Nashville Bar Mitzvah Photography: Sneak Peek of Blake’s Hockey | Themed Celebration at The Temple and Hillwood Country Club

This past Saturday, Blake became a Bar Mitzvah at The Temple in Nashville, and I had the honor of capturing the very first images of his incredible day. During the service, family members read the Aliyahs while Blake read from the Torah. His brother delivered a heartfelt speech and his parents offered blessings, creating a moving and memorable ceremony.

After services, the celebration moved to Hillwood Country Club for a hockey-themed reception. Guests entered through a custom “team tunnel” just like at a real hockey game. The food stations were cleverly named “concessions,” and Nashville Predators’ mascot Gnash even made a surprise appearance that had everyone cheering.

These sneak peek photos show just a few of my favorite moments so far — the Torah procession, the Aliyahs, speeches, a high-energy Hora with all four family members lifted high, and the candle-lighting ceremony. Enjoy this first look at Blake’s unforgettable celebration.

Huge thanks to Jess of Finn + Olive Events for coordinating every detail seamlessly behind the scenes and making sure the day ran smoothly from start to finish.

Vendor Credits:
Planner: Jess – Finn + Olive Events
Venue: Hillwood Country Club
DJ + MC + Party Crew: Magen Boys
360 Photo Booth: Spangler Entertainment
Bubble Hockey + Lounge Furniture: It’s Time to Bounce
Balloons: Wilco Events
Swag Station: Hey Hey Creative

Covid-19 Quarantine Bachelorette Party

Like most couples this year, Meg’s wedding changed and along with it, her bachelorette party was cancelled. Meg and her then fiancé decided that they were going to still get married and only their immediate family would be present. This meant their wedding party was not able to be there. One of her bridesmaids contacted me couple weeks ago to photograph a delayed bachelorette party for Meg. They were going to quarantine and then meet up in Nashville (where the original bachelorette party was supposed to be) to stay in together. They wanted surprise Meg with a photographer capturing them watching Meg’s wedding video together for the first time. It was such a great idea! They did a little toast, cut a cake, tossed a bouquet and then sat down to watch the film of their good friend get married. Oh and they requested Meg wear a white dress and a veil (that they crafted for her) and they all wore their bridesmaids dresses! They made the best of a situation that was out of their control and they embraced it. It was incredible. I know that people are missing out on a lot with their weddings right now, but what a great way to spend time with your best friends.

GiGi's Playhouse - On The End CrossFit

One of my favorite florist friends, Lauren Marie Atkinson, has been posting photos of a group of GiGi's Playhouse participants working out at her CrossFit gym, On The End CrossFIt. "GiGi’s Playhouse is the only nationwide network of Down Syndrome achievement centers; changing lives through free, results-driven programs for individuals of all ages, families and communities." I wanted to help out and I asked Lauren if I could stop by and photograph what was going on. The teamwork, the joy, and sense of accomplishment that I saw from the volunteers and the participants was intoxicating.

Lauren has been working with this group for for 5 months training for the "Murph" Hero Work, which is one of the most famous CrossFit. "Hero workouts honor a fallen solider. Murph is usually done over Memorial Day weekend and Honors Navy Lieutenant Michael Murphy who lost his life in Afghanistan in June 2015. It consists of 1 mile run, 100 pull ups, 200 pushups, 300 squats, and another mile run.  It was his favorite workout and he would often do it with his weight vest on. It's encouraged to wear a weight vest- which is why Andrew, Josh, Tyler, Caroline, Alan, Ben all passed it around! They finished the workout together as a team! They had been working towards this workout and all the different movements on Wednesdays. They went from being able to do no pull ups to getting their first pull ups to getting multiple pull ups in a row!" 

"Gigi's is the benefactor for Row for a Reason! When I (Lauren) decided to row a half marathon for charity with some other CrossFitters in middle Tennessee three years ago, we were trying to find a local charity where we could see firsthand how our charitable efforts were making a difference. There is a member of the CrossFit community at another gym whose son has Down Syndrome and someone mentioned GiGi's to us and we decided to go with them!  

After the first year, we started training some GiGi's athletes to row with us on teams for Row for a Reason 2016 and then after that I approached the owners of our gym to see if we could start training them at the gym throughout the year. There are so many benefits in connection to the Down Syndrome community and exercise so we decided to go for it."

If you would like more information on GiGi's Playhouse, please click here.