“We don’t really care about the photos…”

When I read that line in an early email correspondence, I was gutted. Absolutely gutted. I wanted so strongly for my friends and clients, Mel and Derek, to be as excited about their wedding photos as I was.

Cut to a few months later, during the in-person consultation with Mel and Derek, their dog Moose, and their cat Winnie (who had a special place in their wedding). Mel and Derek explaining their vision for their wedding: hand-written (ok, typed) letters to each one of their guests, custom cocktails with tips and donations going toward beloved charities, an area for the cornhole tournament, custom decor, temporary tattoos, cookie trays. Every single part of this wedding celebration was personal. Personal for the bride and groom and so personal for their guests. This was a wedding not about tradition, but to truly celebrate friendship, life, and celebrate with the people in it. It became clear that what they meant by “we don’t really care about the photos” was that they didn’t want posed, staged, inauthentic photos. And that’s what I strived to capture with them.