Leap Day Wedding
I had the pleasure of shooting a wedding on Leap-Day this year!
29 February 2020
I was delighted that my fun wedding clients decided to get married on a day that is so memorable and rare.
The reality of any marriage anniversary is that the day is unique for the couple, but rarely unique for anyone else. A day like February 29th is one day out of 366 that is specific to not only the celebrating couple, but also the world!
This awesome couple elected to choose a day that would be memorable for everyone.
Sarah and Brian have the coolest story. Their romance is remarkable, as remarkable as their wedding date.
When I first met Sarah and Brian, they took me hiking. Seriously. We met up at a spot a few miles past Moscow and we hiked up a massive hill to capture their engagement photos. I’ve met a lot of amazing people while photographing love stories, but this was the first time someone asked me to go hiking to capture them in their natural element.
For that reason, I made sure to capture lots of images of them outside on their wedding day. These two like the great outdoors.
The second time I met with Sarah was at an ice cream parlor to discuss the timeline of her wedding day. This, too, was out of the ordinary. I usually meet my brides at coffee shops or restaurants. We usually go over my wedding questionnaire while we eat nachos or sip wine. Not for Sarah! At her suggestion, we got ice cream at a little shop in Moscow and it was a really delightful way to spend an hour.
These two elected to do a lot of out of the ordinary things on their wedding day. They had no flower girl or ring bearer, no wedding party at all. Instead, they asked their close friend to officiate their marriage, so they stood up with a pal while they made their union official.
Sarah wrote the script for the ceremony and the language was just as unique as I know Sarah and Brian to be. None of the usual language I’ve heard in many ceremonies, instead, they opted to capture their actual story.
Sarah went to high school with a local musician (local legend!) who agreed to play and sing for both their ceremony and reception.
When I walked into the venue I was delighted to see that the musician, Shania Rales, had a glass of beer and was playing a cover of a Matt Nathanson song. She is an excellent choice for a wedding musician, for those of you who are looking. Her covers are fun, her voice is unique and gorgeous, and her personality is kind and unassuming. She is the type of person who makes you feel like an old friend.
Per the couple’s wishes, there was no official dance floor at the reception. That didn’t stop the younger guests for dancing. A few kiddos twirled around to every song that Shania played
Sarah and Brian spent about an hour with me before their ceremony. In this time we took about a hundred images. I sent them off last week, sad to see my final project go. In light of the current pandemic, I felt all the fear that this would be my last wedding of 2020 and I wasn’t ready to say good bye to my editing project.
Still, it’s my job to deliver images and wow my clients, so I sent the gallery off as soon as it was done, three weeks before my deadline. I know what it’s like to wait for images so I always want my clients to get them back as soon as possible.
Sarah and Brian, thanks for inviting me to capture your wedding day. I don’t remember that many Leap-days, though I’ve experienced 4, but I am sure I’m correct when I say that your wedding was my favorite Leap-day I’ve ever had!
