Cory and Elysha’s wedding at the Metropolitan At The 9 was  so beautiful, filled with love and unique!  Here is their story..ite!

Cory and Elysha met on the first day of school in August 2008 in 7th period Precalculus. They became friends quickly, and Cory asked Elysha to prom one day after class in 2009.

Their friendship grew over the next year, and they began dating the following spring.Cory started his freshman year at Cornell in the fall of 2010. Elysha joined Cory at Cornell a year later for her freshman year, and they enjoyed the next three-and-a-half-years exploring Ithaca together. During the summers, they took trips visit Cape Cod, San Diego, and many national parks in between.

They moved to Philadelphia in 2015 when Elysha started dental school at Penn. A year later, life threw them a curve ball and they found themselves moving Cory nearly 3,000 miles away to Los Angeles for a new job

In August 2017, Elysha spent her summer break in Los Angeles with Cory, and they took a trip to Alaska to cross a new state and a two more national parks off of their bucket list. While enjoying the sunset in Whittier, Alaska, Cory got down on one knee and asked Elysha to marry him. Of course, she said yes!

They’ll celebrate nine years together in May 2019. On June 8, 2019, they finally got married. They couldn’t  wait to celebrate with all of their favorite people in the world, and  were even more excited to finally begin this next chapter as husband and wife, spending their lives together, rather than on opposite coasts.

I love their story! Their wedding showed all the love and admiration they have for each other in so many ways and I hope the images show some of that!!  The day started with preparations at The Metropolitan At The 9.  A beautiful bouquet of red roses were delivered from Cory and were the perfect start to what would be a truly perfect  wedding day.

The 9 has such cool details that John and I loved photographing there.  John started with the guys around the venue and then took them outside for some “guy type” shots, while myself and the girls stayed hidden inside!  Eventually we all headed to the Cleveland Cultural Gardens for their “first look”.  It was just between them, but I loved how Elysha’s parents looked on (very sweetly) as their daughter made her way down to see Cory for the first time on their special day.  Once the tears and hugs were given the two sat down on a bench and shared the letters that they had written to each other.  This was such a touching and tender moment that we almost felt like we should give them more privacy…but then again it’s awesome to capture those heart-felt moments!

Pictures around the gardens and the back to The 9 for their Ketubah signing and the rooftop patio wedding ceremony. If you look at the pictures from the wedding ceremony you will see just how amazing that location is for events!  Elysha’s aunt, Merle Safterstein was their officiant!  How cool is that?! The ceremony was over and just as Cory and Elysha walked down the aisle, fireworks and canon sounds shot off from the nearby Indian’s Stadium!  It was perfect timing!

Receptions at the Metropolitan are unique and elegant. With cocktail hour in the Vault area, it gives the guest a glamorous experience before the reception even begins.  Once the cocktail hour is over the reception doors open wide and you walk into a room filled with warm tones accented with blue and black. The dance floor is in the center, which makes views for all the guest easy,

Weddings have many facets. So much is involved in covering a wedding photography wise, but one of our favorite things is  getting  to work with some of these amazing couples. Everyone has a story, fun things about their personalities and the idea of capturing it that on one of the biggest days of their lives is such an honor and responsibility.  Thank you for sharing your day with us.  Congratulations to Cory and Elysha!

Invitations-Minted

Makeup Artist- Daniel Adams

Hairdressers-Salon Alvarez

Dress Shoppe-Kleinfield

Dress Designer-Soltero and Midgley

Florist-Ashley’s Floral

Cake-Hopeful Creations

DJ-Cleveland Music Group

Video-Sam Schwartz