Back on August 20 I had the opportunity to photograph my good friend Brian’s wedding. Him and I have been friends since the end of college and in those years we’ve spent a lot of time hiking, camping, sitting around fires, but most importantly just having a good time. His wife, Michelle, is a pretty decent young lady as well. I won’t ever forget the time I met her. I was having a fall harvest party at my house and Brian invited his new girlfriend. Now I don’t know if Brian was playing a trick on her – because this is totally something he would do – but she showed up dressed as Olive Oil from the Popeye cartoons. But it wasn’t a Halloween party – or a costume party. If this was a prank, Brian played the part to the max as he was in full Popeye regalia as well. To this day he claims they had just come from a costume party….
The wedding was in Traverse City, Michigan and it was a beautiful day up at Timberlee. The wind died off and the clouds attempted to stay consistent and it left for a beautiful day of photography. Brian and Michelle are a fun loving outdoors kind of couple and probably spend more time outside than inside – they wanted their wedding to reflect that.
Brian is the one from my crowd that you always have to stay on your toes with – he seems to be the one that can consistently out do me in my inappropriate comments (god bless Michelle). Getting him to keep a straight face through an entire day was going to be work. Even Michelle came to me a few weeks prior and asked me to talk to him about trying to get at least a couple of nice shots. To all of our surprises, he did more than just behave for the photos, he kicked its ass. It turns out “he really is a great guy when it comes down to it” just as so many people kept repeating all night (and apparently, he’s a romantic as well). Him and Michelle made it look so easy that all I had to do was tell them where to stand; they did all the rest. The result of the day is a collection of wedding images that I can be proud of, and I hope they can too.
Brian, Michelle: thank you for asking me to be your photographer. I had a kick ass time and they day was beautiful. I am honored to have been asked. Both of your families are great people and they are what make me enjoy days like this. I look forward to sitting with you around at least one more fire this year before it gets too cold. We’ll make it log-cabin style, not tee-pee.
Pypeline.