You Are What's Beautiful...

The phrase I probably say most while shooting is: "Just Be Yourself." When you shrug off the fact that you're breaking every PDA (Public Display of Affection) rule known to man and can ignore the hundreds of people watching you kiss in the middle of the street or in today's case the floor of Borders Book Store you're finally able to be yourself. You aren't robotic when spooning on the couch are you? No...You're in your comfort zone, you're with the one person you can be totally yourself around. And that's my goal right there. Take away all the obvious distractions and just be. 

No acting...No posing...Just be. You are what's most beautiful. 

I love that they both had the idea of stopping in at a book store. Their wedding is in a library, and many of their dates are over books and a cup of coffee. It's them. It's beautiful. 

Inside & Out...

For as different as each wedding is sadly one commonality that all to often occurs is the bride and groom are out for themselves. Obsessed with looking good and feeling good they miss the whole point of the day. Not Dan & Vicki... I haven't seen a couple so madly in love not only with the other but with serving each other in a really long time. It's a selfless love. One that with the chaos of a wedding day can be all to hard to find. They're beautiful people inside and out. It was my privilege to be a small part of their big day. 

Staying True...

You know when you're looking at a bridal magazine (Yes, I've been married almost 5 years and still look at bridal magazines! Don't judge me.) (: and you see something that's unbelievably thoughtful or cute and under the picture it says that it was hand-made by the bride. And you think to yourself...There's no way she made that, it's too cute. I pretty much said that with every step and story of Jonathan & Leslie's wedding. If something wasn't hand made it had the most incredible story behind it.

The bride's engagement ring was the groom's grandmother's from the 1920's....

The incredible house and land the wedding was at was bought & built by her grandparents in the 50's...

The opal neckless Leslie wore was her grandmother's...

They had her great great grandmother's wedding dress on a mannequin to have guests pin well wishes...

Leslie's mom built the Chuppah out of the trees from the back yard...

She also made her dress, the favors, flower girl dress, and the wedding cake!

The groom, Jonathan, is a wonderful artist and he sketched their Wedding programs with all the bride & Groom's history on it. 

Wow! There is so much legacy and honor in this place it's absolutely incredible. As was their wedding!

My Big Italian Wedding...

I love Italians! Shoot, I even married one! They're loud, fun, love life, and can eat with the best of em. While these traits are true of my bride and groom Jackie & Vinnie if I could describe them in one word it'd be adaptable. Here we are in the middle of their traditional mass ceremony and a crack of thunder later we find ourselves in the dark. Literally. All electricity went out. With a mild pause of silence the ceremony just kept going even in the dark. Ha, that's awesome! The lights would find themselves on and off quite a bit from that point on but they didn't skip a beat. To top it off at the very end of the ceremony everyone was rushed down to the basement as there was a tornado warning! And what'd they do? Panic because we were missing out on picture time? Cry because it was raining on their wedding day? No....They laugh. That's awesome. There's going to be so many moments in life where they may be tempted to say: "What the heck just happened?" but instead of thinking the worst they're the kind of couple that will instead think the best. It's a rare trait and it will be a big blessing in their marriage.