Wedding: Stacie & Chris

I was asked this past weekend to photograph a wedding - my very first.  The wedding was happening two days later.  It was a very last minute decision.  The bride is Josh's mom, and she married her long-time boyfriend, Chris, who is being deployed tomorrow.  They wanted to officially tie the knot before he left, and I was completely honored when Stacie asked me to take photos of their special day.

I was also scared to death.

I had assumed that before I shot my first wedding, I would have tons more practice, more equipment, and would have acted as a second shooter on several weddings already.  Wrong!  I spent those two days before the wedding stressing myself to the max.  What is she doesn't like my photos?  What if they come out blurry?  Or dark?  Or what if my ISO is too high and they are grainy?  What if I can't think of creative poses and shots?

When the day actually arrived, I had no choice but to jump in.  I knew I wanted to capture Chris' face when he first saw Stacie, and I accomplished that.  Beyond that, I just started improvising!  The were married at the Tumwater Falls Park, and really lucked out with the weather and sunshine.  We did a bunch of formal family shots that they wanted, and then I took Chris and Stacie aside to do photos of just them.  It was strange to feel myself take command and direct people, posing them and acting out the poses I wanted them to get into.  Strange, but a nice feeling.  We only had about 10 minutes for all of this - we had a schedule to take!  I also photographed the ceremony and reception, but haven't even begun to edit any of the reception photos.  Afterwards, Chris told me I did a great job, and how much they appreciated it.  Then he told me something that really made me blush.  He said he thought I would make a great photographer.  Not because he was seen any of my photos, but because, he said, I was naturally able to direct people, communicate what I wanted them to do, and think/act quickly on my feet.  Thanks Chris!!

So, here are a few photos from the wedding.  I'm still playing around with editing them - I want everything to be just right!  And I welcome any and all constructive criticism; just be nice about it please!!  My photography ego is very delicate at this stage!

Now, some of these photos are a little blurry, because when I tried to upload them in their original sizes, it took over an hour for just one photo.  So I resized them for now just for blogging purposes.  The originals are all much crisper!

Thanks for visiting,