So I’m pretty sure that I have been officially banned from “Stonebrook Manor”. The managers were so offended at the way that I covered this wedding, that they actually came up to me and asked me if this were the last time that I would be shooting there.

Let me backtrack a bit…. Ashley and Dub are not the type of couple to take their photos posed formally on a landscaped bridge in the middle of Stonebrook Manor. That is not to say that there aren’t some beautiful aspects to Stonebrook, but when I get hired to capture the emotions, moods and personalities of a couple, I get full creative rights. Ashley and Dub preferred that we do their group formals across the street at at warehouse. If you look at the two of them, it was actually far more fitting. They are totally rock and roll, super laid back, and just damn cool! I think that Stonebrook just couldn’t grasp that we chose to do photos in front of dumpsters, instead of their gardens. They were probably mostly worried that these images would get out and that they would poorly represent the manor. However, I signed a contract with Ashely and Dub, not Stonebrook. It was one of my better “wedding party sessions”, and I loved that we did the tired “resevoir dogs” shot with the ladies, instead of the guys. There are only so many women who can really pull this shot off. Ashley and her girls rocked it!

One of the things that Ashely and Dub incorporated into their ceremony, was the drinking of life…. Each time they said a vow, the best man or the maid of honor would pour water into their glasses. When they were done withe their vows, they drank from “the cup”. Very cool, I thought. I also loved that Ashley put it down like a beer!

This was one of those weddings where I walked away feeling refreshed and ready to get through the rest of my season.  It’s easy to get swept up into the work of it all, but for some reason with Shelby and James, I acted as though I was a guest and documented the wedding from that point of view.  It was hands down the most emotional wedding of the season.  Shelby cried all day—I’m such a sucker for emotions that are so strong, that they can only be manifested in tears—especially when the emotion is true love. Sappy, I know, but these emotions show that there truly is a gravity to the events of a wedding ceremomy.

I loved this wedding—loved the tears, the laughter, the decor, but  I especially loved being a witness to such a great love story.  Did I mention that Shelby is American and James is from Australia?  There really is a great love story behind these images, that I just can’t even begin to get into… Too many events on my plate to edit and blog!

…Yep. That’s me.  Shelby took this photo of Rachael and I right before the reception….  This is a very rare thing for me to do, (ask to have my photo taken) but I really just wanted to feel a part of things, so I asked her to take a shot of us with this Australian brew…  I can be so needy sometimes!