An Armenian Church Wedding: Lilit and Vardan

Lilit and Vardan's wedding was built on the two things a great Armenian wedding always balances: reverence and celebration. The day opened quietly, in front of a wall of roses in her family's home, and closed with the two of them dancing on a cloud of fog while the room came apart around them.

In between came the part that anchors everything, a traditional Armenian Apostolic ceremony, crowns held over the couple's heads, clergy in full vestment, and an aisle lined end to end with candles. This is a wedding we photographed to be timeless rather than trendy, because the traditions in it are older than any of us.

A Morning Framed in Roses

The morning began against an enormous ombré wall of roses, magenta running through coral into blush and lavender, with the family's gifts displayed in glass beside it. Lilit's gown carried the same restraint the room did not: hand-beaded, long illusion sleeves, a cathedral veil, and a gold-banded crown set into her hair.

Vardan dressed in a black tuxedo and bow tie in a room of heavy drapery and low window light, the kind of quiet, unhurried set of frames that tends to matter more years later than it does on the morning itself.

Bridal Portraits Before the Ceremony

Before anyone else needed her, we photographed Lilit alone. Soft directional light, the veil worked as a second layer of the portrait, and enough time to let the gown do what a gown like that is built to do.

A stone wall outside gave us texture without competing with the beadwork, and then the day turned, a car door, a window, and the short quiet ride that every bride remembers.

A Traditional Armenian Apostolic Ceremony

The church aisle was lined on both sides with candles, and the flower girls walked it first, in white, carrying their own. It is a slow, deliberate entrance, and it sets the tone for everything that follows.

The ceremony itself was full Armenian Apostolic rite. Clergy in vestment and the traditional pointed veghar, prayers, and then the crowning, the moment the couple are crowned to one another and joined beneath the cross. We photograph this the way it deserves to be photographed: from a respectful distance, without flash, without direction, letting it happen.

Doves at the Church Doors

They came back down the aisle married, through the candles and the noise, and out through the arched doors of the church, where white doves were released around them. It is the single frame from the day that needed no styling at all.

A Ballroom in Ivory and Gold

The reception was designed by master wedding planner Edgar Hay, and it was a full reset from the church: a mirrored floor, crystal chandeliers, gold ribbon falling from the ceiling, and florals in ivory and champagne banked along the head table and arched over the room.

Violinists in wide-brimmed white hats played the couple in, and the room stayed on its feet from there. Photographing a room built to this standard is a collaboration, we work it before the doors open, mapping the chandelier throw and the reflections off the floor, so that when the lights drop it reads exactly the way it was designed to.

The First Dance

Low fog rolled across the mirrored floor for the first dance, and then the money shower started, cash falling through the light over the couple while the room closed in around them. It is loud, generous, and completely Armenian, and it is our favorite thing to photograph.

Planning an Armenian Wedding in Dallas-Fort Worth?

We photograph Armenian, Middle Eastern, and Orthodox weddings out of both of our studios, McKinney for the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and Valencia for greater Los Angeles, and we travel for the rest. If your family's traditions are central to the day, that is exactly the kind of wedding we want on our calendar.

See more Dallas-Fort Worth wedding photography, read how the investment works, or contact us to talk through your date.