At our wedding 14 years ago, I remember the anticipation of having my hair styled, the shivers I got as I walked toward my soon-to-be husband, the enormous grin I wore all evening as we danced at the reception. It’s too bad we don’t have the photos to match the experience.
We had the worst wedding photographer. The worst.
The man had never heard of depth-of-field. There isn’t a single unposed photo in the bunch. And then there’s the awesome shot he got of my dad walking me down the aisle.
Hi Dad! Oh, you can’t see me? It must be because your eyes are shut.
In wedding photography there are usually a few shots that are a given, like a photo of the rings, for example. Or of the cake-cutting. But oh no. Not this photographer. This photog had his own idea of a good time, like this paparazzi shot of the first kiss, which seems to have been taken from the sixth floor of the Book Depository.
And let’s not forget the oh-so-essential bridal-party-exiting-the-restroom shot. Keeping it classy!
Oh what I wouldn’t do to go back in time, when my mom mentioned that one of her colleague’s husbands was a wedding photographer and would give us a great deal.
I would’ve said a few things like:
“Oh? Let me see a portfolio of his work.”
“And why is he so cheap?”
“That’s OK. I’d much rather hire a professional photographer to take photos of one of the most important days of my life.”
I often dream of requesting a do-over for this decision. H dreams of requesting a do-over for the decision of not hiring a videographer to capture the actual fun of the wedding.
Because there’s not a single photo from our reception, unless you count the photo of my grandpa drinking a beer at the guestbook table.
(And I don’t.)
Something we wouldn’t do over? Our wedding. It was perfect, even if the documentation sucked.
