Paradisus: Mansion at Glen Cove Wedding During COVID

Oof, it is October and this Mansion at Glen Cove wedding is the first wedding blog in the COVID-driven year 2020. But what a comeback!

I spoke at length in the previous posts on the state of my year 2020 photography jobs. Finally, after a string of maternity and family shoots, I have a wedding to post about! To be exact, it was the 6th wedding this COVID year, but it is only now that the warm season workload eased, allowing me to deal with a wedding. My apologies to the earlier couples whom I could not publish without causing a delay in delivery.

Wedding During COVID

Expectedly, this Mansion at Glen Cove wedding had the staples of a pandemic wedding. To start with, the couple reached me a month (!) before the wedding. I never asked them, but suspect the wedding celebration was up in the air throughout the year amid the coronavirus onslaught in early spring. Everything was done outdoors, the number of guests was scaled down to 50, and there was no bridal party.

Bride and groom, an infinitely warm and kind Russian Jewish couple, got ready at The Mansion itself.

First Look

Raya and Roman’s first look was as heartwarming as my first impressions of them were. It was a lovely September day, so we took them outside despite the magnificent interior design that The Mansion at Glen Cove offers.

Portraits at the Vanderbilt Museum

During the pre-wedding discussions, the innamorati asked me about the locations to shoot their portraits. With the entire day on our hands and the small crowd to work with later, we would have time to spare. Their aesthetic souls were eager to fill it with charm and splendor as a compensation for other COVID trade-offs. I offered them a list of considerable NYC locations. It includes a spot where I shot a fashionable family earlier this year, Vanderbilt Museum. The Spanish Revival historic site is difficult to resist and was just half an hour away from the venue!

Wedding Ceremony

Back at The Mansion at Glen Cove, wedding chuppah was impeccably created by Oleander Flowers team and was soon ready for the touching ceremony.

Reception

Our newlyweds, along with their families, then jumped into the celebration!

Mentalist Show

After 14 years of covering wedding receptions from Alaska to India, I was still up to a surprise at this wedding! The guys also asked me for advice on the entertainment options. I shared thoughts outlined in my wedding entertainment article, but they beat me with something else extraordinary — a mentalist show! I’ll admit, I haven’t even known this word well… (Now I know there was “The Mentalist” TV show but I hardly watch it.)

According to Wikipedia, mentalist is a “magician who performs feats that apparently demonstrate extraordinary mental powers, such as mind-reading.” These were tricks, of course, but extraordinary in their execution and believability! This is not your playing cards magic… You gotta see it, so I recommend checking out Alex Voz as one of the ways to have your wedding guests remember the reception.

Bukharian Jewish Dance

The guys delighted us with a traditional Bukharian Jewish dance, wearing chapans, large coats embroidered in metallic threaded flowers. They reminded of another crazy beautiful couple’s wedding!

Blessings

The Mansion at Glen Cove wedding concluded with a sacred ceremony of blessings when the men gathered in a circle.

What a memorable, emotional, and beautiful event! There will be a surprise added to this blog post so if you miss it in social media, come back to check it out! 🙂

The due applauses and appreciation go to the vendors:

Hair/makeup: Pasha Gjinaj
Bridal gown: Lotus Bridal
Catering: Crystal Caterers
Cake: Lisset Bakery
Flowers: Oleander Flowers
Music: DJ Nero (Neri Yousupov)
Mentalist: Alex Voz

Click images for full size. Kindly refrain from re-uploading images to social media during the first week of feature. Share instead and give credit to @ZorzStudios. 🙂