Bridal Portraits are Important

I almost always photograph my friends weddings, something that I always recommend against. Why? you may ask. Well come now... how many armature photographers do you know that say they photograph weddings or someone who is a friend of the family. It is hard to turn down a friend though so brides are temped to say okay sure. Even Nancy though had her reservations when she asked me to photograph her wedding. I found out why later.

She had no clue what she was shopping for in a photographer and she was just unsure about everything. Her wedding was very small but wonderful. They didn't want to spend a ton of money on it. So hiring a good photographer saved the memories. At her bachelorette party I brought a point and shot leica...not shabby but she leaned over to me and said, "you are going to bring a bigger one to the wedding right?"

Well I begged her to do a bridal portrait before hand so that we would have time to do something extra special. A bridal portrait ahead of time allows the bride to do the following:

1. Check out the make artist and try it out ahead of time (this should be free)

2. Trial bouquet (negotiate this with your floral order)

3. Improve personal connection with your wedding planner/designer

4. Sync with your photographer stylistically

5. Have more time on your wedding day to party and spend with your family

A great bridal portrait takes time so by doing it before hand your wedding day will be less stressful. Try to do it a few weeks before your wedding if you choose an environmental portrait in case you need to dry clean the dress.

Unexpected Feelings

On July 6th as I was driving home from Hilton Head...where my mother lives...my 13 week old Saint Bernard puppy fell asleep in the car and died. It was unexpected and heartbreaking. The foreshadowing though looking back was undoubtable.

On July 3rd one of my best friends called me to let me know that her great grandmother died and like half of her family was not going to be at the party. I of course was photographing the wedding and she needed some advice on what to do and how she should handle it. The funeral was on her wedding and she felt that her family, her uncles, had done it on purpose. Well honestly they had. There was nothing stopping them from having the funeral on Monday. There particular people were not invited to the wedding and this was an apparent attack on her day.

Her grandfather, whom she was very close to, was placed in a tough situation. Go to his mothers funeral in West Virgina or attend his granddaughters wedding. He attended the funeral in the morning and drove 9 hours in the rain to the wedding.

This foreshadowing was stunning though, because while the rest of her family was attending the wake my Sydney was unable to wake up from a sleep. We were crushed and stunned because despite Sydney's age she was already stuck in our hearts. Of course when my friend the bride called me on the way home moments after Sydney died it slipped that she had died. After all I could not hide the crying.

After a sleepless night, we went to work at her wedding. Pasting smiles on our faces and crying our eyes out during the ceremony. People must have thought that we were crazy. I know no one knew. I bet they wondered how we ever made it through a wedding at the rate that I was crying.

The lesson here though was one for me. I have never been forced to choose between a death in the family and having to photograph a wedding. I have flown on a minutes notice to help out another photographer who had a heart attack. Somehow you do what you have to do though to live up to your clients expectations and more.