ooooh goodness, are you ready for a fun one?! today i’ve got a… ahem… behind the scenes look at what really goes into a wedding day :) after looking through tons of photos from this year I’ve concluded that apparently it’s a lot of me looking ridiculous, but thankfully these couples still love me anyway ;)
STEP ONE: we start the day with ties, bustles, and boutonnières… oh my! 
oh and rings! there are always pretty rings to photograph :)
it’s not uncommon for me to be the one helping with the dress or pinning the boutonnières… when you see them every weekend you become sort of an expert! I tell my couples that things like fitting veils or pinning bouts is just alllllll part of the job!
and LOS of attention to dress details! i’m a pro at getting the train to lay juuuuust right for photos :)
one of my favorite behind the scenes moments from this year… how many people does it take to fix a dress? goooo teamwork! 
STEP TWO: then once we get everyone dressed and ready to go, it’s usually onto the first look and bride&groom portraits! my favorite part of the day! Jonathan is now an expert “veil fluffer” after Emily and Andrews wedding :)
remember that whole “me looking ridiculous” concept…. yep. 
oooh lordy. I think I was giving Bill and Krista instructions on which direction he should dip her… thankfully they paid super close attention and the photo was a SUCCESS!
We do whatEVER it takes to get the perfect shot… including climbing in a tree! I turned around looking for Sarah and couldn’t find her anywhere… I didn’t even think to look IN the tree :)
I’m pretty sure for the majority of the photos in this post I was just getting in Joseph’s shot more often than not, thankfully he’s a good sport and always manages to work around me getting in his way :) (sidenote: when I look through the behind the scenes images I always have a serious Hermione Granger moment of “is that REALLY what my hair looks like from the back?!”)
STEP THREE: gather the wedding party!! man oh man did we have some INCREDIBLE wedding parties this year! these guys were all tons of fun! 
I thought the guys were just waiting for their turn, but I spin around to see Joseph had them all lined up for extra portraits! he gets bonus points for wrangling a group of rowdy gentlemen ;) 
STEP FOUR: time to get married! it’s important to check your lighting before the ceremony starts… and if you’re lucky, your 2nd shooter will assume THIS position. cause clearly, this is how people stand during the ceremony. i made him promise he’d stand JUST like this on his wedding day :) 
about 2 seconds after this was taken we were all in perfect position for me to shoot Kathleen and her dad, and for Joseph to get a stunning shot of the two of them from the back of the church and of Tielor as his bride walked toward him…. buuuut just before that, it looked like Joseph was gonna walk down the aisle with her too! :)
photo of the groomsmen… CHECK. photo of the bridesmaids… CHECK. photo of the photographer chillin in between the two groups… check :)
Ceremony in the rain? no big deal! who needs an umbrella anyway?!
I don’t know about you, but iiiiii think the guy behind Jonathan is saying “well if the photographer can stand up during the ceremony, then SO CAN I!” 
ya know, just doin’ what i do :) takin’ photos and gettin’ in Joseph’s shot…
the look of determination!
aaand the look of being run over! :)
and if you plan it right (ooor it happens by TOTAL accident!), you’ll end up photobombing the most popular instagram post from the wedding! 
STEP FIVE: a few more portraits before the reception! but now that we’ve got tons of guests wanting to come congratulate the bride&groom, my 2nd shooters have strict instructions to keep guests away until after portraits are done (once guests start talking to the couple, there’s a never ending line!) this is the look that says Katie is prepared to elbow any of those people who tried to get in my shot ;) 
I affectionally refer to this wedding as “the one where Katie climbed on things.” i swear every time I turned around it seemed she had found something new to stand on to get at a higher vantage point! 
I don’t even remember what she found to stand on here, all i remember is turning around and her being 2 feet taller! 
STEP SIX: PARTY TIME! now it’s time for the reception! During cocktail hour you gotta make sure that your external flash is exactly where you want it, which requires your 2nd shooter to stand in for a minute… and ya know, just incase he wanted to kill two birds with one stone and practice his first dance moves at the same time :)
if you’ve gotta stand in to test the lighting, might as well do it with style! :)
and then there are these two who take the cake cutting WAY too seriously ;)
hopefully none of their guests judged me for the crazy rain soaked frizzy mess of hair that was happening… good thing my hair style doesn’t affect photo quality ;)
this is what i look like getting caught half way through my Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody” dance party :) no shame, folks. NO. SHAME. 
STEP SEVEN: grab one more quick portrait with the wonderful couple! Katie was all kinds of ready for this last picture! :) 
These last images are by FAR some of my favorite photos of the year! I made it a point to grab a shot with each of the couples toward the end of the reception, and i’m so very thankful for these people and how they’ve all let me into their lives over this past year! and a HUGE thank you to Joseph, Jonathan, Sarah, and Katie for helping me take such great care of my couples this year! I couldn’t have asked for a better team to work with, you guys are the best of the best :) 
Each one of you lovely ladies holds a VERY special place in my heart. Thank you for helping make this year one of the best yet! I adore each of you!! 