As we were driving to Jerseyville the day of the wedding we were hit by a lot of rain. Obviously not something we want to be seeing as we are planning to photograph a wedding. I looked at the hourly prediction for the weather and it said heavy rain all day. It was only later that I realized that was the prediction for home, not for Jerseyville. As we approached the location, the clouds started breaking and the sun was lighting everything up. Looked at the weather app again before we headed inside to start with pictures, made sure to change the location to where we were, 0% chance of rain and partly cloudy! YES! Unfortunately for our photographer friends back home, it was not the same story. I was getting texts of how hard it was raining, and no signs of letting up. Last April we were down in Texas photographing Bernadette and Ronald’s engagement pictures, how have the months gone by so quickly? It doesn’t seem that long ago!! This is what wedding season does to us. As soon as it starts, we blink and before we know it, it’s Christmas! While we are on that subject, I really don’t mind this because I’m a fan of Christmas music so the fast we can get to that time of year the better. 🙂
We started out with Bernadette’s prep pictures. I love this time because not only is it a time to prepare for the wedding and work out any nerves for the wedding party, but it’s a time for us to get to know everyone. By this point we usually know the bride and groom pretty well and only a few times have we had opportunities to meet some of the wedding party prior to the wedding day. So this is a great time to build relationships with everyone and kind of gauge how we will approach pictures. Prep time went by smoothly, as well as the ceremony. Everything seemed so relaxed, and I’m sure it helped the stress levels of the wedding party and family. After the ceremony, we went out for pictures with just Bernadette and Ronald for a little while. This is something I’ve been trying to do lately. Most weddings, when we go outside for pictures, we have everyone with us. This can sometimes add a certain amount of stress on either the bride or groom, and possibly distract from the picture time. Having just the couple for a little while allows us to have a more intimate setting where they may feel a little more comfortable not having an audience. Of course, that was until we walked out to the location. We took pictures out by a pond at Lewis & Clark College, as we arrived to the spot we would start, in the background looked to be a person tanning. From the distance we were at, we couldn’t tell the gender. We just saw a lot of skin and what looked like either a speedo, or bikini bottoms. I mean, I guess it was a great place to get your tan on, I’m sure it’s normally a secluded area, sorry for messing that up! haha We eventually found out it was a guy in a speedo, regardless of the gender, this would have made for an interesting distraction in the background of their pictures and for a while I had to work with my position as well as Bernadette and Ronald’s position to make sure this person didn’t show up in any of the pictures. The things we see as photographers!
It worked out really well photographing at Lewis & Clark College because that’s where the reception was held. They had a large hall that was available for events and it looked pretty amazing for their reception. It was very open and with all the windows it let in a lot of light and as photographers, we love light! After the reception formalities and some time of Bernadette and Ronald interacting with guests, the sun started to set and I thought with the bridges and fountains outside, it would be a crime not to get any pictures out there. We went outside for a few minutes and created some final bits of imagery for their wedding. Overall it was a fantastic day, and I’m so happy and honored to have been a part of their big day! Congratulations you two!
