Covid Couple Diaries: Lauren & Jack
Hey everyone! Hannah and I have been wanting to find ways to help anyone planning a wedding right now. We have many ideas of how we can be a resource to you as you ponder your own wedding plans. We want to find ways that are honest and real, not sales pitches for anyone. We do not intend to tell you what to do or think. We just want to provide information for you to help you make whatever decision is best for you. There is no such thing as a singular answer, and we aren’t going to pretend to have all the answers for you. Most couples don’t really know what they really want until their wedding day is over. Sometimes couples buy into lies or fall into pressure from society, family, or even just childhood fantasy. Listen to anyone who has ever had a wedding and you’ll hear the truth. They’ll talk about what they loved and also what they regret. That’s where we come in. We try to take all of our knowledge from having photographed hundreds of weddings, plus having our own, and help give insight into what is real so that once your wedding has come and gone that regret list is so minimal it is laughable. One way we can be a resource for you in “THE UNCERTAIN TIMES,” aka life in the time of Corona, is to let the couples who have had their weddings upended and altered by the Pandemic tell their stories in their own words. Hopefully in their stories you will find something for yourself, whether it be hope, comfort, a new idea or concept… whatever. Jack & Lauren are one such couple, and have been real but have also been incredibly positive in such an uncertain time, and I believe made the most out of their situation. We have been so encouraged by them and we hope you are too! We care about you and hope this blesses you.
Covid Bride: Lauren Fitzgerald
All I could think was, “why is this happening to us… this has to be some pre-wedding nightmare gone HORRIBLY wrong… if only our date was planned just two weeks sooner..” Our wedding was scheduled on our five year dating anniversary, 3/21/20, the very beginning of what we would now know as the “stay at home order”. The anxiety I experienced in the days leading up was that of which I never in my wildest dreams could have imagined. Guests were rescinding their rsvps and state mandated maximum capacity counts were decreasing by the day. My brain couldn’t wrap itself around the very real possibility that the wedding we had been meticulously planning for over seventeen months and that I had dreamed of the last 35 years of my life would not be shared with large portions of family, childhood friends, and even members of our wedding party. It was all falling apart before my eyes and not weeks or months, but just DAYS before. When the max capacity finally landed on less than half of our guest count we made the decision to officially postpone to July, and quite willingly at this point. We even felt a sigh of relief and knew we could finally move forward - with a new plan of course, but at least we had a plan again. And remarkably every single one of our vendors were available on the same day, 7/10/20, at last something seemed to be working in our favor. With this unexpected decision to postpone also came our next decision to allow our original date to still be a positive one. We didn’t want to wait to be husband and wife and that’s when we remembered the simple importance of all of this - our marriage and love for one another. We decided we would now have a Marriage Day and a Wedding Day. While contacting all of our guests to inform them of our last minute change of plans, we simultaneously made arrangements for what would end up being the most romantic and cherished day of our lives. We performed a small ceremony in our own beloved backyard of our first home together surrounded only by our parents and dear friend that was our officiant. I overnighted a new, simple white dress online, and with the help of many of our vendors I was still able to have a bouquet, hair and makeup done, and photos from our amazing photographers that were still happily willing to document this day for us. We even picked up to-go orders from our favorite local BBQ restaurant that we originally hired to cater the wedding as well as cake by the slice from our bakery. My dad gave me away after the short walk down our grassy isle, and through loving tears Jack and I exchanged our own written vows and weren’t too shy to read them aloud knowing the words would only be shared between us and our parents. Those intimate moments we shared together are some that I truly believe we wouldn’t have experienced otherwise amongst all the hustle and bustle of the larger wedding. I will remember every moment, every feeling, every heart flutter and every tear. A few days prior I was struggling with the fear that performing a smaller ceremony first would somehow take something special away from the bigger celebration later. How could it still possibly be the same?? After all, none of this was in the original plans. With a confident grin I can say, it won’t be the same. It will be 100 times better. The stress and pressure immediately melted away and all I can feel now is pure excitement that I can’t wait to celebrate our marriage with our friends and family – finally! We still plan to repeat the ceremony for our guests, but I already know my smile will be twice as big walking down the isle to meet Jack for the second time. Our “Marriage Day” was hands down the best decision we have ever made. Sometimes life presents us with situations that are truly out of our control and all we can do is have faith and make that tough decision to roll with it. I truly feel blessed for this road we ended up on and I no longer agonizingly ask myself why this happened to us, because now I know and I am so thankful. What a beautiful, intimate gift we received amongst all the chaos, and quite the love story we can’t wait to share with our children and grandchildren one day. Through this we have also felt incredibly humbled by the flexibility and generosity of our vendors, many of which we consider more than just business associates now after this crazy ride, and not to mention the outpouring of love and support we have received from our friends and family. We live in a world today where it’s ok to begin new wedding traditions and do what feels right within our own hearts. I have hope that worldwide pandemic or not, more couples will find comfort in embracing the same heart fulfilling sentiment we experienced for their own beautiful love story.
Wedding Lab
I am pumped. Hannah and I have been brainstorming up what we want to blog about, and what I am most excited about is exploring how to do unique weddings. Pinterest has given the impression that weddings are these super creative events in the year 2019, but the truth is that most weddings are pretty similar. They are structured the same, people wear the small basic things, they are decorated similarly, and the photography is usually very conservative and similar too. None of which is even slightly bad or wrong in any way. Traditional weddings are gorgeous, and they are done so because most wedding traditions are great. This blog is not about judging the box that is traditional weddings or even what is trending. It is simply a safe and fun place to consider maybe expanding the box.
So, one of the ways I intend to expand that box as a photographer is from time to time to take some of our photos and just go a little nuts with them. Edit them in unique ways. Take these photos and see what where we can go with them, see what emotions are brought up. Hit or miss, my hope is simply expand my own perspective and yours.
I know, it’s not the craziest edit, but I have wanted to edit a wedding this way forever. This black and white is super contrasty and crisp, but what makes it a little quirky is its slightly yellowish tint. It’s not tan or brown like sepia. It’s almost like a black and white print that has been left out in the sun a bit too long.
If you read this and like it, leave a COMMENT!! I love to chat about photography and I would really enjoy hearing from you. Until next time…
PAIGE & MICHAEL
Paige & Michael are the best. They were married at one of our favorite wedding venues in Dallas, Hickory Street Annex, in Deep Ellum.
Paige & Michael are the best. They were married at one of our favorite wedding venues in Dallas, Hickory Street Annex, in Deep Ellum.
