Years ago in the heart of Boston’s financial district, Le Meridien Hotel group owned an elegant European luxury hotel with a historic exterior that looks like the Palazzo della Cancelleria in Rome. Around 2003, the location was bought and rebranded as the Langham Boston Hotel. The red awnings on the outside are the same, but the interior has been updated. Fast forward a few years and Le Meridien brand gets back into the Boston area by buying the former Hotel @ MIT which is now known as Le Méridien Cambridge-MIT. It was renovated in the spring of 2009 with the beautiful Anderson Rooftop Garden perfect for outdoor rooftop-like ceremonies and cocktail hour, an adaptable loft, and updated wedding reception rooms including the 160 capacity Hunsaker Ballroom and the smaller Florence Luscomb Ballroom. This Cambridge hotel is also working on LEED certification to be a “green” hotel so they win in my book.
I was selected by John and Panle as their wedding photographer for their wedding held this past Saturday. Panle got ready at the Meridien, and wore a very classic, vintage wedding dress previously worn by her mother in law. The wedding ceremony was at the Ruggles Baptist Church and was translated in both English and Mandarin Chinese. After the wedding I hopped in the back seat (if you’d even call it that!) of a red Mini Cooper convertible John and Panle had rented from Zipcar for the wedding day. John had got a wedding photography permit for Boston Common so we were able to take photos without any hassle on their wedding day. For more information about wedding photography permits, click here. The fee is $50 for Boston residents, and $100 if you live anywhere else. After some time in the park, we headed down Mass Ave. to the Charles River to get a few skyline photos of the bride and groom on their wedding day. We returned to the hotel and Panle changed in Chinese tradition changed into her red qipao, 旗袍, or cheongsam. Cocktail hour was held on the rooftop garden at the hotel followed by a reception filled with accents of red, pink, orange, and the double happiness symbol 囍 along with some coordinating lighting design available by the hotel. Flower design was by my favorite Boston wedding florist, Winston Flowers, who also supplied flowers for Bonnie & Jeff’s wedding at the Taj Hotel.
