Second Shooter // 17 // Celebrations on the Bay

Let’s chat for a moment about things not going as planned.

Last Tuesday morning, just as I was about to hit the snooze button on my alarm for the seventh-ish time, my phone rang instead. It was Ben. He said something about a car accident, rear-ended, but he was okay. Thank god.

I was so relieved…until I saw the crumpled wreckage of our brand-new, less-than-a-year-old car that was supposed to last until our future children are old enough to drive, being loaded onto a tow truck. It broke my heart. Trust me, if I had to choose, I would absolutely pick having my brand-new husband make it out of the accident alive over the brand-new car making it out alive, but it was totally not in my plan to have to deal with the fall out from what was really and truly an accident.

However, there are ways this could have been so much worse, and I am so grateful it wasn’t. What if it had been me on my way to a client’s wedding, instead of Ben, who was able to work the rest of the day from home? What if we didn’t have a second car or the option of a more reliable rental car?

There is always the possibility of something going wrong on your wedding day. That’s life, even though we don’t like to talk about it. We take precautions – we sign contracts, we buy insurance. But we can’t live our lives planning for the worst either. We hope for the best and cross our fingers that if the worst happens, we can find a way to deal.

I know without a doubt, that if something were to happen on my way to a wedding or a photo shoot, that I would do whatever it takes to be there. Part of being a wedding photographer is working under pressure and being flexible when things don’t go exactly according to plan, so when things seemingly fall apart, I know I can remain level-headed and continue to make beautiful pictures.

But there are times where maybe it’s not my own emergency that I have to work around. It can be devastating to the mood of the day when something happens in the lives of the bride or groom, or even a member of the wedding party. It can be so hard to separate the happiness of the event from the not-so-happy feelings that come when bad things happen or when things don’t meet our expectations. In this case, I always bring to mind my favorite lesson from The Happiness Project: act the way you want to feel – or act the way you want everyone else feel. Happiness is contagious.

So sometimes, it’s my job not only to make cheerful pictures, but to bring the happy energy. To do whatever it takes to make sure that there are smiles and true joy during the day. Whether that’s pulling the couple away from everyone for a quiet moment so that they can remember how wonderful it feels just to be together. Or making a silly joke during formal portraits to get everyone laughing and smiling.

And for the record, there’s no one better at this than Dani, who was definitely bringing the positive energy to this wedding. And at the end of it, I’m so proud of the photos we made, because they are really and truly reflective of this being the happiest day of the couple’s life, regardless of what may have gone not-so-right, or perfectly right after all.

On a very happy note, I’m obsessed with these gold glittered shoes.

Also, this wonderful quote about accepting whatever happens came at just the right moment last week. Definitely a keeper.