Andrew Jade Photography: Phoenix Wedding Photographer: Aaron + Netanya Full Wedding

Aaron and Netanya's wedding was very surreal for me. We have Sam and Randi who are some very close Jewish friends of ours. From being around them, we have gotten to experience the depth of Jewish culture and love it! The Jewish community is a really cool thing to experience and we have been blessed to see it first hand; from going to Temple with Sam on Sabbath to breaking bread at the dinner table, we have come to have a very deep respect and love for those in the Jewish community. When we met Aaron and Netanya, we had such a great time hearing their story of how they met and decided to make that jump into the throws of marriage and all that it offers. In the Jewish community, dating periods are VERY short and Aaron and Netanya were engaged after just a few months! Well Emily and I could relate to this because we were the same way! :) There are various degrees of Jewish faith, and hence different levels of rules that you follow. For Aaron and Netanya, they never even held hands before their wedding day. Purity is HUGE in their faith and they wanted to present themselves blameless on the day of their wedding. To anyone who has gone through the dating and engagement process, you know this would NOT be an easy rule to follow, to never even hold your girlfriend's hand! :) But they did and I have huge respect for them because of it.

Now we had done one other Jewish wedding before, so we though we would have a pretty good idea of what needed to happen. I can honestly say that I was completely shocked the actual day of the wedding; I had never experienced anything like it! Jewish customs are so rich and full of meaning! To have the opportunity to photograph every intimate detail and be immersed in the rituals of a Jewish wedding was humbling to the point where I was overcome with emotion. I don't know how to explain it other than to say that they get it! They understand the depths and the riches of the marriage relationship, the sacredness of the unity of man and woman and becoming one in body and soul, and it is a very serious thing to them. I sincerely hope that we will be booking many more Jewish weddings in the future and that we get to experience it again. It was the fastest moving 8 hour shoot of our career :)

Netantya on a stage where attendants of the wedding would come in and offer blessings and congratulations to her.

Cute kids :)

Aaron is at the table where he will be signing the Ketubah, which is a Jewish document of marriage. All the men come here and support him. They break out into songs, hands hitting the table in rhythm. Everyone knows the songs and sings. It's a really cool moment to witness!

This next series is maybe my favorite from the entire photo shoot. After about 20 minutes of hanging out with the men, Aaron is then ushered by a trumpet player and an accordion player, along with all the men who have circled him, and with singing they bring him to see his bride. Believe me, there is less energy at a football game than at that moment when he is about to see his bride! When he gets to where she is sitting on the stage, his father stands as a mediator before he can marry her. A teary eyed father of the groom then admonishes his soon-to-be daughter in law, giving his personal blessing on their marriage and honoring them as a married couple. All the while, everyone is singing so loud I could hardly hear what he was saying. Then, Aaron's father stands aside and lets Aaron see Netanya. The ritual is that Aaron, once he has seen his bride and knows it is her, he places her veil over her face and then is escorted from the room once again by the guys. I have truly never seen any wedding ritual so meaningful as this one!

Netanya reading scripture before the wedding ceremony.

Three red roses to honor Netanya's mother who passed away.

7 blessings from 7 honored guests.

After the wedding ceremony, Aaron and Netanya are ushered to a room where they will spend the first few moments as a married couple together without any one else. You cannot help but be ecstatic for them as a newly married couple who are now, for the first time in their lives, holding hands.

One word to describe the wedding reception; CRAZY! I have never seen such an energetic party! :) It flew by so fast it was over before we knew it! They had people dressed as mascots, giant pictures of cats, russian hats, balloons, jump rope, and TONS of dancing. I didn't understand half of it but man was it fun!