This was my last wedding of the season and what a way to end it: a beautiful Persian wedding.

Venue: The Warwick Hotel, Philadelphia
Invitations: Wedding Paper Divas
Cake: Van Earl’s Cakes
Church: St John The Evangelist
DJ: DJ Dariush

Both Liz and Ashkan got ready at The Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia. Here are some details …

We than headed out for the first ceremony at St. John The Evangelist

After a short stop for some more pictures in the city, we went back to The Warwick Hotel for the Persian ceremony. If you follow this blog, you know by now that I love when I have the chance of photographing different cultures from around the world.

The Persian ceremony has a wedding spread called Sofreh Aghd (the Persian Aghd is the legal ceremony of the Iranian wedding) and is based on ancient Persian traditions. The sofreh preparation is taken very seriously because what it contains it is believed and hoped to be in the couple’s life and marriage. The sofreh is arranged in such way that when the couple sits, they should be able to see each other in the mirror.

During the ceremony, family members come and rub two pieces of crystallized sugar over the couple’s heads. This symbolic act is meant to sweeten the couple’s life. In addition, a small part of the Ghand cloth is sewn together with needle and thread to symbolize sewing the mother’s-in-law lips together (I like this one 🙂 )

After they are pronounced husband and wife, they dip their finger in honey and give some to each other. This is to ensure a sweet and happy life together.

Once the ceremony was over, the party started …

Another beautiful Persian tradition is the knife dance. The couple tries to get the knife so they can cut the cake. After some money were paid and a couple of beautiful traditional dances, the knife was successfully retrieved…

I’ve witnessed the money dance before ….

…. but this is the first time when a beautiful toddler helped collecting it …

Since Liz and Ashkan are not from Philly, they wanted to go around town and get some pictures with our renown landmarks …

Liz and Ashkan, thank you so much for allowing me to be part of your special day. I really enjoyed learning more about your culture and photograph your wedding.

Philadelphia Wedding Photographer