Joel + Marquel

I finally finished editing the photos from Joel and Marquel's wedding! I'm so excited to share some of my favorites with you. This was my first wedding as the photographer and I learned so so much, let's hope I can put the new skills to the test in future weddings.







The thing I was initially nervous about was being on stage during the ceremony. People always come up to me and compliment on my ability to appear invisible. I had taken photos for my church earlier this year and the pastor said he didn't even notice me running around everywhere snapping photos (and we go to a small church so it's pretty easy to see everyone).

For the wedding, I had a little bit of a name to live up to in that respect, plus I didn't want to be the annoying photographer who blocked everyone's view. One major thing I learned was that it is nearly impossible to shoot a wedding alone. I'm so thankful that my friend Jacob and my boyfriend Matt were also photographers with me, because it actually is impossible to be in three places at once. As for remaining invisible, I ended up standing on the stage nearly the entire time, so I had nothing to worry about.








The biggest challenge was actually taking charge and directing people. For those of you who have been reading my blog for even a little bit know that I'm an introvert (hello, blog name), so it's hard for me to tell people much louder than me what to do. I'm noticing that every time I babysit, I get better at being authoritative, and this wedding really stretched me to work harder on that characteristic. (I just have to remember that people won't really remember the photographer being a little loud to get people to listen.)








This day was definitely a whirlwind. It was busy and tiring but I absolutely loved it, and I hope I get to do more weddings in the future. (And on a side note for my own documentation purposes: Matt asked me to dance for one song, so we both took a quick break from taking photos to dance. It was super sweet of him for giving me a break from taking pictures of other people having fun.)








My favorite part of the wedding? Giving Joel and Marquel photos that I'm proud of and having them love every single one. Thank you guys so much for putting so much faith in me and for letting me share your special day!

the bride and groom

day 175




It was such a whirlwind day, waking up early and spending nearly every moment running around, making sure everything was perfect. Right now I'm too tired to really give you a good summary of the day, but know that it was a huge success. I love Joel and Marquel so much and I'm so glad I got to be a part of their wedding.

And for those curious, the photos will take six to eight weeks before I can get them out. I took well over 1,000 photos and when I can easily spend more than five minutes editing one photo, time quickly adds up. I got excited with these three though so you get a little preview.

But for now, I'm going to take a long nap and try to keep from crying over how cute Joel and Marquel are (that will take a lot of work).

crying at a wedding

Today is the day before the big day! I'm headed off to help decorate and snap a few practice shots of the rehearsal, then pigging out at the rehearsal dinner for the wedding. It's a busy busy day but I'm loving it. The nerves are going away and now I'm just excited for Joel and Marquel's wedding!

To celebrate, I've gathered together some tear-jerkers for you. Tumblr always goes through these phases, I've noticed. Last summer it was the wedding video phase and man oh man were my eyes regretful of that! I sat in my darkened room just bawling over wedding video after wedding video. Hopefully you'll do the same because there is nothing quite like a wedding. Here's some videos that made me cry like a baby. I know some of them are long, but trust me, they're totally worth it.

lizzy & brandon from madeulook films on Vimeo.

n'tima & steven from madeulook films on Vimeo.

sam & josh from madeulook films on Vimeo.

Wedding Preview: Noah and Rachael from The Cana Family on Vimeo.

justin & meghan from madeulook films on Vimeo.

Sorry for making you use up your entire tissue box! Hope you have a great rest of the day and and awesome day tomorrow. Wish me luck on the wedding!

wedding, wedding, wedding

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In honor of my very first wedding shoot, I thought I'd post some photos of other people's weddings. Being the hopeless romantic that I am, I could spend hours looking through lookbooks of weddings, dresses, cakes, rings, anything. Though that may be a bad thing with my overactive imagination, it's perfect to learn the right way to shoot a wedding. Pay attention to lighting, don't be afraid to take close up shots, and look for creative angles. Even though these photos may not be my exact style, they all have things I can pull inspiration and lessons from.

On a completely unrelated note, I got a pinterest the other day and have no idea how to use it. My username is impulsings if you want to follow along.