia in her dress. Some near tears when they saw here. It was as if they were being blessed by the young and the old that day. Their presence added such life and vitality to the ceremony. They cheered when they were pronounced man and wife and many had to make their way to Claudia and Harry to hug them.

What started out as a small affair took on a new meaning as nearly 50 total strangers took the time to bless and congratulate them 🙂 It was pretty incredible! I wish I had taken some pics of the older women but my focus was elsewhere at the time – but I did definitely get some of the young girls as they raised their hands with excitement while they were being prayed over. 🙂