The wedding of Chelsea and James took place in Deerfield beach Florida. It was grand adventure for me, I had never been to Florida, so from the start I was very excited. But our story starts back in Michigan where we all live.
We did two engagement shoots because Chelsea and James wanted to have their dog Bandit in some of their images. Having a pet involved is always a challenge, and almost always very entertaining. Bandit as with any dog listens to his owners almost exclusively. Getting him to look at the camera was next to impossible even with treats! After some failed coaxing, I opted to do what he wanted to do. He only wanted to have Chelsey and James in sight. While not the vision we had when we brainstormed, I think bandit had the right idea all along.
The wedding itself was in October. When I think of October its changing leaves, and pumpkin everything. In Florida, it’s just HOT. It felt like a muggy hot August day in Michigan. We had four locations to photograph. Between each one I had the A/C working overtime in my car.
The first stop was at the hotel where they were getting ready. I incited some silliness by having the girls jump on the bed. The guys wore very decorative socks. I don’t know if that’s the Florida norm but I thought it was inventive.
While still at the hotel we did the first look. I love first looks you get to concentrate on catching the couple’s reaction to seeing each other for the first time on their wedding day. I know that it breaks the age-old tradition of not seeing each other before the wedding. But let’s get real, you probably live with each other, so it’s safe to say you’ve already had lots of sex. The flow of the day is so much easier when you have the couple and bridal party photos out of the way before the wedding. And in this case before the makeup starts to melt.
For the formal photos, we went to an entrance to a private country club. This place was gorgeous. A giant fountain surrounded by bushes and palm trees. We donned our silly hats again, and had some fun.
At almost every wedding reception I get pulled aside and asked to take some family group shots. I always find this puzzling. To gather people together to take a photo they will likely never see, so weird. But if my couple is okay with it I indulge them. This version turned into something special. I took some family photos at the request of Chelsea’s mom. Some of the photos included Chelsea’s grandfather who had been shaking it up on the dance floor all night.
I’m going to take you on a little shocking sidebar. Not every photo turns out. We photographers cull all the bad ones out before anyone sees them. (shocked emoji)
The Monday after the wedding Grandpa passed away. I found myself going back through all the wedding images to find grandpa and give all of them to Chelsea. The good ones, the bad ones and everything in between. While I normally don’t deliver sub-par images, his family cherished every one of them. (smiley face with tear emoji)