Good afternoon, everyone! I hope you’re all doing well and having a great start to your week!

For this weeks blog, I wanted to go over my experience Second-Shooting for Bright and Bloom Photography at Madison and Christian’s Wedding in Critz, VA last month! I had such a fun experience working with Caitlyn for the first time, and my 5th Wedding overall! In this blog, I’ll be giving you all a recap of what the experience looked like for me, everything I learned, and some goals I’d like to accomplish with Ruhe Liebe.

As always – find you a comfy seat, a nice warm blanket, and your favorite morning/afternoon beverage! Let’s dive into it all together!

Prepping for the Day

Other than the usual batteries, extra memory cards, cords, tripods, etc. – one of my favorite items to bring along to Weddings/longer event days has been my Husband’s SmallRig “beefcake” (as I call it) battery. Especially towards the more chaotic or important parts of those days where my attention and focus needs to stay on a specific person/group of people and I won’t have as much free time/opportunities to be switching batteries around (i.e. during the ceremony of a Wedding).

I decided to just use my typical 50mm lens for the day rather than using a zoom lens or switching between to keep things as simple as possible since I’m still getting used to photographing Weddings and I truly think it made a world of a difference from last time in how I was able to go about and handle the day without getting overwhelmed by a ton of gear and different settings, etc.. It was so nice to not have to stress about it all and I truly think my photos came out much better this time around because of it!

Madison + Christian’s Big Day!

Arriving to the Reynold’s Homestead in Critz, VA was definitely a process. If you know me, you know I can be a bit prone to car sickness (especially when driving along the roller coaster that is the Virginia highways), and I’m not too ashamed to say I was glad that Caitlyn was taking her time with their flat lay photos when I got there. It legit felt like I had just gotten off a ride at the fair and definitely needed a second to shake the jitters off. Nothing could’ve helped me more than some chatting with the Mother of the Bride and a few others – and realizing how cool they were! I could immediately tell how much M+C’s day meant to not only them, but all of their friends and family as well.

Shortly after my arrival came detail photos (dresses, shoes, bouquet, etc.) as well as photos with the Groomsmen while all of the ladies finished getting ready. I’m not sure why, but I always feel a “different” kind of excitement when it comes to the Groom/Groomsmen photos on a Wedding Day and Christian and his guys were all so fun to work with! It was so sweet to see how much everyone was so patient and willing to do whatever they wanted or needed to make their day what it needed to be. We quite literally pulled them all the way around and all over that Venue and they were such good sports about it all! As a Photographer, that alone means the world and really set the tone for the entire rest of the day!

The Sweetest Ceremony

Once solo/wedding party/first look portraits were done, it was time to prepare for the ceremony. At the beginning, I was “stationed” at the front of the aisle – Caitlyn at the end near the altar – and we worked like clockwork moving between each other, taking shots of the guests, and making sure nothing was missed in between. It was such a sweet Ceremony, and listening to M+C’s vows to each other pulled some tears out of me a few times! In fact, I don’t think there was a dry eye left to be found by the time everything was said and done.

Immediately after the Ceremony was completed, Madison and Christian took a long moment to say hello and get hugs from all of their friends and family – then directly into family photos. Another thing that I thought was so special (as someone whose family does not particularly care for photos) was how many of their friends and family seemed so eager to be involved in those photos. I know for some Photographers, the group photos are sometimes the most “dreaded” part of the day due to all of the nuances that come along with them (i.e. trying to direct a large group of people, staying organized with the preferred shots, making sure you include all the right people, etc.). For me, I’m not joking when I say I’m so much more likely to cry during these than I am the Ceremony itself. Seeing and feeling all of the love, care, and good times hits me directly in the feels every single time!

First Dances, Speeches, and Food!

As if I hadn’t already sent myself over the ledge of dehydration with all the tears I’d already shed by this point – it was time for the First Dances and Speeches from a few people in their families/Wedding Parties. Some of my favorite moments from this part of the day were; 1. Madison’s First Dance with her Dad 2. Christian’s First Dance with his Mom and 3. Christian’s Sister’s Speech to/about him and their upbringing. I was a whole mess watching Christian cry at all of the beautiful things his sister had to say about him and what it was like growing up alongside each other. I still haven’t found the words to say how beautiful this entire day was from start to finish.

Yet, the day still wasn’t over. We still had some dinner and partying to get to before it was time for me to leave – and that’s exactly what we did! Caitlyn and I snuck away downstairs to the Library for a quiet moment to eat (P&P Catering was delicious, by the way!) and recap how the day had gone so far. It was definitely a hotter day, so we were glad to find a spot anywhere inside so we could wind down a little bit from all of the festivities. Soon enough, though, it was time to make our way upstairs for the rest of the evening.

Final Thoughts & What’s Next

With my time as Caitlyn’s Second-Shooter coming to a close at about 8:00pm, it was time to say my good-byes to everyone and start packing up to leave. As with the entire rest of that day, I felt so full in my heart and grateful for the chance to meet and work with such an amazing Photographer and an equally amazing Bride & Groom and their friends/family. Everyone was so incredibly kind, funny, and you could tell they made it a point to do their best to help Caitlyn and I feel at home with everyone as well. I truly cannot say how happy I was with how the day turned out for me and how much more confident I felt in my images this time around.

As for what I learned from the day – there’s a few things;

• I definitely need to work on investing into a second camera body with a zoom lens for some more variety in the photos that I take on event days. Renting has worked out well for me in the meantime, but I’d really like to make it more of a point to invest in more equipment of my own (especially the things I know I’ll get a lot of use out of).
• On the topic of gear, I really need to work on my confidence working with Flash. The few times I have, I’ve been left feeling a little overwhelmed and discouraged (feeling like my images look better without using flash at all), and I definitely want to turn that around. I’m not naive enough to think I won’t need it in the near future – likely for an event – and I know I obviously won’t get very far continuing to be intimidated by it.
• Less is more sometimes, and I really need to get that through my head!! A huge reason why I know I wayyy overshoot is because I’m always worried that I didn’t get the best angle of something – so I hyper-fixate on it and think the solution to that is taking photos from a billion different angles so I know for sure “atleast one of these has to work“. In reality – I know I just need to work on being more intentional and not being so worried about every single photo I take being “the one”.

Overall, I truly am so happy and grateful to have gotten the chance to be a part of Madison and Christian’s special day. To have the opportunity to gain more experience in your craft is one thing, but to have been able to do so alongside such a wonderful group of people all around is something I will never forget.

To Christian + Madison – Thank you for welcoming me into your space and trusting me to assist in collecting and preserving memories from your special day. You are a stunning couple, amazing humans, and some of my favorite people I’ve gotten to work with overall. I genuinely hope to see you all again sometime and wish you the absolute best or your Marriage!

To Caitlyn – Thank you so much for trusting me to assist you during this Wedding. It was such a pleasure to finally meet and get the chance to work with you, and I’ll never forget you giving me such a wonderful opportunity to gain more experience in Weddings. I’d love nothing more than to continue working alongside you for future events as well!

As always, I look forward to talking to you all next week!

Katelynn | Ruhe Liebe Photography | Ruhe Liebe.Concepts