Liz and Wes

About a week or so before any of my couple's wedding I set up a meeting to review the final details and square away anything that needs to be taken care of before the big day. After a series of humorous texts back and forth with Liz I decided they were in need of some margaritas! I searching for some delicious Mexican fare between us and settled on a new place in Skippack.... little did I know it was BYOB! Are you effing kidding me?! Fail for me... luckily this was not a bad omen for their wedding!

So we start the day off a little behind schedule as we usually do with weddings, but that's fine with me. I get worried when things are on time to be honest with you. When I walk in, what I plan to see is almost all the girls all done up and the bride getting her final touches, what I walked into this time was one girl being finished with hair and the start of the bride's makeup. No problem for me because then I have more time with the details! <3 Details are one of my favorite parts of the wedding... I know it sounds silly... and to be honest, I'm probably going to say that "so and so" is also one of my favorite parts because lets be honest, I just looooovvveeee shooting weddings! Liz had told me ahead of time that I was going to have some eager helpers and these ladies did not disappoint! Normally I move everything myself and forget to put it back (oops, sorry...) but being 5 months pregnant, I figured I would accept the help and it was wonderful! Shout out to Liz's amazing bridesmaids for helping a sista out and doing it while looking like models!

I especially love weddings where the couples exchange a small gift, note, or a Range Rover before their first look. Kidding about the Range Rover... however if we are shelling them out, I'll take mine in black. Anyway, there is something so special about reading the words from the one you're about to marry that really gives an emotional start to the day. I feel like it grounds you and makes everything more real. The morning of a wedding can be a blur of "where is this?", "who has the champagne?", "where is so and so?", you get the gist. So to take the time and sit and read and feel the love, it almost stops time for me and makes my heart so happy. I wish so badly I could read the sacred words between lovers that makes then giggle and tear up, but some things are just meant to be left between the couple. I'm just lucky enough to be in the moment with them to photograph it!

Normally these are exchanged separately, but for lack of time and my desire to blow with the wind, I thought it would be super special to have Liz and Wes read each other's notes before their first look. My God am I happy I did. Even though they weren't granted my full permission to turn around and be with each other, they still had one another to lean on and feel the energy. It was so sweet.... one of those moments where I almost forgot to take pictures because I was so caught up in the love in the air. I know it sounds cheesy AF or like some Lion King sh*t... but you can actually feel the excited and loving energy coming off of these two when they are together.

Side note: I started to reminisce looking at these pictures and bring myself back to my feelings of that day and my baby started kicking... that's how excited/emotional I get when I think about the relationship between these two... Be still, my heart.

At the finals meeting I mentioned earlier Wes kept saying, "I just want to get to the party!", "Lets cut back on that because I want the extra time for dancing". I will admit, I have heard this many times before and I try my best to accommodate, but sometimes when the party comes, everyone turns into a fly on the wall. This is seriously one of the most disappointing things as a wedding photographer. I love shooting the dancing and the drunken and buzzed shenanigans! It's so much fun! Unfortunately we live in a world where everything will come back to haunt you with social media and so on, but I see things a little differently. Get drunk (just look sober), Dance like a mad man (just do it with a smile), Jump into the center of the dance circle (even if you can't dance). You will never have this moment again. Never again will you be at Liz and Wes's wedding at Durham Hill farm and have the chance to show everyone your dance moves and how much fun you are! This goes for any wedding! Needless to say, as you will see from the images, these people are my kind of people. I've only been to two other weddings that had this many people dancing at them. I was in heaven! It was one hell of a party and now I know why Wes wanted so badly to get to the pure blissful celebration!

Another side note: If you are a fly on the wall... that's fine, just make sure you are a smiling fly on the wall because you will be in the background. :)

Shout out to all of the amazing vendors that helped to make Liz and Wes's Durham Hill Farm Wedding as much fun as it was!