one of my greatest joys in life is sharing in the happiness of my friends. i feel like this wedding needs a little backstory. Bek and i have been friends for…eternity. no, really, we were toddlers or something. we’ve most certainly had some good times together – making up our own choreography to the entire CATS musical, obsessing over Hanson, terrorizing her old neighborhood, among other things, all before the ripe old age of 13. for it was at this time that she and her family packed up and moved to South Africa. a few years go by and she came back to the states for college and we got to hang out again, causing trouble like normal. =) funny how the people you spend your childhood with make such an impact on who you become later in life. i’m super thankful for Bek and all the hilarious memories we have shared. who would have ever thought i’d grow up and get the crazyawesome blessing of photographing her and Jeremy’s wedding. such an absolute privilege to share in their day. Bek & Jeremy, i wish you all the happiness in the world. xo!
What is your favorite memory from your wedding day?
It’s sooo hard to pick a favorite memory from a perfect day, but one of the best ones was when Jeremy and I had our first look. We both took a LOT of convincing from various sources that we should see each other before the wedding, but I think it was the smartest thing we did during the entire process. From my end, that morning had been so stressful and I was already so tired! We were running late, I was falling asleep while my makeup was being done, we had a couple of vendor issues, I was STRESSED! When I was finally coiffed, spritzed and generally prodded and poked enough that I was presentable, I got to go see my future Mister. When I came up behind him, I was so nervous for some reason, but as soon as he turned around, the look on his face was worth the last ten months of blood, sweat and tears. We hugged and we BOTH cried (THAT’S a big deal!), Anna got some of my favorite shots of the entire wedding, and then after that, EVERYTHING was OK I knew that I had my best friend at my side the entire rest of the day and I was able to enjoy every minute without being nervous. Not to mention, we were able to get pictures at four different locations and I didn’t have to spend the entire day hiding from Jeremy. Yep, we made the right decision!
What was the inspiration behind your day?
The first time Jeremy and I met, we ended up in an extensive debate of Dean Martin vs Frank Sinatra. We both love that era, but we didn’t want to make things too “themey”. Of course, when Jeremy said the one thing he wanted for the wedding was for all the guys to wear fedoras, it was a done deal!
What were your music choices?
Music was one of the most important things to me. I was trained as a classical musician and have played at more weddings than I like to admit. That being said, I absolutely refused to have any “traditional” wedding songs at my own wedding. I have had a mental potential-wedding-music-playlist in my brain for about 7 or 8 years (waaaay before any potential husband was around) so the refining process was brutal. I spent the last 8 months or so up until 2 or 3 am every night on ITunesor digging through CDs trying to find the perfect song for “this or that”. It was probably a little psychotic but the end result made me so happy! We used some “Piano Guys”, Joshua Bell (Short Trip Home album), lots of Dino, Frankie and the Rat Pack thrown in as well as some Big Band and classical remixes. Oh and you can’t forget “Linus and Lucy” from the Wynton Marsalis version of Charlie Brown!
one of my other favorite moments was when my best friend came running onto the dance floor with a fried chicken wing. I kept trying to figure out where the mystery chicken came from, and no one seemed to know. I found out later that we ran out of food so someone went out to KFC and Chick-fil-a and grabbed a ton of fried chicken and cole slaw, etc. While usually that would be a complete disaster, it turned out to be one of the most awesome wedding memories ever. There was even a chicken leg-turned-microphone involved at one point.
Any advice to bride’s planning their own wedding now?
Sweat the small stuff NOW so that on the day of your wedding you can just sit back and enjoy everything. Personality was a big factor with me when I was choosing vendors. I wanted to make sure that there would be no drama on the day. Anna was great in the fact that she was so amazingly professional but had such a positive, upbeat attitude that no matter what went wrong, she was cool as a cucumber and was telling me everything was fine. You really are around your photographer more than anyone else that day, so having her there with me was like having my own personal cheerleader. =)
Make sure that your wedding is filled with details that you care about. I had blown all my allowance money on an antique costume necklace when I was nine. I have carried that thing around with me for years and I wore it for the wedding (hey! Anna here! =) she’s telling the truth when she says she carried it around every.where. i remember when she bought it. most certainly one of my favorite details of Bek’s wedding, too!). Every time I look back at my pictures it makes me happy because it meant so much.
One last thing. Treat everyone well during the planning process and during the day. As good of friends/ family as you might have, hearing about white vs ivory or centerpieces gets a little old for everyone and your fiance really isn’t going to understand these things, but it will pay off in the end. After the wedding, Jeremy told me that after he saw everything come together, he finally “got” it. In fact, any time we get compliments on our wedding, he always says “It was all her. She worked her butt off and was a little crazy but it was all worth it.”
