Sarah and James

I'm sure you've heard it, 'a wedding ends up really being about the guests, not the bride and groom'. As debatable as that is, Sarah and James' wedding was decidedly and definitely about the bride and groom.

From the all vegan buffet (I'm not a vegetarian, but I gotta say that was amazing food), to the one-of-a-kind scent she had made just for her wedding day (smells evoke memories really well), to her wedding dress splashed with red, to their friend who, as the officiant, gave a ceremony deeply personal and full of meaning for Sarah and James, everything about their wedding was a true expression of who they are.

By the time the final song was played by the 17 piece Cigar City Band, What a wonderful world, and I'm looking through my lens at Sarah and James, still gazing with with fairy dust eyes at each other, it finally dawns on me. Their wedding was a pure expression of themselves, the evening was all about the bride and groom; it was all about Sarah and James.

  Sarah and James are super intelligent over-achievers, so the table place cards are quite honestly over my head. My guess; periodic table of the elements.

What's the fun in having your very own photo booth if you can't play with it from time to time...

That's Julie Story, shooting with me on this wedding, taking command of the photo booth, which was a huge hit.

 

Jessica and Jan-Michael

'He's had his beauty rest today', laughed Jessica. I was complimenting Jan-Michael on how charged up and in the moment he was, and Jessica couldn't resist teasing him.

They've been together for a little over a year and, not only are they completely smitten with each other and getting married, they have a house together. A little over a year. Indecisive is clearly not apart of their vocabulary.

When they decide they're going to do something, they do it, like say, become a professional golfer  (he is), or getting your Masters degree as an ARNP (she is). These are people after my own heart. With personalities like theirs, I kinda can't even imagine how stellar their Saddlebrook wedding in November is gonna be!

Laura and Kris

A party falls through, Laura calls up Kris and asks him if he wants to hang out anyway. He goes with it. They hang out, and 11 years later they're hanging out with me at University of Tampa, doing their engagement session.

Acquiescent, that's Kris. He just goes with it, Laura teases, 'whenever I ask him what we wants, he just says, 'whatever you'd like is fine''.  I think that he's so into Laura, nothing really matters except for what she wants. He was so doting, so eager to hold her. It was clear how Laura and Kris works, she picked him out, and he's made her his world.

Sarah and James

I remember in this book I read once, called Cold Mountain, one of the characters, Ruby, talks to Ada about living on her own in the mountains of North Carolina. She talked about knowing the place really intimately, knowing just when some of the flowers bloom, when the rain is coming, when the seasons change, just how the animals roam.

When I get to stop and really scout out an area, I feel like Ruby. I get to know just how the light falls at this step and this time of day in the spring, and a hidden vantage point for a this-and-such a shot.

It's kinda cool to know the places around where you live really, really well. I don't know why, I guess it just makes me feel more connected to my home.

So when I suggested to Sarah that we shoot at the new Dali museum, I was glad that she jumped at the chance. One more place to get to know.

She's a medical major, and James is a philosophy teacher (they make you grow a beard before you can start teaching philosophy I think). So he explained Nietzsche to me as we roamed the grounds and took pictures. They were relaxed, and easy, and (best of all) ready to laugh. Can't wait for their wedding!

Sarah and Steven

Each project, each session takes a lot out of me, it has to, else it wouldn’t be art. If it gets too easy, I’m not trying hard enough.

When I get to look at the final collection, up on my monitor, that’s the payoff, when I know I’ve done everything I know how to do to make a collection of great images for my couples, and each thumbnail shows real people, really in love, bursting with color and clarity.

And the gratitude, the thank you’s, they are the icing on the cake. I do this for me, to challenge myself, to push myself further and further and discover new images I didn’t know I had in me yet, and that people haven’t seen yet.

It kinda reminds me of what one of my favorite writers, Ernest Hemingway, in a rare moment of self analyses said,
    “How simple the writing of literature would be if it were only necessary to write in another way what has been well written. It is because we have had such great writers in the past that a writer is driven far out past where he can go, out to where no one can help him.”

 

Leila and Aaron

“I still can’t believe she wants me around”, says Aaron (not me Aaron, groom Aaron), beaming at Leila, his brand new wife.

Leila and Aaron’s energy was unbelievable, their chemistry made the air crackle.

Plus, they’re undeniably beautiful.

Plus, they picked out a gorgeous venue, Town Manor, just outside Lakeland.

Plus, the wedding party was a literal party. As in, they were seriously fun to be around.

Basically, this was a dream wedding to be apart of. I loved being around Leila and Aaron from the first time we sat down to meet to their engagement session to their wedding day.

My job is to be apart of these never to be repeated days for my couples, and you just can’t help but become friends with them, you go through so much in such a tiny period of time with them.

I just couldn’t ask for better people to work with.