When I met Lauren and Randy for our pre-wedding meeting, I was blown away by the rustic charm of the venue itself, the pond, the mini waterfalls, the swans, ducks and geese, the wooden walkway bridges, and the woods that surrounded the place. The outdoor possibilities were endless. However, approaching wedding day, the forecast showed rain, rain, and more rain. This held true, but rain on their wedding day was in no way ironic. It failed to dampen their spirits, which was also true of their family and friends, who seemed to glow with love and enthusiasm throughout the day.
When I got there, I made sure to make use of my weather resistant lenses to take pictures outside the place and then put them away in my courier-style camera bag to make way for my typical wedding lenses. I started right away taking some shots of the bride, her mom, and others hastily putting together what turned out to be nicely laid out decorations and got some detail shots of the room where the ceremony and reception were to take place. The ceremony space would give way to dance floor later on. The decorations, in a very nice way, brought the outdoors inside. While the bride didn't want prep photos, I was able to capture a few shots of the groom as he straightened himself up in a room along with his friend/wedding officiant. I later was able to capture Randy's authentic (sometimes these things are planned out) first look at his bride, who was radiant in her pretty, slightly pink dress.
The ceremony was a bit challenging for me. First of all space was a bit limited as the move to have it indoors meant that a lot of people were crammed into a small space and I had a bit of trouble maneuvering about. On the other hand, the lack of space made for an intimate feel to the ceremony. The other challenge was the length of the ceremony. I was told that it would be short, so I was forewarned, but their version of "short" took me by surprise. I later looked at the data from my photos and realized that it spanned less than three minutes! Once it was over I could even hear murmurs from the guests about it's length so I knew it wasn't just me. It included exchanging of rings and a hand fastening ritual. Despite it being so brief, it was a beautiful ceremony and I was happy with the few images I captured.
When I took the couple out for some formal shots, I encountered the second of three challenges. Despite the rain, the the 1761 Old Mill provided plenty of beautiful settings that were covered from the wet conditions. The problem came when I wanted to used one of those beautiful wooded walkway bridges. I had the couple lean a bit over the railing of the bridge and to capture this I had to do the same, but leaned over the rail ever farther. In doing so, my courier bag rolled over the railing and next I heard was the cracking sound of what ended up being my two rainy day lenses along with a flash crashing against the rocky stream below. There was no way to get to them and even if they hadn't floated away, they most likely were ruined from the impact. I guess it could have been worse, but still I was in a state of shock from losing such pricey pieces from my arsenal. Despite being in this state, I was able to gather myself enough to continue with the formals of the couple. It probably took an hour or more to get back to feeling normal. It was the feeling of loss that predominated. Luckily, I had insurance for such a thing and it didn't end up being a total loss when all was said and done.
The reception that followed was a fun-filled affair that included good food, speeches by very young children, the married couple, their mothers and fathers, a well as other guests, cake cutting, and a very lively dance floor. The third of my challenges was the dance floor. It was very crowded, the light was low, and my flash, I assume, was floating farther and farther away. Not wanting miss any of the excitement to get my backup flash from my car, I decided to test the limits of my cameras and lenses to capture the energy of the guests as they danced away. There was one point where I was warned by, I believe it was the bride, that craziness was about to erupt upon the dance floor. I found out that meant a mix of lots of twirling, jumping, spinning, swinging, do-si-do-ing, and other dance moves I can't name or use properly in sentences. I delivered one picture that was purposely blurry with motion to capture the craziness. I was constantly maneuvering in order to keep from landing on my backside and damage anymore of my equipment.
So, all in all, despite a few difficulties, I had a great time at Lauren and Randy's wedding. It was a wedding that didn't take itself too seriously, but was visually beautiful and was meant to be fun for all of those attending. I often look back at previous weddings I've documented and this one always gives me a smile. Below are some of the moments that tell the story of this wedding:
