sus & josh : east texas

this wedding. it was.

like thanksgiving dinner. or stars growing heavy and bright off of silvery tree branches. like your grandmother's backyard--the one you climbed trees in.

like being home.

i’ve tried to write out what this day meant to me and how it felt to be there but i can’t come up with the right words. i will say this—i’ll never forget that in the middle of the reception, i was alone for a moment. i saw the dance floor, and people in line at the bar—some seated mid conversation at long tables—the whole thing lit by an autumn moon and soft yellow string lights. and i felt weightless and overwhelmed with gratitude and blessed that i was there seeing it. i felt my eyes fill up and peace. such peace. thank you, Lord.

there’s a little history here.

in february 2014 i met nick radford on a trip to cambodia. he mentioned he was shooting a wedding in texas that october and i told him if he needed a second shooter or a place to stay to let me know. nine months later he did end up staying with mark and i—and i ended up second shooting that wedding with him. it was denis and elizabeth’s wedding (and their love story is basically famous see here, here, and here)—the sweetest day, sweetest families. a ceremony in the backyard of elizabeth’s grandmother’s home. elizabeth and denis met via instagram—i’m mentioning this because the weekend they got married my sister met her future husband via instagram, nick radford’s younger brother, garrett.

this is probably choppy and confusing but what it boils down to is this: if elizabeth and denis hadn’t asked nick to shoot their wedding, and i hadn’t met nick in cambodia and then second shot for him, my sister would’ve never met her husband. see, nick was constantly talking to his brother while he was in town, and most of the conversations were on speaker phone and i got a real kick out of garrett (he said some pretty hilarious stuff that weekend that i still like to bring up). i looked him up on insta and saw that he was a talented photographer, too—followed him, he looked at mine, saw my sister and was pretty much instantly in love. i wish i could tell this story to you in person because it’s pretty crazy and there is much more to it, but this is quick version. ANYWAY. here’s where it gets even sweeter. november 2016, my little sister married garrett radford. and in january 2017, susannah wisdom emailed me about shooting her wedding—elizabeth’s little sister. right there in their grandmother’s backyard.

it all feels like a dream.

josh and sus--you are beautiful, wonderful people. thank you for letting me be a part.