“I look at them often because all that love is what anchors you when you need it most.”
I’ve always considered my job of documenting weddings an honor and a privilege. Over the last eighteen years, I’ve taken part in hundreds of these celebrations. But, when I started out, I did not fully comprehend the value of what I was doing…
As the years went on, and I started getting feedback from the couples I worked with, the picture (pun thoroughly intended) started to get clearer…
After my own wedding, I thought I completely understood. I’d been through it. Great pictures are extremely important! My feelings on “why” had been confirmed. Been there. Done that. At least, that’s what I thought…
Recently, however, I was thinking about how, over the years, my feelings surrounding my own photos has changed. Looking at wedding photos (not just from my own wedding) brings up different emotions.
That was part of the reason behind the #caseyclicks stories I’ve been posting on the blog for the last few weeks. The stories I read from my former clients taught me a lot about what great wedding photos mean to people…and what follows is both what I already knew and what I learned:
It is impossible to anticipate how your wedding day is going to make you feel before it arrives.
There are a lot of emotions wrapped up in the planning of your wedding day. It can be an anxiety filled process (more on that another time), but when the day arrives, you have no idea how it is going to hit you…
You might prepare yourself, but that might not be enough…
And you have no idea how fast it is going to go by…
“You try to step away and take it all in but its like trying to stop and smell the flowers on a rocket ship…”
I’ve said it before, your wedding day is going to feel like a rollercoaster ride whizzing past you….
“When I see wedding photos now I’m appreciative that we have them because the wedding was a blur and it’s hard to remember every moment but the pictures give you a glimpse of those moments and trigger the memories again.”
Your wedding photos are a time machine…
I firmly believe that photos are the closest thing we have to time travel. They allow you to experience a memory over and over again, taking you back to that moment in time.
And a time capsule…
Your wedding is a landmark in your journey as a couple – your photos document that milestone in your lives, and your lives are going to change…
As the years go by, new people will enter your family, and, unfortunately, some people will no longer be with you…
“I think about how our families have grown and how many new babies and friends and loved ones would be in those pictures today…
And I think about all the people we’ve lost in those years too. It means the world to me to have those pictures with my grandparents…”
Your wedding photos are an emotional gift that you can keep going back to…
The world, especially lately, can be emotionally frustrating and difficult. Sometimes you need to recharge your emotional batteries, especially if your loved ones are not nearby…
“My husband and I had to move far from our families for work — we feel their love, even when we can only see it in photographs.”
To go back to the quote I started this post with, “that love is what anchors you when you need it most.”
That is the greatest gift that I can give to you as a wedding photographer — a reminder of the love that is in your life.
Your photographer helps shape your memories of your wedding day…
In the end, it is your wedding photographer who will go the farthest towards shaping your memories of your wedding day. I will capture moments you didn’t see happening, or moments where you didn’t realize I was there.
And how you feel about your photos is going to change and evolve over time, as your life changes.
Since the events of the day rush by, the photos I give you will be your touchstone for holding on to those memories and that love. They will reinforce how you feel about your wedding day, the people who were there, and the moments you experienced.
And terrible photos can impact the memories of your wedding day for the rest of your life.
But you don’t have to worry about that…
If you hire me.
You don’t have to take my word for it. You can read what my clients have to say about my work and what your experience will be like.
Let’s talk about your wedding — contact me today!
