This is why I shoot weddings

Truth be told, I often feel jaded by the wedding world. So much of the industry is, in a nutshell, about convincing couples that their multi-layer cake sums up their relationship. Michael and I definitely felt that pressure in our own wedding and even got swept up in it a bit. Don’t get me wrong, we loved the idea of throwing a hands-down-amazing party for our family and friends. How many excuses would we get in my life to do that? So we took advantage. And it really was an amazing party.

But ultimately, our wedding wasn’t amazing because of our cake (and our cake really was very good): our wedding was amazing because we were surrounded by the people we loved most in our lives as Michael and I publicly committed our lives to each other. As a growing family, we laughed together and we cried together. We celebrated together.

In the midst of our celebrating, our photographer, Marc Williams, took a photo that I will forever cherish. It wasn’t a picture of my shoes or the flowers and it wasn’t even a picture of me and Michael: it was a picture of my parents. This photo, to me, sums up the the things I love most about them: my dad, microphone in hand with the smile on his face that he gets after he’s made a joke (probably a pun), his face filled with intense love and pride for his daughter and new son-in-law; my mom, laughing that loud, throw-her-head-back laugh of hers that I’ve heard all my life, looking to her friends and family to include them in the joke, and simply enjoying the moment. Marc gave me this moment to hold in my hands forever. He gave me an amazing gift.

This image is why I shoot weddings.

I want to capture these moments for my couples. I want to give them photographs of one of the happiest days of their lives, photos they will cherish for the rest of their lives. I want them to look at the photos I took and be flooded with the emotions they felt that day, even if they’re looking at their photos fifty years after the fact.

I always say that if I can make someone cry tears of joy when they look at their photos, I’ve done my job. Marc did his. I am forever grateful.

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