david & em || bentonville. ar

must be something in the water this year. being sure of a fit before saying yes to a wedding--each wedding has been so undeniably that. always a connection there--it results in this. a day that I could never in eighteen hundred years ever forget. one that I cried at (two times maybe even three) one that I learned an asian line dance at (or tried to learn) one where the father of the groom brought me a plate of deserts during the two hours of speeches. one where the bride pulled me aside to take portraits of her and her father's picture. one I drove five and half hours through hail and sheets of rain to get to, only to see my couple at the hotel and immediately forget about that drive. one where the mother of the bride walked her only daughter down the aisle. this one made an impact. left a mark. 

it is an incredible blessing to feel so strongly about each of my couples. i love them. it blows my mind that the doors were opened for me--that this whole thing fell into my lap. shooting weddings is a privilege and in a way, to me, it feels like a calling. and I will try to always hold onto it with an open hand, to treat it like the precious gift that it is. the lord has been so good to us. to give me this thing that brings me so much fulfillment. that couples would send me an email and then however many months later we'd be together somewhere in the world celebrating love and commitment and dancing and hugging and crying and getting sick portraits to top that sundae on off. 

i want to do exactly this every weekend for all time to come.

PS all the thanks and cheers and for-she's-a-jolly-good-fellows to Kat Malone for second shooting this one with me and being an excellent co-pilot in the storm of the century on the way there. you da best.