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.
