Nightmares of a first time wedding photographer
Well, in case you didn't know it, I'm a little crazy! I over think and re-think and dream about situations that I often times have absolutely NO control over! The wedding John and I photographed was really no exception! It wasn't something I EVER wanted to do, Holly, the bride, talked me into it with her sweet talking and compliment riddled emails. Thanks as well to John and a couple other people oozing with confidence in me. Everyone seemed to be sure of the fact that I could in fact accomplish this feat, except myself.
So, after I prayed about it and pinched myself to make sure I wasn't just in some crazy nightmare, I agreed to be the wedding photographer. Wow! Seriously, I lost sleep for about the first week after I said yes. I was dreaming about photos and layouts and catastrophes. I had major second thoughts. But, after the first week of craziness, it stopped and normal life resumed. Well, granted, this was probably because my more current fear was playing guitar and leading the Women's Study worship in January! God was very gracious in comforting me and giving me strength and taking away my fears. It was an awesome experience because knowing how I am, I knew the peace could only be from Him!
I poured over websites, friends photos, and books from the library. Sometimes leaving encouraged and sometimes overwhelmed. There is SO much information out there, I think that sometimes it can be to our detriment!
January came and went and while I did get nervous in the 30 minutes before I led worship, I still felt His peace. His all surpassing, encompassing peace. It was wonderful! Then, February arrived. I was pondering the wedding more but not excessively, yet. I think it wasn't until John's birthday weekend that I started pondering the magnitude of what I was about to do, the very next weekend. I felt the heavy weight of fear upon my shoulders again. We were killing time before our movie, Paul Blart Mall Cop - VERY FUNNY!, in a Barnes & Noble and looking at, surprise - surprise, photography books. Tons & tons of photography books! Did this ease my mind? Make me feel excited about my upcoming endeavor? NO! It added immensely to the weight already resting upon my shoulders. And, proceeded to leave me with an upset stomach the rest of the day. At this point, I was once again asking myself why I had succumbed to Holly's plea. In case you don't know this about me, I'm a sucker for a compliment, or a kind word, or any inclination that you like who I am or what I can do. I've read Psalm 139 over and over and I know the value He puts on my life. I, to a great fault, tend to value the opinions of others above His opinion. I'm trying tirelessly to change this in my own children so they will be confident in who He made them. Not who someone else thinks they are. Anyhow, back to the story...
The next couple days were spent getting the bathroom ready for a long awaited remodel job. A wonderful distraction to what was looming in my mind. It's amazing how the excitement of a new bathroom and disorienting lack of a toilet where you're used to having one can distract you from tons of worry! However, Thursday we looked over our list of photos and must haves for our camera bag and it brought everything to the forefront of my mind. Oh no, WHAT am I doing?!?!? In just TWO days I was going to be responsible for the failure or success of someones wedding photos. I'd already been having some itching issues but these quadrupled Thurs. and still remain with me today, now 3 days after the wedding! I hardly slept at all Thurs. night and Friday night. You wouldn't believe the thoughts and dreams that passed through my consciousness. Thus, the title for this blog! Let me fill you in on the ones that have lingered for me to remember...
No memory card in the camera
Batteries die
Miss THE first kiss
Sleep in too late and miss the wedding
We get murdered in our sleep and because the kids were sleeping over at a friends, no one knows to tell Holly & Paul
ALL the pictures suck
I trip in front of everyone AND break the camera
The memory card malfunctions and loses all the pics
The memory card is stolen - don't laugh, this has really happened, to us!
Our equipment is stolen, John read me a story about how common this is, thanks John, I needed to have more to worry about!
Holly hates the pictures and yells at me, if you knew Holly, you'd know this would NEVER happen!
Someone in the wedding party is a wedding photographer and they roll their eyes at me and/or take over and show me "how it's done"
I end up in the wrong spot at the wrong time
I split my pants
What if I wear the wrong thing?
I end up not having a bag that will work to carry around my "what if" supplies and HAVE to use a fanny pack! GASP!
What if I get the stomach flu?
Ok, this is all I remember but there were two full, sleepless nights filled to the brim with all these exasperating situations! The only one that actually proved to be useful was the one about the memory card. One of our back-up cameras actually didn't have a memory card in it AND, the batteries were almost dead! But, we would have discovered this when we were checking our bags Friday night.
Friday was our 16th wedding anniversary. We asked if we could attend the rehearsal to get a better idea of where to stand etc. I was too big a chicken though to actually jump in and figure it all out. John messed with some things but knowing that the lighting was going to be totally different the next day, it was hard to have a genuine idea of what it would be like. We came home, had a nice dinner with just the two of us and then checked our bags and equipment.
Saturday morning we got up early and had time for a quick breakfast out, my favorite, before we took showers and got dressed for the wedding. This was mostly uneventful, unless you factor in the near panic attack on the drive to the church. Oh my, I don't think I've ever been so nervous! Except for the one time we had to do a skit in my English class to showcase a portion of a book we were reading. I went to the office and had them call my G-ma to excuse me from school. My G-ma, trusting me, did just that and I was home free! I got out of being a part of it I was so nervous! I wanted to default to John and just have him do it. I knew I couldn't do that though! We arrived on time, even a little early, and got to work. Once I started, I hated to admit it but, it was kind of fun! The lighting was kind of stinky inside. Plus a little pink, they had these pinkish filters on most of the spots that gave a lot of the pictures this nice pink hue. Thankfully it's nothing too difficult for our photo program. Just pull a little red out of each picture!
Once the ceremony started the nerves picked back up. I ended up sitting on the bottom step of the stage to get the shots of the processional. We decided this was better than the back and forth squatting. The aisle runner had already been tripped on and ripped, not by me, and I didn't want that nightmare to come true! Once again, the nerves subsided and it became almost fun! The rest of the day went smoothly. We each only needed our one battery and memory card. Neither of us even had to consider what was in our "just in case" bag. The only thing that I frequently turned to was my list. I almost brought a pen so I could check off the shots Holly wanted as I took them. Despite my STRONG allegiance to being a list person - especially the checking off part, I didn't bring a pen. It was ok though. I knew I could always check them off at home!
The reception proceeded along just fine as well. Whew!
The only camera malfunction came when John's froze during their exit through the bubbles! That's why you have two photographers! I got the pictures so it was all good! Had we just had one camera, we would have missed it! By the time he got his back on they were in their car.
They were on a time crunch to avoid extra costs and the reception ended earlier than we had anticipated. That gave us extra time to go to Starbucks and use, yep, you guessed it, another gift card, and upload the photos. Imagine my relief when I realized they weren't half bad! Ahhh, finally, the weight lifted and I knew that I could rest in Him and the gifts that He's given me! God is so good to come through for us! It's even sweeter when we can acknowledge that the gift is from Him!
We finished looking at the pics and met up with some friends for a wonderful evening! I celebrated with a Coke at dinner! For those of you that already knew how crazy and psychotic I was, thanks for your prayers, I surely wouldn't have made it through without them!
So, after I prayed about it and pinched myself to make sure I wasn't just in some crazy nightmare, I agreed to be the wedding photographer. Wow! Seriously, I lost sleep for about the first week after I said yes. I was dreaming about photos and layouts and catastrophes. I had major second thoughts. But, after the first week of craziness, it stopped and normal life resumed. Well, granted, this was probably because my more current fear was playing guitar and leading the Women's Study worship in January! God was very gracious in comforting me and giving me strength and taking away my fears. It was an awesome experience because knowing how I am, I knew the peace could only be from Him!
I poured over websites, friends photos, and books from the library. Sometimes leaving encouraged and sometimes overwhelmed. There is SO much information out there, I think that sometimes it can be to our detriment!
January came and went and while I did get nervous in the 30 minutes before I led worship, I still felt His peace. His all surpassing, encompassing peace. It was wonderful! Then, February arrived. I was pondering the wedding more but not excessively, yet. I think it wasn't until John's birthday weekend that I started pondering the magnitude of what I was about to do, the very next weekend. I felt the heavy weight of fear upon my shoulders again. We were killing time before our movie, Paul Blart Mall Cop - VERY FUNNY!, in a Barnes & Noble and looking at, surprise - surprise, photography books. Tons & tons of photography books! Did this ease my mind? Make me feel excited about my upcoming endeavor? NO! It added immensely to the weight already resting upon my shoulders. And, proceeded to leave me with an upset stomach the rest of the day. At this point, I was once again asking myself why I had succumbed to Holly's plea. In case you don't know this about me, I'm a sucker for a compliment, or a kind word, or any inclination that you like who I am or what I can do. I've read Psalm 139 over and over and I know the value He puts on my life. I, to a great fault, tend to value the opinions of others above His opinion. I'm trying tirelessly to change this in my own children so they will be confident in who He made them. Not who someone else thinks they are. Anyhow, back to the story...
The next couple days were spent getting the bathroom ready for a long awaited remodel job. A wonderful distraction to what was looming in my mind. It's amazing how the excitement of a new bathroom and disorienting lack of a toilet where you're used to having one can distract you from tons of worry! However, Thursday we looked over our list of photos and must haves for our camera bag and it brought everything to the forefront of my mind. Oh no, WHAT am I doing?!?!? In just TWO days I was going to be responsible for the failure or success of someones wedding photos. I'd already been having some itching issues but these quadrupled Thurs. and still remain with me today, now 3 days after the wedding! I hardly slept at all Thurs. night and Friday night. You wouldn't believe the thoughts and dreams that passed through my consciousness. Thus, the title for this blog! Let me fill you in on the ones that have lingered for me to remember...
No memory card in the camera
Batteries die
Miss THE first kiss
Sleep in too late and miss the wedding
We get murdered in our sleep and because the kids were sleeping over at a friends, no one knows to tell Holly & Paul
ALL the pictures suck
I trip in front of everyone AND break the camera
The memory card malfunctions and loses all the pics
The memory card is stolen - don't laugh, this has really happened, to us!
Our equipment is stolen, John read me a story about how common this is, thanks John, I needed to have more to worry about!
Holly hates the pictures and yells at me, if you knew Holly, you'd know this would NEVER happen!
Someone in the wedding party is a wedding photographer and they roll their eyes at me and/or take over and show me "how it's done"
I end up in the wrong spot at the wrong time
I split my pants
What if I wear the wrong thing?
I end up not having a bag that will work to carry around my "what if" supplies and HAVE to use a fanny pack! GASP!
What if I get the stomach flu?
Ok, this is all I remember but there were two full, sleepless nights filled to the brim with all these exasperating situations! The only one that actually proved to be useful was the one about the memory card. One of our back-up cameras actually didn't have a memory card in it AND, the batteries were almost dead! But, we would have discovered this when we were checking our bags Friday night.
Friday was our 16th wedding anniversary. We asked if we could attend the rehearsal to get a better idea of where to stand etc. I was too big a chicken though to actually jump in and figure it all out. John messed with some things but knowing that the lighting was going to be totally different the next day, it was hard to have a genuine idea of what it would be like. We came home, had a nice dinner with just the two of us and then checked our bags and equipment.
Saturday morning we got up early and had time for a quick breakfast out, my favorite, before we took showers and got dressed for the wedding. This was mostly uneventful, unless you factor in the near panic attack on the drive to the church. Oh my, I don't think I've ever been so nervous! Except for the one time we had to do a skit in my English class to showcase a portion of a book we were reading. I went to the office and had them call my G-ma to excuse me from school. My G-ma, trusting me, did just that and I was home free! I got out of being a part of it I was so nervous! I wanted to default to John and just have him do it. I knew I couldn't do that though! We arrived on time, even a little early, and got to work. Once I started, I hated to admit it but, it was kind of fun! The lighting was kind of stinky inside. Plus a little pink, they had these pinkish filters on most of the spots that gave a lot of the pictures this nice pink hue. Thankfully it's nothing too difficult for our photo program. Just pull a little red out of each picture!
Once the ceremony started the nerves picked back up. I ended up sitting on the bottom step of the stage to get the shots of the processional. We decided this was better than the back and forth squatting. The aisle runner had already been tripped on and ripped, not by me, and I didn't want that nightmare to come true! Once again, the nerves subsided and it became almost fun! The rest of the day went smoothly. We each only needed our one battery and memory card. Neither of us even had to consider what was in our "just in case" bag. The only thing that I frequently turned to was my list. I almost brought a pen so I could check off the shots Holly wanted as I took them. Despite my STRONG allegiance to being a list person - especially the checking off part, I didn't bring a pen. It was ok though. I knew I could always check them off at home!
The reception proceeded along just fine as well. Whew!
The only camera malfunction came when John's froze during their exit through the bubbles! That's why you have two photographers! I got the pictures so it was all good! Had we just had one camera, we would have missed it! By the time he got his back on they were in their car.
They were on a time crunch to avoid extra costs and the reception ended earlier than we had anticipated. That gave us extra time to go to Starbucks and use, yep, you guessed it, another gift card, and upload the photos. Imagine my relief when I realized they weren't half bad! Ahhh, finally, the weight lifted and I knew that I could rest in Him and the gifts that He's given me! God is so good to come through for us! It's even sweeter when we can acknowledge that the gift is from Him!
We finished looking at the pics and met up with some friends for a wonderful evening! I celebrated with a Coke at dinner! For those of you that already knew how crazy and psychotic I was, thanks for your prayers, I surely wouldn't have made it through without them!
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