So whenever I book a new client and I’m going over the part of my contract where it says “if photographer should become too ill to photograph the wedding…” I always interject that I’d literally have to be dying to call in a replacement photographer. Well, this past Saturday was proof of that. Friday I became violently ill and vomited every little thing I tried to eat that day. I came down with a heavy fever and was so uncomfortable I couldn’t sleep. When Saturday morning came and I was still in the same condition, I chose to approach the situation by going the whole day without eating so my body would have nothing left to expel, which of course led to the risk of passing out. I took my chances.

I finally arrived at the ceremony site light headed, but with five minutes to spare. Bubbly bride Heather said hello and informed me that she had decided to wait to get ready at the Reading Liederkranz so she could squeeze in a few getting ready shots. I stalled her just one more minute to take the dress and the shoes down by the bar for a couple quick photos.

Unfortunately, the Reading Liederkranz didn’t really have much of a selection of private areas inside the building, so we made do with the attic.

The ceremony followed shortly after, but not before I had a chance to take a shot or two of some of the cute little details Heather set out.

I noticed right away that the lighting at the ceremony site could easily be my best friend or my worst enemy. With bright light to the couples’ backs and dark shade to their front I had to overexpose these photos just enough to get some light on their faces without blowing out the whole photo. Looking at the final product, I totally dig the dreamy feel.

The officiant, Pam, impressed me by taking a few steps off to the left right after saying “you may kiss the bride,” therefore facilitating one of the best actual first kiss shots I’ve had the privilege of taking (left). I’ve paired it with a kiss shot we took a little later during the bride & groom shots.

Speaking of bride and groom photos, we found out that the awesome giant Asian Pagoda we were supposed to go to was unexpectedly closed for a downhill race. We didn’t have enough time scheduled for these to go any farther than a couple of minutes down the road, so we were forced to settle for a the only place we could get to in that time – a war memorial park. The only things in the park were a bench, some trees and a soldier’s memorial which would have been morbid to take wedding pictures in front of. Without an interesting location, photography becomes all about angles and anything else you can do to make the photo more interesting. Like focusing on the couple for example…

Or ducking so far down into a small uncut patch of grass it looks like you are in a beautiful field instead of a small section of dead overgrown lawn.

We returned to the reception and I snapped a few photos of the cupcake tower before the couple’s first dance. The DJ held the button down on the fog machine just a second too long on this one, but it made for a cool picture before the fog spread.

Dancing was followed by drinking, more dancing, and many trips to the bathroom for me after I attempted to eat just four green beans.

I have to say, though, my favorite part of the wedding was getting to witness the most brutal cake smashing yet! Congratulations Heather and John!