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On December 17, 2011 I had the opportunity to shoot my first wedding.

Six months before that special day I went to my first meeting with the bride and groom to be. I think I was more nervous to have the meeting than they were to get married!

I still can’t believe they picked me to shoot their wedding.

We met at Starbucks (of course) and sat outside in the fading summer warmth to discuss their wedding. I had prepped for the meeting for a week and a half. Since I didn’t have a wedding portfolio to show them, I cut out pictures from bridal magazines, organized and double-stick taped them to the pages of a lined theme pad {ghetto-fabulous, I know}. We went through the pictures so that I could get an idea of their style. I made sure to let them know that none of the pictures were mine – and let them know that Lord willing – someday I would be able to shoot photos like that, but I wasn’t there yet.

I even recommended other local photographers who were so much more fabulous than me like Sota and did they know Brad and Nicole Wolf and had they seen their work?

They smiled through the entire meeting… at each other, and at me.

It helped because my heart was beating faster than a typewriter on steroids, yet I muscled up the courage to find my questions and asked what I knew to ask… first about them and their relationship, and then I swallowed up my fear, put on my courage and launched into the wedding questions…

What kind of dress are you getting? (I had a page in my notebook that had a graph out A-line vs. Princess ball gown vs. Mermaid)

What are your colors? (I had another page that had color combinations… cranberry and lemon, grey and fuscia, blue and gold, etc…)

Have you decided on flowers yet and will you to hand-tied bouquets?

I asked about location, timeline, and all of the things that I remembered as a bride were important to me. I watched this incredible couple interact and noticed how the groom-to-be was absolutely charmed by his bride, and how she bloomed in his presence. Their story unfolded before me and I knew – given the chance – that this, THIS was a love story that I was dying to capture on film… err, digital

It wasn’t until much later – and many wedding blogs later – that I learned wedding photographers were not supposed to ask these questions.

Tune in tomorrow for part II of the adventure…