Beautiful Vows

It was such a beautiful weekend for a wedding! Warm - albeit HOT! - but the fresh, mountain air of Southern Utah was welcoming after a month off from being behind the lens! Good day for working with some hot sunlight, but thankfully I had a great assistant to help me with my reflector - thank goodness for unexpected blessings.

The thing I love most about weddings is just how unique each one is. I never get the same picture twice at two different weddings - each couple has their own style, their own personality and their own ideas of what the wedding day will look like. My job is to capture that - and I LOOOOOVE it.

Emotions run high on these days - it can be stressful and expectations can be high, but the thing I always tell all my clients is that - at the end of the day, you will be married and that is what the day is actually about. It's easy to lose perspective - to think about the timeline of things, starting the ceremony on time, serving the food on time, making sure you say hello to however many guests you invited...it's difficult to remember that the whole reason this day is happening is because you are celebrating.

This is a big day! For some, they've planning for a year or more - but in the end, it's a day that should be mostly celebrated and not stressed about. I want the memories my clients come away with to be ones of joy and laughter and fun. To be able to laugh at all the unmet expectations - because, if we're all being honest, isn't marriage just the beginning of understanding unmet expectations? - and to remember their day fondly.

But the most powerful emotion that I feel on these days is the hope and joy of watching a new couple celebrate the beginning of their new life together. That is a powerful thing and something in which I will gladly celebrate - not just on wedding days, but every day of my own life in my own marriage.