08/10/2026
Some weddings just mean a little more.
Karen, Michael’s sister, was one of my very first paying clients. Since then, I’ve gotten to watch their family grow, photograph so many chapters of their lives, and somehow, along the way, become a small part of the family myself.
And this year has not been an easy one for them.
There have been a lot of lows.
But this day was a high worth celebrating.
I knew going into it that this one was going to feel different. I cried when I got there. I cried during the ceremony. And then I cried all over again while editing these photos.
Because as happy as this day was, you could feel the people who physically couldn’t be there.
Not in a way that took away from the celebration, but in all the little ways that reminded you they were still a part of it.
In an extra-long hug.
In a look across the room.
In the tears that came out of nowhere.
In the way everyone seemed to hold each other a little closer.
And then there was Michael and Maria.
Getting married. Popping champagne. Laughing. Loving on each other. Letting themselves have this really, really happy day in the middle of a season that hasn’t always given them many reasons to celebrate.
I think that’s what got me the most.
Life doesn’t wait until everything is perfect to give us something worth celebrating.
Sometimes the happiest moments happen right alongside the hardest ones.
And being trusted to photograph both, not just what this day looked like, but everything it carried with it, meant more to me than I can really explain.
This family has trusted me with their memories for years.
This one I’ll hold onto, too.
