I first met Katherine (and her mother, Anna) while I was photographing her cousin’s wedding (Larissa and Alex). Anna was sitting next to yet another past mother of the bride of mine (Katherine and Konstantine) during the reception. Naturally the mom’s got talking and next thing you know, Anna asked me if I was available for her daughter’s wedding in Santa Rosa! About an hour or so later, Katherine came up to me (she was a bridesmaid) and said that the was the bride-to-be! A few days later, we made everything official! As you may know, I love Russian weddings (well, love is an understatement) and I was literally counting down the days until Katherine and Peter’s day.

When the day finally arrived, I met Peter and Katherine at the church. Peter stood in the doorway as he awaited her arrival. Katherine arrived with her father (who was also the priest that presided over the wedding), walked her up the stairs and gave her a quick kiss before the ceremony began. Their ceremony was entirely in Russian – I did not understand a single word – but it was moving, emotional and beautiful. You could see the joy and excitement on their faces (even their fathers) at a number of particular points in the service.

Following the ceremony, guests were invited to the Hyatt in Santa Rosa for a fun evening of dinner, drinks and dancing!

Enjoy!

Thank you to all of the amazing vendors that made their wedding beautiful!

Church, Sts. Peter and Paul Russian Orthodox Church; Reception, Hyatt Vineyard Creek; DJ, Two Way Mobile Entertainment; Cake, Olga Krueger (friend of the family); Florist,  Grohe Florist and Elaine Avdienko (Friend); Bridal Salon, RK Bridal Manhattan, New York; Dress Designer, Sottero and Midgley; Bridesmaid Dresses, David’s Bridal;

Their story as told by Peter:

“Katya and I met at St. Herman’s Conference in Albany, somewhere around December 23rd, 2006. We knew of each other through friends and family. We were young and dumb, and both interested in other older and less hot people at the conference. After the conference, Katya went back home to Santa Rosa, CA, and I went back home to Long Island. As a beautiful 16-year-old, I obviously had girls all over me at the conference, but I didn’t kiss any of them because I knew it would be short-lived, and I didn’t want to break anyone’s heart. Fair is fair. Needless to say, Katya and I talked on AIM (remember that?) and via Facebook messages, and I wrote a bunch of lame, emo-type song lyrics all the time that I would send her – some of which were about her, some of which were just random. She fell for my Shakespearean ways.

Flash forward a few months, and in the summer I met Katya’s cousins at a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Over the three weeks we spent together in Egypt and Jerusalem, they convinced me to go to California for the Great Krassovsky Thanksgiving Eatfest. I think that’s what they called it. Anyway, later that summer, on my return flight from Paris, I volunteered to take a later flight to New York in exchange for a voucher to be used on a later flight. I used that voucher to buy a one-way ticket to San Francisco in November, and only had to pay for the return flight. At the Great Krassovsky Thanksgiving Eatfest, Katya and I hung out the entire time, and I was getting the vibes that she was madly in love with me. Who can blame her, right? So we all eat and drink, and then Katya’s cousin Gene pulls me aside and tells me, “Alright, Pete, here’s what you’re gonna do. You’re gonna take my cousin downstairs, and you’re gonna make out with her.” You don’t have to tell me twice… So we went downstairs in the cabin, and I sat Katya on the washing machine so I could reach her face (she’s vertically challenged), and tried to kiss her. This moment was short-lived (no pun intended), as she instantly pulls away and goes, “Ugh, you have the worst timing ever. I just got a boyfriend a week ago.” I was thinking to myself, “Umm, why? You knew I was coming to San Francisco for Thanksgiving, lose the zero, get with the hero,” but it was useless. Moment ruined. :-/

So, as I returned home, Katya and I continued talking, I kept writing crappy lyrics and sending them to her, hoping she would be swayed to come to New York, but to no avail! We both dated some other people, and, in between, when I was applying to colleges, I applied and got accepted to San Francisco State. I told Katya that I would go there if she would date me. She was still dating some dude and declined my amazing offer. I could feel her pain in saying no to me! So college happened, our relationships ended, and we hadn’t talked for a while. A week or two before the Russian Children’s Welfare Society’s Petroushka ball in February 2013, Katya messaged me asking if I was going. I said yes, so she and her sister came to the ball. We actually kissed for the first time in the middle of a blizzard outside of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, wearing fancy clothes and freezing our feet off. I couldn’t find a washing machine to sit her on, but she was wearing heels so it worked out. A month or two later I visited her in Santa Rosa, and then she moved to New York to be with me. I was willing to go to SF State, but instead she had to move here. Looks like I get the last laugh!

We flew to Paris in July 2015, and I proposed at our favorite place there, the base of the Sacre Coeur Cathedral, which overlooks the entire city. After she said yes, we noticed that a violinist in the background was playing “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic.”