It was a photography weekend for me... that's for sure
Saturday was a wedding. I've said it before & I'll say it again, weddings are in a world of its own. If you ever worked a wedding as a photographer, you get it. If you haven't, you'd really never understand the amount of work in it.
I left my house at 8 am... & I walked in the door at night at 10:30 pm
... & I think we sat down for maybe 30 minutes total the whole day.
here are some highlights of the day
* They were getting ready at the Marriott in downtown. I hadn't ever been in a hotel for prep work. I LOVED IT! So many beautiful locations & wonderful lighting in the room. The hotel had 3 other weddings taking place IN the hotel & 6 other wedding parties prepping in rooms. My bride wanted to find another bride so badly to take a picture with them. We did find a group of groomsmen that we saw in the lobby that my bridesmaids & bride took pictures with :)
This is how I expect the groom to see that picture |
* It was supposed to be one of the hottest days of the year with a heat index of like 105. Honestly, I don't know if it was being in downtown with the wind capturing in between the buildings, but I don't think it was that hot. I mean, it was warm... but it wasn't like 105 hot. Thank you Jesus. All the bridal party was so good about the weather too.
* Chasity was back for her first wedding since becoming a momma. This was a new experience because she had to plan when she had to pump in between the schedule. It worked out perfectly. There is hardly any down time whatsoever in a wedding, but every time we switched from guys to girls or getting ready for the wedding, it was the perfect time for her to run to the bathroom. I'm so glad that worked out well. We were also in places that had ice all day to keep her stash fresh & ready to take home to baby.
Chasity deserves all the high fives |
* I literally lived the day on 1 sugar cookie & 5 glasses of lemonade.... & I peed once the entire day. How unhealthy is that? There is just no time to stop to eat or drink... & when you don't eat or drink, you don't have to pee. TMI? It's just crazy what your body goes through on a wedding day. I actually got a little dizzy at one point & that's when we got to the venue & they had a fountain machine for drinks. I don't normally drink anything but water or tea, but I needed sugar fast so I downed the lemonade so I didn't pass out while the bride was walking down the aisle.
* Speaking of no drinking or eating... I was so dehydrated on Sunday. Like, so dehydrated that I could feel the skin on my lips & throat feeling raw. I think I drank 2 gallons of water Sunday.
* This bride was AMAZINGLY STUNNING... her dress... her veil... her body... she knew how to work it too. I'm so excited about her pictures.
Look at this dress!!!! |
* She wore cowboy boots too... how cute is that?
* I felt so bad for the bride when her flowers arrived. They were literally DEAD! I'm not even joking. Her throw away bouquet was a bunch of wilted, dried up flowers. The guys boutonnieres were all the same. I try not to make a big deal about things on a wedding day but when I saw them, I gasped... But HUGE props to the bride. They weren't even the flowers she had ordered. She wanted peonies & her bouquet even had fake little white flowers you could get at the dollar store. She was just like, "Whatever" & didn't want to take many pictures with them. She didn't freak out or even really get upset about it. That right there is my kind of bride.
This may have been my reaction when I saw the brides flowers |
* Having a HUGE bridal party, who is drinking from the start of the day, its very easy to loose control of everyone... so my job is make sure we stay on schedule as close as possible. We had so many snags that just happen, from ripped dresses, to late makeup, that could have pushed us behind, so I'm Johnny-on-the-spot about 'kindly' pushing people to hurry up, or listen up. A good loud voice comes in handy. It was pretty funny when Chasity overheard the best man say, "Man, that photographer lady scares the #@&% out of me"... that made me laugh. Every time I saw him in the day, he was like, "Yes ma'am.. no ma'am"... he really was the funniest guy. He told me, "I know I'm your favorite best man ever"... he really was. I introduced him to Ricky at the end of the night, & he knuckled up to Ricky & told him how scary I am too :) .... don't mess with the wedding photographer
But I say it in a nice way |
* I got to ride in the party bus with the bridal party to the venue. My biggest fear was that I would get motion sickness riding sideways, in the back, with a bunch of people drinking & the smell of alcohol. I guess it was good I hadn't ate anything all day because I held it together. It helped that the bridal party was so much fun, they took my mind off of the drive.
* I felt pretty proud of myself, when at the venue, they had some pictures I took of the couple up in HUGE prints ....
* It was so great that one of the bridesmaids was actually one of my past brides. This bride was actually a bridesmaid in her wedding... the connections you make from weddings is the best. They are cousins so I got to see some of the family from the first wedding. I love that. I love seeing grandparents again. I always want to run up & hug them.
My previous bride with Chasity (I totally snagged her picture) ... & who is that AMAZING photobomber in the background?.... |
* On the way home, goodness gracious... the heavens opened. It rained so hard & the lighting was so intense, we had to pull over & wait under a gas station. I just thanked Jesus (once again after a hundred times during the day) that we had already gotten all the equipment to the car. I can't imagine being outside trying to load up cameras & lenses in that....
* I slept like a baby Saturday night...
Sunday, I had church & then started to upload my wedding pictures... & then loaded back up the gear & headed out for MORE PICTURES... YAHOO!!!
This was for a baby session. Goodness gracious. If all babies were like this, I'd do baby sessions every day. We literally had this baby laying in a baseball glove & he was like, "Yeah man, whatever"... so precious.
We took pictures over at his grandmother's house - who is also my hair dresser - who is also Chasity's grandmother - who is always my friend... get all that? So she wanted a picture of all her new babies in her family. Her 2 grandbabies & her new great grandbaby... so yes, we got 3 babies in a picture. That was so sweet. Surround yourself with babies & see if you can even get in a bad mood. Not possible.
I loved it because Miss Em was even in a good mood & not afraid of my camera this time around. She needs to get used to me being in her face with a camera. Chasity said if she didn't get used to it, that would be the one thing she would get grounded for :) A true photographer right there!
Chasity posted this this morning... I love it so much |
So I ended up getting home Sunday night about 5:30... & I was beat. But so happy about how the weekend went. Lots of happiness & love in front of me. Can't complain about that.
How was your weekend?
Goodness!!! Sounds like a super busy weekend. I'm glad the wedding went well for you!
ReplyDeleteHA! That is too darn funny, you scary photographer lady! Cracks me up! Love your photobomb! I'm not sure I would have been as calm about the flowers but good for her! Sounds like you had a busy but good weekend! Happy Monday, pretty lady!
ReplyDeleteTotally love that last picture!
ReplyDeleteI'm exhausted just reading that!! If I was that bride I would have totally lost it about the flowers - after the wedding haha and demanded a full refund!!
ReplyDeleteSounds like such a busy but rewarding weekend. That is one of the cutest babies, we have ever seen. And we feel you, there are just some days when a bar is all there is time for in a day.
ReplyDeletexx 365hangers
Wow, that's a lot of picture taking. I went to a wedding Friday night and they had three photographers and a videographer working the event. Can't imagine how much it takes for you to do that all day.
ReplyDeleteYou need to get a big ole water bottle and get to drinking on days like that! I mean so stunning! I kinda liked that you commanded that whole thing. Keep those champagne drinking gals in line right? ;-)
ReplyDeleteSo, funny story. When you wrote about being dehydrated, I remembered that I had a full water bottle right next to me that I need to be drinking from! Just grabbed it and took a huge gulp... So thanks for that :)
ReplyDeleteThat dress is INSANE!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!! LIke, seriously... I'm obsessed!
ReplyDeleteYou should've treated yourself to a PGTL after that long day! :) You've gotten me addicted by the way, hahaha! :D
Whew! Nope, had never thought about all of the work, you sound like a pretty awesome photographer :) Love the photo bombing pic haha
ReplyDeleteGood gravy, woman! You are BUSY!! I love every single one of the video clips you include to illustrate your anecdotes. Every. Single. One. I starting sleeping like a baby the minute I finished reading. ;)
ReplyDeleteGirl, I don't see how you to because you do it all! Love the story about the best man! Someones gotta do the dirty work :)
ReplyDelete