This was a very special wedding for me. Derek is a friend of mine who has, in the past year, become a close one. I’ve known few men with as much integrity as this one, both in work and in life. Derek also happens to be an amazing filmmaker… you can take a look at his latest stunning documentary, here. And he is now married to a very lovely lady… miss Grace is a woman who lives up to her name well.
I have two favorite things about this wedding.
First, this is the only wedding I’ve ever shot in which the ‘first kiss’ as a married couple, was in fact the couple’s first kiss, at all.
They’d never kissed before this moment, out of an amazing quest for purity that they’ve worked hard on together.
I don’t think most folks… myself included… can scarcely imagine making that commitment. Yet I’ll forever be inspired by it.
My second favorite thing about this wedding, is that they totally had a brinner reception.
If you don’t know what brinner is… oh my. You may not have truly lived.
Brinner is breakfast… for dinner. It’s pretty fantastic. And this wedding also is unique in that I’ve never seen breakfast as the reception food. Mmmmmmmm.
Without further ado, here’s the full day…
these three fellas co-own Amplify Gym together. If you have kids interested in gymnastics, you should check it out.
Grace’s dad MADE all the benches used at the wedding. I’m always kind of blown away by people that just make stuff with their bare hands. It’s a whole different kind of creativity than my own.
The wedding venue was very planned but worked out extremely well. The first choice had been rained out (too muddy), so the couple was able to secure the not-yet-opened ‘Amadeus Ranch‘. It wasn’t 100% finished, but it was still beautiful. Can’t wait to shoot more wedding here in the future.
this is my friend Austin, down in the crowed.
Sometimes, he’s real creepy. But I like him anyway, and this picture makes me laugh.
this is my good friend Colby… he is, in fact, one of my very first friends in Joplin. This is not the most flattering picture to introduce him, but it made me laugh and is dedicated to everyone who ever tried to quickly duck out of a picture I was taking and still ended up in the picture, but with a really awkward ‘I’m trying to get out of the way’ stance.
Knowing Colby, I’m pretty sure this will make him laugh.
*GOOFY BREAK*
I love that these two ran/skipped back to the reception. I promise I didn’t tell them to (If I had, I would’ve told them to run where there weren’t cars in the background, but then that kinda would’ve taken the awesome spontaneity out of it…)
I think Colby was asking if it was time to sign the marriage license…
first dance!
