Matt & Lisa
First things first, I LOVE THESE TWO! I can’t stress that enough and I brag about it on both sides of my life. Matt was my first ever customer at a bar I work at every now and again. This was like 6 years ago! Since then he has always been someone I looked forward to coming in because in a sea of some crazies he was a fresh breath of normal. Now, after meeting friends and family of Matt’s I’m sure some of you may be thinking you think he’s normal? I end it with, he’s my kind of normal. And then he started bringing in Lisa and I was all, “Girl, Yes!!'“. Lisa in her combat boots, all black everything, and choker necklace that sometimes had this adorable little alien on it. I was in love. And she was so nice to me!! Not for nothing, a girlfriend of a loyal patron isn’t always the nicest person when you first meet them but I’m married with kids so eventually it smooths out. But Lisa was just amazing. My kind of people and I loved watching them grow into one another through shared pints of high octane IPA’s and Miller Lites. You can only imagine how f*cking pumped I was when Lisa came in and blinded me with her new shiny ring. So naturally - in my own shameless way - I slid her a business card and it was decided. I HAD to shoot their wedding!
Fast forward to their engagement session. It’s always been a little awkward for me to transition a relationship from normal every day slightly vulgar and mostly inappropriate Jes to photo Jes which is basically the same but a touch more professional. Awkwardness number 1. Then we have the award idea of couples portraits that everyone assumes is a super cheesy experience and long story short, going to be hellish. Awkwardness number 2. Ya’ll…. we. had. no. problem. What could have been a really strange day ended up being tons of fun, but I secretly knew it would be… we were getting drinks and hanging outside, two of my favorite things to do! All while making beautiful pictures that I know some of you got to see on their super adorable save the dates. I was dying at some of Matt’s faces but Lisa’s giggles the whole time helped to make “Blue Steele” cute again!
Fast forward again to their wedding day. I would not have been surprised if Lisa showed up in an all Black dress but I knew before hand (because I needed to see pictures) that she had an amazing stark white dress that fit her like a glove. One day my goal will be met to shoot a black wedding dress, but I’m so happy Lisa opted for the traditional. She even swapped out her black plastic choker for a neck full of diamonds and she looked STUNNING! I died. I never know what to expect from my couples but she did not disappoint! Their wedding planning process went down the usual track of “Holy shit this is a lot” to “Okay, I think we have a plan” to “You know what, at this point we just don’t even care anymore” which is exactly the path non-wedding people have when planning their wedding. I was the EXACT same so I understood. During their last meeting though, they both said the sweetest thing to me. They looked at each other after my shifting their day to accommodate for light and they said “You know what… as long as at some point in the day we get to walk down the isle and marry each other then we will be happy". I died. I love their love!
So for all of their back and forth, and the looks of defeat towards the end, I honestly didn’t know what to expect, but when I walked into their Venue Barn on Bridge, I was BLOWN AWAY! It was a winter wonderland come to life. Blue and Whites and Silver lit of the entire place and it was absolutely breathtaking. I was a little surprised until I looked over at the sweetheart table and see two glass skulls filled with twinkling blue lights and thought “Thank God, they still kept true to who they are”. I’m so happy to have been a part of this wedding and have a couple enter in to Metallica instead of Black Eyed Peas. It was a dream winter cold AF wedding and I wouldn’t have done any aspect of their day any differently. From the welcoming family to the amazing friends I got to meet… I’m going to break myself into their gang - these are my people!
