2018 Behind the Scenes

The biggest and most embarrassing blog post of the year.

2018 was an incredible year but I won’t lie… I’m thrilled for this fresh start. Personally, professionally, politically, environmentally and spiritually ‘18 had challenging moments. But the thing that resonates with me so deeply was being able to serve so many amazing couples and their families. I’m so thankful that these sweet SSP Couples gave me the opportunity to capture their wedding days and be a big part of their lives!

It was a hectic, crazy, gorgeous and FUN wedding season. You might never think of me the same after you see these behind the scenes pictures. 😂 OH LORDY THIS IS AN EMBARRASSING BLOG POST. Are ya’ll ready!?

Let’s kick it off with an introduction to my 7 chins.
I swear, if there is a way to show clients the back of the camera without suddenly gaining an entire set of biscuit rolls on my neck, can someone please tell me the secret sauce?! I’m going to just hope that in some way this makes me relatable.

Testing light is a very, very important part of our day and we take it very seriously. Very.

"Can you go get married, please?"

Caity's light testing faces are always on point.

Be best.

This year brought me some really wonderful adventures and took me back to some of my favorite venues! It was equal parts exhilarating and exhausting.

When there is no wedding planner, I get the joy of explaining to my couples just how to cut their cake! Yes, there are tips and tricks that make that moment go off without a hitch. I bet you may not have known that the photographer directs the couple just how to cut a cake!

Ahhh… behind the scenes pictures. Also known as lots of shots of my right elbow doing weird things.

Caity shot most of my weddings with me this year and oooohhh gosh I am so thankful. You can read all of my appreciation for her HERE. She always loves and cares for my couples like they are her own. It wouldn’t be a 2018 behind the scenes post without a big helping of photos of Caity! She, unlike me, has mastered the vertical-shooting-elbow-tuck.

Wedding photographers, get yourself a 6 feet tall veil fluffer. You won’t be sorry.

My role as a wedding photographer often goes well beyond planning timelines, coordinating with other vendors, helping my brides leading up to their wedding day and of course, taking pictures.

You can find me…

delivering cocktail hour hors d'oeuvres and cocktails to hungry bridal parties.
buttoning up dozens and dozens and dozens of pesky little dress buttons
fluffing hair
untangling veils
pinning on countless boutonnières
lacing up corset back wedding gowns
straightening out dress layers (aka climbing up inside my poor brides’ dresses. thank you for loving and trusting me, gals)
sewing broken wedding dress straps back on

and many, many more things that don’t involve my camera at all.

The fuuuuunnnnn (aka food and alcohol) has arrived!

OMG. I promise that Melissa consented to this! I had to tie her corset ribbons and then tuck them in and pull them through her dress layers.

Shooting wedding parties can sometimes be compared to herding cats. But they always pull it together and show off their best selves for the camera!

"Guys. Your boutonnières look sad. Everyone do a quick flower straighten!"

For the first time in many years, every single one of my weddings was at a different venue! That means, I was traveling all over to shoot at more and more fantastic venues but I only got to visit some of my favorites once this year!

Just me and another DSLR-toting wedding guest!

Listen, I know this looks terrible from the side because of that electric box but it was the perfect location for portraits of the ladies!

I totally fell head-over-heels in love with detail photos this year. I put a heavy focus on them in 2017 but I think 2018 was the year of drop dead gorgeous details. Shoes. Bouquets. Rings. Invitations. GIMME IT ALL.

I don’t usually shoot barefoot but… for some reason I kicked off my shoes in Bri’s hotel room.

Caity loves details too!

2018 brought me a new experience too! SECOND SHOOTING FOR CAITY!!! * insert some quote about student becoming master but then scratch that because she’s always been a master girlpreneur and my favorite photog, I’m just old * We get a lot of compliments about how well we work together and I am so thankful to work beside her almost every weekend. I forget how much I rely on her until I don’t have her. OOPS. This year I had the blessing of second shooting 7 weddings for her!

When we discovered this amazing wallpaper (seriously, I want it throughout my whole house) she so kindly took a minute to capture my favorite headshot of all time.

I have to make the reception entrance test look authentic, right!?

Oops, sorry Caity. LYLAS. Don’t hate me.

I also worked with some fantastic friends in the industry this year! There is nothing better than having a prepared, professional and loving team of vendors to execute your dream wedding day! Like sweet, sweet Taylor who not only did Morgan’s hair but helped us with portraits for 30+ minutes in the freezing cold!

I worked two weddings with Titus this year! It’s always amazing to see him when I walk into a reception.

Rachel of Farmhouse Cakes and two of the amazing women at The Booking House were just another highlight!

Phil was an awesome videographer and Heather of Heather St. Clair Events was a total laid-back dream to work with!

I finally got to work with Tara of Splints and Daisies and I was fan-girling all day.

The staff at The Bond with The JDK Group are always so caring and fun to work with!

And, I finally got to hug Meghan Baskin in person when she second shot with me for the last wedding of my season! Thank you, Meghan!

Arguably, I can look my most ridiculous while I’m giving posing instruction but it’s one of my favorite parts of any wedding day or session. I LOVE TALKING ABOUT POSING. Go ahead, ask me how I feel about “belly button to belly button”, the “gentle tilt” or “gimme a big giggle over this way”.

So, I was actually showing Anna why I don’t typically have girls put their hands on their hips. And I’m pretty sure I was telling Tara and Mike to trust me when I ask them to tilt towards me so their arms didn’t block their necks.

“Listen, * insert some witty embarrassing saying here that I regret later * “

“You’re going to pop the leg closest to the camera. You’re doing this, I want you to switch legs like this. PERFECT! You’ve got it.”

“So, your thumbs on your bouquet will come to your belly button.”

This was the first year that I implemented a same-day slideshow for my couples and their guests. I won’t lie, it can be a bit stressful and difficult to get done in a short period of time but my couples LOVE IT and that makes it so worth it! I love seeing their reactions!

Ah, receptions. The time of the day where we get to hand the reigns over to the DJ’s for the most part and start to play the role of documentarians.

Oh gosh. This picture needs a bit of context! This was a fantastic back yard wedding hosted by the groom’s parents. I spent 99.5% of the day outside doing a lot of running around. Trust me, the couple didn’t notice my gross feet!

This is super cheesy but pulling together this blog post reminds me of everything that I’ve had the opportunity to shoot and all of the people I’ve had the blessing of working with in 2018… and I’m feeling all kinds of grateful! Even during all of the incredibly hard days, this is truly the best job and I have the best couples!