meghan + tristan: the kiss (and some thank yous)

First some thank yous:

A huge thank you to my friend Katie for acting as my assistant at the wedding. Katie is a fabulous photographer - thankfully she was willing to help me photograph a lot of the wedding details and more candid shots. She worked tirelessly throughout, even staying until the very end with me. Thank you Katie!

Another huge thank you to Alexis Stein, the bride's cousin and a real-life professional wedding photographer. She was so helpful and encouraging to me during the wedding, AND she had her camera with her as well. It was like having a huge safety net the entire day, and I now have a mentor to help me learn this business. Thank you Alexis!

Mostly, I would like to thank Meghan & Tristan, my lovely bride and groom, for trusting me with their big day. I realize the upside was free photos for them, but I would have NEVER trusted my wedding day to a newbie. NEVER. I am grateful for their willingness to take a chance on me - it was an incredible learning experience for me and I had a great time!

And thanks to all of you that have left comments, emails, voice mails, and in-person encouragement to me before, during and after this lovely wedding. Thank you for supporting me - I surely needed it and you all came through. You are wonderful!

Now, on to the post...

• • •

The one part of the wedding that had me the most nervous was the ceremony. There are many moments in a wedding that you cannot do over, but if we're being honest you can recreate a lot of things - have the bride & groom kiss, have everyone pose one more time, etc. I even had the bridesmaids zip the bride into her dress twice, just to make sure I got the shot.

The wedding ceremony, however, is not a "do over" in any way. All of the emotion and the anticipation wrapped up in that moment is a one shot deal. And of course, there's the kiss:



The ceremony was less than 15 minutes, so there was no time for making adjustments or even to really move around for shots. I can't tell you how relieved I was to see this image above - I just wanted one good photo of "the kiss" - in focus, good lighting, etc. Such a relief!



I love this one too - that moment of elation and content is written all over their faces.

I'm off to another wedding this weekend, only this time I'm a guest. My oldest daughter is the flower girl in her Papa's wedding, so while I'm not working this wedding I will have my camera in tow.

Happy weekend everyone!