A few months ago, I was honored to have had a good friend ask me to photograph her wedding. I hemmed and hawed quite a bit – at the time, I was hesitant to say yes: I only had a point and shoot, I’m not a “pro”, I was kind of nervous. Yet, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was something I wanted to do – for my friend and her husband to be, and for myself, to shake myself outside of my comfort zone a little bit. The wedding was this past weekend in Maryland – and I am so thrilled that I kicked myself in the pants and made myself do this.

Weddings are a strange beast. I’ve been to over-the-top BRIDEZILLA events. I’ve been to mellow courthouse nuptials. I have never been to a wedding quite like this. It was lovely.

The wedding and reception took place in covered pavilion in a gorgeous park. The bride and groom and their families set up the decorations and food – up until nearly the start of the wedding. None of that “the bride and groom can’t see each other” superstition. Mostly, I tried to stay out of the way and not knock (too much) stuff over. Also, I was armed with my camera hoping to capture the moments she would want to remember.

It was a beautiful wedding. The wedding march was played on steel drums – the simplicity of the ceremony and the relaxed nature of the afternoon was fitting. The group was small enough that we had a chance to speak to nearly everyone. The bride had thoughtfully prepared envelopes of seed so that kids could feed the ducks and swans (and my girls fed them. A lot. I mean, A LOT).

Oh, and there was cake.

Yeah, red velvet cake.

When all was said and done, I had snapped my shutter over four hundred times.

And some of those pictures went straight to the digital trash. I’m not gonna lie – they’re not all good. But mostly, I am happy with how things came out. It was so much hardwork – and even after the wedding, the process of going through all of these images and processing and editing is more difficult than I’d anticipated (learning curves are super fun, right!?) – but then, I catch a glimpse of the bride with her grandfather, or the groom watching her walk down the aisle, and I smile.

I’m so glad I could be there for them, and so honored that they chose me.