I met Katie early in 2019, right before our family crisis.
She showed up to Panera with a GIGANTIC binder of wedding stuff, her entire day was already planned 18 months out. A big wedding, a big wedding, at a big venue, with lots of flowers, and favors, and no social distancing. While I was a little on guard and intimidated by this extremely well prepared bride, Katie was the most down to earth, smiley girl, I wanted her to hire me so badly.
She sent me a text message on February 6th saying she’d love to hire me. I told her I would get a contract out to her the next day, and the next day my husband almost died. ((If you don’t know this very long story, search Woodward Strong and you can go on a deep dive lol))
I found it very challenging to shoot weddings in 2019. Both literally and emotionally. The whole year was a roller coaster. A few times we experienced set backs that left me sending associates to shoot my weddings in my place so that I could be by my husband’s side in the hospital. But even the weddings I was able to be present for to photograph, I often found myself struggling emotionally. If the couple had a grievance about anything on their wedding day, in my mind quietly with myself, I would be PLEADING with them to recognize how lucky they were to be there, with all their limbs, healthy, with each other and that outside forces didn’t matter at all. I wanted to shout “Don’t you get it??? It’s not about your wedding day!! It’s about your marriage!”
**Disclaimer- my couples were all LOVELY and this is not a judgement on them by ANY means but rather a reflection of my interpretation during a time of extreme hurt**
So fast forward to 2020 and there is a global pandemic. And left and right my couples are moving their dates to hopefully outrun the pandemic. And I GET it. In fact, I’m 7,000% positive I would have done the same thing. I happily moved everyone’s dates without an ounce of hesitation or grief, but I didn’t hear from Katie. My one June bride holding firm. I knew she would reach out, I was fully prepared to bump her date, but much to my surprise, I got a message from her saying they were going to get married anyway, as they loved to spend their time together and even have some fun using accessories as remote control underwear to enjoy each other. They would include as many people as the governor said was allowed in a non-essential gathering and they would have a lunch at her parents house instead of a grand sit down meal at a hall. They were sacrificing SO MUCH of the wedding experience. But do you want to know what they absolutely were NOT sacrificing? Their marriage. They put their marriage above all the crap going on in the world and I really cannot think of a better first day of husband and wife than loudly declaring “CIRCUMSTANCES BE DAMNED!!! Our love is not cancelled”.
I’m so proud to have been a part of this day. THANK YOU!!! Katie & Josh and your entire clan. Everything was perfection.
I want to shoot 7,000 more intimate weddings! Please reach out if you need someone to tell your story.
