For some reason a few of my recent posts have magically disappeared. Other than being able to post things, I’m not super web savvy, so in lieu of spending hours trying to retrieve them, I’ll repost for now.

Marshall and Shauna were lovely on their wedding day, and it filled everyone else with hope and happiness. It was great to be photographing another family wedding. It’s an honor we don’t take lightly.

And because I know not seeing the photos when you think they should be there is super annoying, here’s another fun one. Such a personal and happy ceremony. (Not to mention wonderfully decorated- look at those flowers draping over the mantel!)

A few weeks ago, a recent bride – Julia, of Julia and Andy fame… or as I always accidentally call them, Julie and Andia – wrote me an email about how much she loved my “Why I love this photo” feature and that she wanted to do one of her favorite photo of her wedding day. I mean, being a big blog slacker as I’ve been lately, I was first excited to have someone do my work for me, but I was really really excited to see which one she chose. I was so surprised that this was her fav. But also really humbled… because out of all the photos of the day, it’s one that seemed relatively simple. I guess that’s what it is about weddings, and life in general, the little moments that take your breath away. Of course we didn’t know what was going on in Julia’s head as it happened, and the little story below made me cry. And then I kissed my husband, because he’s the one that caught the photo that made the wedding… Read on!

From Julia:

“My wedding day was amazing. I had a very do-it-yourself approach to the wedding and spent countless hours and days and months making everything from the wedding invitations, the table decor, the pew bows, the favors, the seating cards, all the way to the play list and my shoes. I loved being so involved but the time it took was often overwhelming. Then finally, the big day arrived. I expected to be a nervous wreck but found I was surprisingly calm. After getting my hair and makeup done, I went to my sister’s house to meet up with the rest of the bridal party and get dressed. Then everything started to move very quickly. Within no time, we were dressed and headed to the church. A few minutes later, we were lined up and ready to walk down the aisle. I was expecting to get emotional or anxious or nervous any moment, but it still just wasn’t hitting me what was happening. It still sort of felt like a dream.

The ceremony was beautiful and it was now time for my very-soon-to-be husband and I to exchange our vows. The priest instructed us to repeat after him as he read our vows to us. Andy went first. Looking into each others eyes and holding hands, Andy began to say his vows. Repeating after the priest he said, “Julia, I take you to be my husband” instead of saying wife. The priest was the first to notice the mistake but we all quickly caught on. The guests began to giggle and Andy blushed a little. I started to laugh too and looked out to our guests. In that moment, I feel like I woke up. It lightened the mood and make the moment real to me. Finally I relaxed and was filled with joy as my groom and I laugh together and with all of our guests.

In the days after the wedding, I kept thinking about that moment. I was so confident in Ciras Photography that I knew the wedding pictures would be beautiful, but could they have captured that one moment that meant so much to me? I was afraid to ask; if they didn’t capture it I couldn’t blame them. It was probably just two seconds when I looked to the guests and how could they have predicted that would happen or would mean so much to me? As soon as I got the pictures I scanned through the thumbnails looking for the one picture I prayed was there. There it was, exactly as I had remembered it. I was thrilled and reassured that I had made the right decision to choose Ciras Photography. I am so glad that my husband and I decided the photography was such an important aspect that we confidently made the investment. All of the pictures were amazing, but this is by far my favorite photo from the whole day.