03/13/2022
Closing a Chapter {Danielle Miller Bookend Weddings}
When the rain was forecasted, items weren’t tailored properly and guests were getting sick just before the big day, it didn’t look like Danielle was going to get the wedding she wanted. It didn’t turn out the way she wanted it to the first time either…
It was back in the days of preschoolers and having babysitters that Danielle was a regular in our lives. A treasured babysitter and even a friend, Danielle asked me if I would photograph her wedding. I had never photographed a wedding and had just done some family photos for a couple people—this was way out of my league. Luke said, “Well, if you’re being asked to do a wedding, maybe you should come up with a price list.” I decided to walk through that open door and took another step on my photography journey and with the help of one of Luke’s coworkers, we shot Danielle’s wedding. The rain was fierce and didn’t allow for even one outdoor photo. Thankfully we still captured the day and were able to share some special moments and memories with Danielle. A few years later, Danielle’s marriage fell apart and left her broken hearted. After years of healing, she reconnected with her best friend, Judson, from her freshman year of college who had also experienced the same brokenness she had. Well, it didn’t take all that long and pretty soon a wedding was being planned. Danielle reached out and asked me if I still did weddings. Even though the answer was technically no, for her it was a yes. I had been thinking that I wanted to pursue photography in a different way than I had been and was preparing to end this chapter in order to start another one. When Danielle asked me to do this wedding, I realized that I was being given an opportunity to start and end this phase of my photography journey with her weddings. This time, my second shooter would be the little girl Danielle babysat all those years ago. As New Year’s Day 2022 neared, the weather forecast looked like rain all day long. Discouraged by that and other details that were barely coming together at the last second, we weren’t sure how it was going to go. But in a wild weather day, January 1, 2022 was actually warm, the rain was only sporadic and the most gorgeous fog rolled in as a backdrop over the Chesapeake River and these two committed to forever. Kayleigh Zubrod knocked my socks off with her gorgeous shots and I couldn’t have been more thankful to have her by my side. So here a chapter closes and we’ll see what the next one holds…
