I swear to you that we don’t do weddings and actually I will say this is for sure my last one until a few young women meet the men of their dreams (I’m talking to Hannah, Becca, Hannah and Kelsey!). Until then I am officially calling the few weddings we do a year done! NOT because Monica’s wedding was OUTSIDE on a day that hit 109! Mostly because it is not where my passion lies and they totally stress me out! I don’t know how wedding photogs do it! Give me a family or newborn or even the stress of a birth any day! HA!
So this wedding was one of the HOTTEST events I’ve ever photographed. Frankly, it’s probably the longest I’ve been outside on a day that hot! I won’t go into all the gory details about how certain pieces of clothing had to be PEELED off of me when I got home because I’m sure you can imagine! BUT the best part of this wedding was watching all of their friends and family not only suffer through the heat but do all the set-up, clean-up, hosting, dancing, etc. for them! That is true love my friends! I think my family would have laughed if I’d told them I wanted to get married outside on July 7th! The whole afternoon was so joyful it was an honor to be there and be a part of it all!
We spent about 10 minutes (of the hour+ we had planned) doing a few super quick portraits before the sweat was pouring and we got these two tucked back in their cars with the AC running full blast!
They even shortened their ceremony the night before because it was going to be so hot! As soon as the vows were said and it was official they ran to one of the big fans they rented to cool off!
Family portraits were shortened too! We had a pretty large list from Monica and here mom with all the family combos they wanted and I would say we got through about a third of them before everyone deemed it too miserable! I’m telling you, this heat was UNREAL!
I’m SO glad we stayed long enough to get some shots of their little family though! They all looked so cute! It was right after this shot I think that their little man ended up in just a diaper! He was much happier!
The next shot is my favorite! Even in cool water Monica’s toss bouquet totally wilted and died in the heat! When they went to get it (from the shade!) for her to throw it looked so bad! Everyone was cracking up!
I’m SO glad she could laugh about it!
I’m not going to do this justice BUT the funniest part of the whole night was when they got Monica sitting in this chair for the garter toss… Jeff was hiding behind her and without her noticing he got up on that stone wall (wearing a WIG), jumped in front of her and started singing+dancing for her! She had NO idea (no one did!) and she was dying! We all were! It was hysterical!
I LOVE a good surprise and this one was the BEST! It was so awesome!
One of the last things I caught before collapsing into the car was Monica’s sister’s sweet family all dancing together! So fun!
If I am cutting off all weddings this was a great one to end with! SO much fun and we all survived the temps!
Happy honeymooning you guys!
Jodie, Sad to hear that you won’t do weddings anymore, because I love when they are on the blog. Maybe in 20 years, you will change your mind and do weddings just of kids who you have photographed their whole lives???!
Jodie, I am just now seeing this blog post! I think I got so excited when I saw the photos on Facebook, I forgot there was actually a blog to go with them. You really captured the mood of that day perfectly in this one. Everyone keeps raving about these photos and I keep telling them how much of a saint you were to photograph in that heat and deal with everyone’s attitude and frustrations because we were all DYING. Somehow, you managed to make it look as if we were all just hanging out in beautiful weather. You really are so talented (even with weddings, which you hate, understandably) and I am so thankful to have had you there!