This past weekend, with the help of Matt Splain, I photographed Madeline's bat mitzvah at Lakewood Country Club in Rockville. Madeline's mother, Margie, hired me over two years ago. We completely clicked at our first meeting and I had a lot of time to look forward to this job. When we reconnected several months ago over a lunch/planning meeting I learned how much of the work for this event was being done by Margie herself.
Cherry Blossoms were the theme of the party. Madeline has been given a cherry blossom tree when she was born and it has since grown in to a huge tree in her parent's yard. We took portraits by this tree six weeks before the bar mitzvah as spring, and thus all the blossoms, came early to D.C this year with our early warm weather. Madeline wore a petticoat that has been passed down through generations of women in her family for these portraits. I love the connection to so many other relatives who had worn this same dress and altered it a bit for their needs. She also was going to wear it for the service at the Synagogue and then change into a gown made specially for her for the party in the evening.
Margie helped make the beautiful invitations (all cherry blossom themed) and many of the decorations for the room, including the beautiful table arrangements that kept this theme alive. With the help of
DaVinci Florist and the wonderful staff of
Lakewood, led so well by Rachel Gittens, the room was a fabulous pink and purple ode to the famous D.C, blossoms. All night the common theme us vendors discussed was what a lovely client Margie was. This feeling was also felt by
DJ Mona Goldstein. So the lovely Madeline had the party of her dreams thrown for her by her loving parents and all of the vendors loved being a part of the whole event. Perfect karma.
Madeline - you are a lovely girl and your parents are so proud of you, as they should be. I am so glad that we have future projects to work on regarding the images so I will get to see everyone again and again and again.
