We look at a unique wedding that celebrated the best of both worlds: Star Wars and Harry Potter!
Your wedding day is all about you, the couple. It’s a celebration of your love and the union of your personalities. Sneaking in little details that reflect your passions and interests as part of your big day makes it that much more special.
When I saw a post of Akram and Lameesha re-enacting a Jedi versus Sith battle at their wedding, I knew I wanted to know more about it. I’m a huge Star Wars fan and this photoshoot really resonated with me. I loved how they incorporated elements of both of their interests into the wedding decor, their outfits and even their rings!
Elana Schilz is a wedding and lifestyle photographer and she is the talented lady who captured this gorgeous couple’s wedding. “Photography has always been a passion of mine, and after a few years of working as a computer programmer, I decided to pursue my passion as a photographer back in 2009,” she shares. She started with family photoshoots and smaller events and then found her place in wedding photography.
Akram and Lameesha are an ambitious couple who own a company that offers taxation and advisory services to clients in the Umhlanga area. Additionally, Akram is an entrepreneur and Lameesha, a Chartered Accountant, is now involved in academics as the Programme Manager for the School of Finance and Accounting at Varsity College. These two phenomenal people tied the knot in June last year and decided that they would have elements from both of their ‘fandoms’ on their special day. Elana then incorporated this idea into their wedding shoot.
The theme of the wedding was “Star Wars meets Harry Potter”! The colour scheme was green, gold and black, with the green representing Lameesha’s Harry Potter house, Slytherin, and the black reflecting the Star Wars influence. They chose songs from the Star Wars original soundtrack for their entrance songs – talk about an Imperial March instead of a Wedding March!
The souvenirs they chose were Harry Potter-themed macarons and a Star Wars cake topper that said: “Love you to the Death Star and back”. Quite the commitment in my opinion! The box holding their rings was designed to look like something straight out of Harry Potter, with the Sorting Hat on the front and the manifesto of the Marauders on the inside. Lameesha’s dress shoes were Cinderella-inspired – they looked like real glass shoes and had “Live like there’s no midnight” written underneath them. Finally, they each had customised pairs of Converse sneakers, Harry Potter for Lameesha and Star Wars for Akram.
Elana usually does her wedding shoots at the end of the reception when the guests have left. “I go into a flow state with all my shoots. I read the room, look at the decor, listen to the couple, understand their likes and dislikes, and, if I have freedom of creativity, I do my own thing,” Elana explains. With this couple, she knew their respective fandoms were especially important to them and so she incorporated them into the photos by doing a creative photoshoot.
Elana made sure to show off their customised sneakers and beautiful decor, and when night fell, out came the lightsabers! “To create the look of a lightsaber battle, I used my two Godox LED Lightsticks which can turn blue and red,” she expresses. The main shots were taken to represent the battle between the light and dark sides.
Elana loves creating this kind of imagery and often does it when the opportunity comes her way. “I will know when I feel it from the couple,” she adds. Personally, I love seeing more of people’s personalities shine through in their weddings!
Words: Cristina Govender
Photos: Elana Schilz Weddings