When we see someone with beauty and talent grace the screen or stage, we’re instantly transported into a waking dream. We enter a world of imagination where anything is possible; where fate weaves fantastic stories and where love truly can save the day. But usually, when the curtain closes, we close our minds to these possibilities; we separate fantasy from reality and move on with our lives. Seldom do we pause to think of the stories that are unfolding all around us, in the quiet hours of the night when no one is there to pay attention.
For Abdallah, however—the handsome groom in this wedding photography at The Lighthouse Limassol—the veil between these worlds was destined to drop. It started with a night like any other: Seeking some entertainment to enliven his evening, he decided to see a play… Having no idea what effect the lead actress, Rita, would really have on him. Not only was she lovely beyond words, when he saw her standing just metres away from him on stage, the passions that moved her heart were obvious in every word, every glance, every elegant movement. Her bright soul brought the play’s story to life, and for a while, Abdallah was lost in it. He knew he had witnessed something truly special—something he would never forget.
But of course, like most in his situation, Abdallah never imagined that real life would intersect with the magic he had seen. Leaving the theatre, he returned to his day to day life, absorbed in his work as a cardiologist. After all, when you’re busy trying to save lives, there’s little time for flights of fancy… Or is there?
About a year after seeing Rita’s play, in a scene that would befit any romantic film, Abdallah arrived at a friend’s party… And was shocked to see Rita mingling inside. In that moment, worlds collided: She was no longer a distant idea, something reserved for the stage, the screen, or pages in magazines; she was a woman, a being of flesh and blood with hopes, dreams, and aspirations… And she was right there in front of him. Hesitantly at first, Abdallah approached her; he knew that, coming from such different backgrounds, there was a high chance that they would have nothing in common. But, nonetheless, he had to know her.
Though he could not have foreseen it then, that meeting was to lead directly to this intimate wedding photography in Limassol. Whatever assumptions Abdallah had, he had to set them aside immediately, for the two stuck up such an intense conversation that the party seemed to vanish in the background. In that moment, a wholly new world was created: One where secret wishes met in two hearts, where doubts fell away in favour of faith, and where the intensely private Rita could find a refuge. While Rita was used to being looked at, before that night, she had never felt truly seen.
As the months passed, the bond between the two lovers only grew stronger: It prospered over their shared love of art and science, and their deep appreciation for the quiet yet profound moments that make life meaningful. They knew that beneath whirl of attention that came with Rita’s public life, they had an anchor between them, a haven of serenity that they could always return to.
It was during one of those moments of quiet simplicity that they both loved—a night stroll alone together in Florence—that Abdallah proposed. There, under the twinkling stars and with only the soft noises of birds and insects chirping in the darkness, Abdallah and Rita lived the kind of romance that playwrights and poets long to capture in words.
Without telling a soul save their closest friends and family, the happy couple then stole away to Cyprus—far from the bright lights and busy streets of their native Lebanon—and contacted me to shoot this wedding photography at The Lighthouse Limassol. Here, on a mellow golden September evening, Rita and Abdallah were wed by the sea. They penned a new chapter in their real life love story, and showed all in attendance that the power of true love eclipses anything ever captured in fiction… For they had learned, as the wise saying goes, that you know you are in love with someone when your reality is finally better than your dreams.
