Elissa and Ben were living in Chile when she first contacted me about shooting their wedding. I remember sharing emails and thinking how calm and cool Elissa was about everything. They weren’t planning on being back in the States until a few months before the wedding, so we set everything up through email. In fact, we never even had a phone conversation until just before the wedding, and that was basically just to say hi, and check in with each other. In other words, it was one of those easy, stress free bookings that we all love to get and wish for more often.
Elissa carried that easy laid-back vibe from the booking right into the wedding. So much so that she was probably my calmest, coolest bride ever. It was obvious to me that she was so happy to be getting married to Ben that nothing else really mattered. It kind of felt like what they were doing was so right, that nothing could possibly go wrong. Of course nothing did go wrong, and it was a beautiful ceremony on a spectacular day.
The wedding was the end of a crazy weekend for Elissa, Ben, and their friends. It was actually on a Monday because they had just graduated from West Point on Saturday. To have two monumental events back to back like that seemed a little unreal and made me appreciate Elissa’s calmness even more.
My camera was locked on her friend Kirsten (another West Point Grad) during the rehearsal and I was waiting for her to smile. She remained pretty serious, and afterwards came up to me and said she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to smile because at West Point they are taught to not let anything distract them and keep looking straight ahead. She definitely smiled a lot more throughout the weekend, but I thought that the shot I grabbed of her at the rehearsal dinner showed how beautiful she is when she does smile, so I included it in my image choices for this post.
A couple of the guys were actually flying through the air on the dance floor. I’m talking some serious hang time. I still can’t believe how high they were getting. It was pretty amazing, so they made the blog too. Then of course some of my favorites like the first one of them kissing, which actually was my last shot of the night, because the reception was over, and I stopped shooting thinking it doesn’t get much better than that. Or the one of Elissa in the red corner with her West Point coat on under the veil. The one that gets me though is Ben’s Dad giving him a hug after the ceremony. As a Dad myself, this says everything about a fathers love for his child. Just look at how his arms are wrapped around him. He is holding him like only a father can. I love the emotion and feelings in this image. I decided to go B&W with it because I didn’t want the viewer to be distracted by any colors. It looked good in color, but B&W seems to isolate the emotion and strength in his father’s arms, hands, and face, allowing us to appreciate it a little bit more.
Thank you Elissa, Ben and everyone. It was a pleasure to do this for you. I know how important photography is to you and your families, and I am honored to give you many fleeting moments to treasure and look back on for years to come.
