I was asked if I would do the wedding photography for my niece about a year ago. To me, it was a terrifying prospect. The thought of disappointing anyone (let alone my niece) by taking inadequate photos of one of the most important days of her and her would-be husband's life.......well ......that was almost enough to make me scream, "NO!!!!!"and run for the hills..... BUT If it were me on my wedding day and someone in my family was a decent photographer and could hang out all day with me and not be giving me that uneasy feeling of having a stranger sticking a camera in my face, wouldn't I want them with me documenting the day?? How could I not do it? I can't tell you how many videos I watched and articles I read to prepare myself but no matter how much prep I did, it is one thing to fill your brain with all the info you need and then it's an entirely different mind-boggling thing to apply that information to any given situation that comes up within the narrow time restraints of a wedding day. It was a beautiful day (despite the weather). I'd practically been praying for bright beautiful skies (and a little snow) for months before, but that didn't work out. We had to make the dreariness of the weather work. The shot above is one of my favorites, they were great sports and were pretty frozen by the time they could get to the car and head to the reception. This seems like an obvious spot for pics now that you've seen it, but I scouted out the property weeks in advance. Getting to that spot for photos was quite the distance to walk and this stone walk-way would've probably gone unnoticed because it's further from the chapel than it seems in the photo. It was so cold and windy and I felt so bad for them that I almost gave up on it, but my husband reminded me of how excited I was to discover this site when we'd been there previously. It's hard for me not to beat myself up over the shots I wanted but couldn't get........but I got this one and many other gorgeous shots (obviously having a beautiful bride to photograph helped alot). Taking this photo for them was seriously the only Christmas present I needed. I hope you like it as much as I liked taking it. Anyways, there's a little story for you. It was pretty uncomfortable putting myself out there like that, but my desire to get them the photos their wedding day deserved, canceled (almost) all that insecurity out. Maybe next time you get a chance to step a little out of your comfort zone, you should try it. You might surprise yourself with the results. Thanks for stopping in!!
