Back in early November I received an email from a former youth and now friend, asking if I would photograph her wedding.

Me.

Turns out, thanks to this little, ol’ blog, she really likes my style of photography (what I like to call, “Get so close you can’t see the mess,” in case you were wondering) and wanted that to be the style to capture her big day. I was nervous to bring it up to Jac (him being the professional and all. . .) but he was supportive.

For my part, I was under the delusion of hormones. If I could gat a baby out of my body, I could do anything! Then I had a baby and got busy and was able to forget about it – mostly. Then the big week rolled around and I was filled with anxiety which turned into stark terror by Friday.

It was, I was sure, going to be an unmitigated disaster.

I prayed for food poisoning. I begged Jac to do it by himself. I freaked out, I moped, I cried.

It got ugly.

Then Jac packed up all the camera equipment and borrowed a flash and showed me what most of the buttons did and what to look for on the camera. Mama Syd and Papa Chris came down to be with the kiddos and they cheered and encouraged and reminded me to eat and take my inhaler. Friends texted and prayed and by the time I got to the salon on Saturday morning, I had steeled myself against anything but the moment.

And after looking through the 4000+ images we took, I think capturing the moment was what we did.

Grace was beautiful and Bobby was smitten. Their friends and family came from all over the world to support and celebrate and love them. It was an elegant and whimsical D.I.Y. affair loaded to the brim with meaningful details. It was a joy to be included in it.

Their guest book included ‘Wishing Jars’ where guests could write wishes, predictions or advice for them for future milestone anniversaries. We wrote brilliant things, of course, but for myself, what I will remember about the day is this:

Bobby, the groom was so taken with his lovely bride, that every time I closed the shutter, he was looking at her. It was sweet that we had to remind him to look at the camera.

It was hot. Stinkin’ hot. When all was said and done, 12 hours after we began, I was nearly as salty and crusty as I was after the half marathon. The AC at home felt so nice.

The garden reception was like a dream. A toasty dream but so much better than the nightmares I had had in the days leading up to it.

Grace lived up to her name. Cool, calm and beautiful, she was a joy to work with.

The father daughter dance that morphed into a choreographed family number was AWESOME. We pray every last one of our children are called to the priesthood or religious life, but if they are called to marriage, when they get married I hope their wedding is filled with similar moments that encapsulate them and our family as well as that dance did.

So, thanks Grace, for getting me to do something new. Thanks for sharing such a lovely, happy day with us. Thank you for introducing us to you friends and family. May your life be filled with as much joy as that Saturday was and may you continue to fall ever more in love.

Congratulations, you two crazy love-birds!