When Life Circles Back
A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of photographing a wedding for someone I knew. Teddy and I have the same home town and growing up we saw each other in the same teeny church nearly every Sunday. (Not to mention all the Wednesday afternoon activities, children's choir practices, and youth group activities.) His mom was our youth group leader for a while and I can still remember those early Sunday mornings when most of us were sleepy and sitting around the table, she would come around with a big, genuine smile on her face asking us if we were "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed" and if we were anything less than that she'd start singing . So when he asked if I'd photograph his wedding I jumped at the chance. His family had probably done a million little and big acts of kindness for me in my early life and I couldn't have been happier to give back a little of that through beautiful photographs capturing an important moment in their lives.
And what a beautiful day it was! The sun was out and shining and smiling faces were bountiful. It was a tight-knit wedding full of love. From the considerate touches of tissues and blankets at the ceremony to the guestbook filled with warm sentiments for the happy couple. Weddings like this one are the best to photograph, the ones where everyone is family. Its these weddings where the intimacy between everyone allows for the best photographs to be made. Everywhere I turn, someone is laughing or someone is hugging, someone is pulling a goofy move on the dance floor. Everyone feels comfortable and nothing is awkward. I can float around with my camera and just snap away!
Surely, there were some things that had changed since those days when we were kids. Some people were missing, some had gotten married, and some had kids. But I was also glad to see that some things hadn't changed. A lot of personalities were the same and that always warms your heart.
