I received a phone call around 3pm in the afternoon.  A lovely sounding lady was on the other end with a beautiful Russian accent.  She said, “I need your help!”  She was in her last weeks of med school and wanted to pull off a surprise wedding for her family.  Her parents, and her fiancé’s parents were coming to town for her graduation, which was the perfect time to surprise them with her wedding.  We were so excited and honored to be apart of such a special occasion but also a bit nervous as time was not on our side.  We had 3 weeks to pull this off.  As wedding planners, we can make just about anything happen but there was one aspect to this wedding that was going to make it just a bit more challenging.  The couple wanted to do an interfaith ceremony.  The bride is Roman Catholic and the groom is Jewish and they wanted both a priest and a rabbi to perform a ceremony.  The flowers, food, decor, and photographer I figured would be no problem, but finding a priest and a rabbi who would both participate in a wedding, under the circumstances that the couple would not be taking any prior classes or attending any meetings, was going to be the tricky part.  

With tons of research we were able to find just the right men to marry this wonderful couple and bless their interfaith marriage.  Everything fell into place just like a fairytale and the suspense of the surprise wedding was building as all of the bride and groom’s family began arriving into town.

The bride and groom were both from Russia.  There is a flower that was rather significant to the bride, which grows in Russia, called Lily of the Valley.  It is very delicate and rather difficult to get here in Scottsdale, Arizona but our wonderful florist, Brady’s Floral Gallery, where able to get their hands on some.  The bride’s bouquet was made from Lilly of the Valley, the place settings had little accents of this pretty little flower and the cake had lily of the valley made out of sugar.  It was beautiful!

The day of the wedding went off with out a hitch.  The guests arrived and we had them staged just right.  They thought they were dining at one of the yummy restaurants in the Phoenician.  We had them “waiting for their table” when the bride and groom came down the stairs in full wedding attire.  The bride and groom’s family was so surprised.  None of them had a clue.  We had the family go into the private room for the ceremony, followed by the dinner.

The ceremony had a beautiful chuppa made of floral garland.  The pictures below just do not do it justice.  The blending of religions made for a beautiful personalized ceremony.  Guests moved over to the dinner table which was elegantly designed with a giant floral chandelier overhead.  It was a night like no other and I am still so grateful for the opportunity to play such an important role in this wedding.

Here are some photos for you to enjoy:

We want to give a special thanks to all of the incredible vendors who helped us pull this beautiful wedding off:

Venue: The Phoenician / Florist: Brady’s Floral Gallery / Photographer: Hagerty Photography / Bridal Gown: Desitny’s Bride / Bride’s Shoes: Neiman Marcus / Rentals: Christian from Classic Party Rental / Linens: Wildflower Linen

Don’t forget to check out some of our other beautiful weddings on these sites:

Web / Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest

XOXO,

Wedding Planner/Owner                                                                           BTS Event Management                                                                 Scottsdale, Arizona