Friday, July 13, 2012

When Life Gives You Lemons


As I mentioned in my last post (Bridezillas), brides tend not to be event planners. As a result, when things go wrong (and they always do), they get frustrated and often ruin their day. Recently I had the pleasure of shooting at a wedding where something went very wrong and the bride and groom took it on the chin and made the best of it. The result? Some really iconic pictures that truly captured their spirit.

S (bride) and R (groom) are both teachers so when they planned their wedding, they wanted lots of details that conveyed that. The centerpieces were apples
 and the table numbers were on mini chalkboards.
Their wedding program was a in the style of a composition notebook. To top it all off, instead of a limo to take them from the ceremony to the reception, they chartered a traditional yellow school bus!
It was a perfect compliment to the theme....

Until it broke down on Atlantic Avenue!

We hadn't gone more than 10 minutes away and were nowhere near where we were planning to take pictures and there we were. Stuck on the busiest street in Brooklyn in a hot, broken down school bus. And that was the tipping point. S could have started to fume and complain and completely destroy her day OR she could roll with the punches and make the best of the situation.  She chose the latter. It was her BEST decision of the day!

There is an old saying that when man plans, God laughs. It speaks to the fact that there is already a plan set out for you regardless of what you think you're going to do.  S realized that the reception hall was actually walking distance away. Furthermore, an iconic Brooklyn building that she had originally wanted to take pictures in front but had gotten scrapped during a logistics meeting, was on the way. It was almost as if she was MEANT to take her wedding photos there. So she summoned up the large wedding party and declared that they were going walk, no...Process down Fulton street to the reception hall!
It was glorious. They stopped traffic to get their group shot.
They walked through a major African market occurring at BAM for Dance Africa like a royal wedding procession. As they turned the corner on the street that the hall was on, a music vendor, blaring music, started to play Lenny William's "I love you". They dropped everything and as Lenny belted out the lyrics "Girl I..I ...I....I....", S and R had their first dance right in the middle of the street!
Magical! All that was left was for the couple to walk down the block to their reception and then they realized that the street had been closed off due to the festival! The were able to walk down the street in grand fashion with S and R in front and their entire party flanking them in celebration!
It couldn't have been planned any better!

I reaffirmed a lot that day. My philosophy has always been based on the two rules:
1.    Don't sweat the small stuff.
2.    It's all small stuff.
It drives my wife crazy but I truly believe that things will work themselves out and the end result may in fact be better than what was originally planned if we just let things unfold. This wedding was a prime example of that and I hope that S and R continue to live their lives like that because, as any married couple will tell you, life sometimes hands you lemons.

Staying in focus....on to the next frame.

Greene Light Photography would like to thank the Browns for giving permission for this blog and the use of their images.

7 comments:

Aqueelah said...

Wow! Such a beautiful post...I must admit I got a little teary eyed. God does work in mysterious ways.

Aisha G of HartlynKids said...

A great blog and great example for other brides that you can't plan for everything but you can plan to be cool and calm and roll with the punches!

Hayden said...

Thank you for the comments. It's absolutely true, Aisha! The one thing a bride should plan to be is CALM!! Thank you for reading.

Mommy Ninja said...

I loved their theme...esp the school bus...what a happy ending to a fantastic story...and p s and by the way, the photos look great too!

Loyal Allen Jr. said...

This felt like a movie script! The bus breakdown brought the Seattle & Brooklyn family closer! Girl you know I love you.... It was like the song was cued up for them as soon as we got on the corner! WE SANG ALL THE WAY DOWN THE STREET! (last pic) I am so thankful I was part of this magical moment! Sade & Ryland Brown thanks for allowing me to be in your wedding! I LOVE Y'ALL

LA

Hayden said...

Thanks Ninja! I knew you would love that theme as a fellow teacher!

Loyal, thanks for the post. You should see all of the other pictures of you from that night. Truly hamming up! Great photo ops!

Cee Boogs said...

Summed up beautifully!!! I am privileged to have been a part of the supportive witnesses!!! God bless my Sis and my new West Coast Bro!!!