I do - Weddings!

 It’s official. I recently had the privilege of photographing my first wedding! It was an intimate ceremony with only immediate family present. One of the family members hired me as a gift to the couple. The catch: the couple didn’t know I was going to be there AND I was only hired the day before the ceremony.

 Fear was telling me this was a crazy idea that would be hard to pull off. The romantic in me just couldn’t turn down the opportunity. No consultations with the couple, no shot lists prepared, no previous visits to the location other than desperate Google searches about the venue that didn’t turn up all that much. All I had to go on was a time (1:00pm) and a general idea of where it would take place outdoors (Rockliffe Park). I showed up early to get my bearings and to get some detail shots of the venue. What saved me is realizing that this event, while an extremely important event, has all the elements that I love so much about my family sessions. It’s about connection, documenting real life, and waiting for those moments when nobody is paying attention to the camera. In spite of all the planning I do, I can’t control how the important moments will unfold – the sudden laughter, the gentle comforting touch, the sideways glances, the tears. Those aren’t planned, posed or staged. They just happen when they happen. My job is to observe and to be prepared when they do happen so that I can capture the honesty of those moments in an artistic way. I don’t need a shot list for those. My goal is to have photos that tell a unique story of the people in front of me and not to replicate a Pinterest board of beautiful images that belong to someone else. No matter how gorgeous those photos may be, they are just that: other people’s photos.

I won’t be sharing photos of this wedding out of respect for the couple’s privacy but trust me when I say that it was truly beautiful in its simplicity. Pared down to a couple in love and those closest to them to witness the union – it doesn’t get more romantic than that. I'm pretty sure I even saw a heart-shaped sun streaming through the trees - do you see it?

I had booked what I thought would be my first wedding back in February which will take place at the end of July. I’m really excited for this wedding since I know the couple truly understands and respects my approach. That is the reason that they hired me. The hours I’ve put into planning for that day – communicating with the couple, visiting to the location, researching gear and equipment, planning the sequence of events, developing a list of key shots, hiring a second shooter (well, that was an easy one - my dad) are well beyond what I had time to do in the case of this intimate wedding. These are all important aspects of planning at least for the things under my control. However, this first impromptu wedding is what has helped me to re-focus on the essentials: 

  - Whether it is a small intimate ceremony or a wedding that took a year to plan, the photos should tell a story that is unique to the couple
- Purely authentic moments cannot be planned and those are the moments that are at the very heart of the story
- Let the moments unfold. Be present. The rest will fall into place.

Do you know someone who is getting married and looking for a simple, photojournalistic approach? I’d love to be the one to document their day and to create a gallery of images that will allow them to remember how the day felt.