I can't figure out how to start this one. When we started the year we had a lot of plans and ideas about what would happen in 2015. Some of those things happened, a lot of them crashed and burned. Life is unpredictable.We shot a beautiful and intimate wedding the Saturday after Thanksgiving of a friend from our old hometown. They got married in her grandparents' backyard with most of their family and a few friends, and us, there to witness. I was there with them early that day, documenting grandparents and parents, aunts and uncles and cousins, all turning their home into a wedding venue. At one point they decided to move a big China cabinet over about a foot. Instead of China, this cabinet housed photos of all of their family. Children and grandchildren, some still with us, some not. They opened the bottom of the China cabinet and out came all of the photos albums from 10 and 15 and 20 years ago. There's this phenomenon when old photos come out at family gatherings. It is so moving to witness. When all your family is there...you don't just put family albums away. You look for a while. You share. You remember. You tell stories. You laugh and cry. Then you put them away and move the cabinet. Of course the rest of the wedding was wonderful and meaningful, and meant a lot in itself because it was the beginning of a lifelong commitment. I have found myself unable to forget those 20 minutes from that day. It was one of the most wonderful things I've ever witnessed at a wedding. I told Kyle about it the next day with tears in my eyes. What an incredible reminder of how important this job is.Right after Christmas, this bride sent me an e-mail asking if I could please send a few photos of her Grandaddy to her so that she could share them with the family, because he had just passed away.As we go into this year I am confident of this: At the end of 2016 I will have taken the time and put in the energy to make a lot more important images. I will do this on purpose. I will love my husband on purpose. I will love my kids on purpose. I will mess all this up. A lot. We have some goals and some plans. Not a list of resolutions, really. More like a general idea of how we hope things happen. I want to be as ready as I can for them, but I'm 30. That's old enough to know that I don't know anything, and that surprises and taxes, and old china cabinets full of photos, are pretty much the only sure thing in this world.I hope we can live. I hope we can hope for things bigger and better. I hope we can comfort each other when all those hopes come crashing down.Ready, or not. Here we go. -jade p.s. I did a social media detox designed for creatives for 10 days in December, and decided to extend it to a month. Now I've got some better ideas for how social media should get to play into my life. If you'd like to check it out, my friend Ash wrote it, and it's brilliant. Here it is. I have felt less anxiety in the last month than I have had in years, because, I believe, I have made room in my brain to be still and quiet.
a waterfall engagement OR shananny & tim are getting married saturday!
This Saturday our kiddos are going to be a flower girl and a ring bearer for two of their favorite people in the world. Shannon is family to us. She was a nanny for us for two years, and they were some of the best two years of my kid's lives so far. Tim is a guy who everyone likes immediately. The first time I really got to know him was one summer when we got to see him quite a bit, and by the end of the summer I was trying to talk my best friend into marrying him, even though he was quite a bit younger than her. I kept asking Kyle, "How do we keep Tim in our lives forever?"In the next few years Shannon came to be one of our favorite people as she was just the most committed and devoted nanny you've ever seen. She loved us and our kids selflessly...still does...and she had her eye on Tim. We could not have hand picked a better girl for him. It took some time, but they finally got together. They were long distance for a while, and it was fairly normal for our daughter to tell me she talked to Tim on FaceTime with Shannon last night. The long distance was tough and had it's ups and downs, but they made it work. About a year or so later, he asked us to be present at their engagement at one of their favorite places.And this Saturday, Kyle will be performing their marriage ceremony while I photograph it, and cry (hopefully quietly) maybe more than I ever have behind the camera so far.We love, love, love these guys.
griffin's bridal portraits OR red lips all day every day
We haven't blogged in a while, but today it feels like spring down here in Texas. It made me want to blog these beautiful images of Griffin from her bridal portraits last summer. Did you guys know that "bridal portraits" are a southern thing? Sometimes we talk to photographer friends or potential wedding couples in Missouri or Washington or New York and they're like "What are bridal portraits?" lol. The south.But seriously, if these photos don't make you ladies want to put on a wedding dress and red lipstick...then bless your heart.
