2012: My Year with [Married] Friends
When I started my 2012 Wedding Season on December 31, 2011 (technicalities – don’t judge), I was just three weeks into my own six month engagement. Most of the weddings for 2012 would happen after I finished planning and celebrating my own wedding, and I would traverse the country back and forth every couple weeks after moving to the Pacific Northwest from North Carolina. I spent the year empathizing with the joys and woes of each one of my brides.
The guest list (and tracking down all those addresses!)
The logistics of welcoming guests from out of town (and all over the world!)
The fun of picking a wedding dress (I cheated, though, and had it custom made in Vietnam)
The hours and hours of DIY (hooray for helpful friends glad for a craft night!)
The wedding week dramas and joys (so much happening!)
Planning and living a wedding revolutionized how I shoot a wedding. I learned first-hand how much more a memorable shot means than the gloriously perfect image (and my brides might be seeing a few less-than-stellar photos in their collection when the memory is worth a little overexposure). I saw how much I relied on my photographer and coordinator to help my day roll smoothy and pain free. I realized how important it is that I keep up my bossy self for family portraits so the cats can be herded as quickly and pain free as possible. 😉 And, most of all, I felt what it was to be a bride and I know how fabulous it is to have an upbeat, unstressed photographer in the mix of the stressed relatives and unresponsive bridal party. (Oh, so helpful!)
Being a bride confirmed my wedding photography day perspective and sharped my enjoyment of the day. A day full of such outstanding celebration and spectacular stories and cherished memories.
(P.S. Did you see my bridal portraits? The ones I shot myself?)
