The First Look

When Jessica and her mom, Heidi, first asked me to photograph her wedding, I wanted to yell, "NO!" and run screaming from the room. The mere thought of documenting someone's special day scared me to death. At that point I had yet to take on the tremendous task of photographing a wedding, but was about to take the plunge with my cousin, Crystal. I decided that I would give them my answer AFTER Crystal's wedding.

About 6 hours into Crystal's wedding day, I turned to my parents and said, "I'm NEVER doing this again!" They giggled....or rolled their eyes.....or maybe a little of both. While Crystal, her family, and her friends were absolutely fabulous, and did everything to make my first wedding job as comfortable as possible, I was a complete and utter nervous wreck, and felt like it quite possibly was the craziest day of my life. I came home, and absolutely knew I was going to tell Heidi and Jessica, "NO WAY!".

I gave myself a few days......I started editing Crystal's wedding photos and found myself softening. The pictures didn't turn out so bad......in fact....I sort of liked them....most of them. I didn't totally bomb it......and Crystal seemed pretty happy. I rather liked how that felt. I worked HARD.....and came up with something to bless the bride and groom. ♥

So...I reluctantly agreed to take on another wedding, and began to panic right away, even though I had like a month and a half to worry about it. I met with Jessica several times prior to the wedding. Initially, Jessica and her husband to be did not want to see each other before the wedding. After talking a bit about the wedding location, and the timeline for the day I found myself encouraging what is called a "First Look". Not only would they have more time to get the shots she wanted, they would actually have time to actually "be together" on their wedding day. All too often, the bride and groom don't have even 2 minutes to themselves on their big day. They are rushed from one thing to the next with people grabbing their attention away from each other.

I was over the top excited when Jessica and Craig decided to go with the "First Look" idea. I was determined to make it the perfect moment for them. I scouted out a few spots ahead of time, and felt pretty comfortable with my options. Then......the day of the wedding....it decided to rain....and rain A LOT! I had about 15 minutes between the beauty shop, and the getting the dress on shots to find a suitable location that would be private, and beautiful. I ran a two block radius around the church in the rain to find it......and I did.

You should have seen the look on Jessica's face when I told her I found the perfect spot......an attorney's building around the corner. Jessica is such a great sport, so she trusted me, and I do hope that in the end....they loved the spot as much as I did.

Craig and I met in front of the church, and proceeded to jaywalk, in the rain, to the location I found (which happened to be across the street from the Police Department). I took some quick shots of him to get my camera settings, and gave him some strict instructions to face a certain way, and to close his eyes. He took direction well, and it was then that I knew what a GREAT guy Jessica had agreed to marry. The lump that was destined to later choke me to tears MIGHT have started to form when he happily did as I asked.

A quick 'text' to Jessica, and she arrived with the help of one of her fabulous bridesmaids, whom I shooed away, much to her dismay. I was determined to give this wonderful young couple a special moment on their big day. I got Jessica all settled. When she whispered, "I'm so nervous!", that lump in my throat.....got a little bit bigger! I snapped a few quick shots of Jessica before instructing her to turn around...wait for me to get in position and then walk towards her groom, tap him on the shoulder, and enjoy the moment.

Once in position.....it all happened naturally, and that lump traveled right up my throat....

and poured tears right down my face. I'm here to say that this moment I helped create for Jessica and Craig happened to affect me in a way I did not expect. It was quite possibly the most moving thing I have ever had the privilege to witness.

The excitement.....the nervousness....the sweet smiles, and tears.

The hugging.....hand holding.....whispers, and laughs.

The kisses...the love...the joy! I felt honored to capture their emotions.

I can only hope that it was half as good for them, as it was for me. tee hee.....I'm not even joking.