Like coming back from vacation and looking at life and work with a fresh start, it takes some time and a step away for me to think about our recent weddings.

It was extremely hard to look through 40,000 photographs from our 2009 weddings to pick 3 or 4 from each wedding that tell the essence of a couple’s wedding day.

We’re going to go back and post more photographs from each wedding. We know our brides and grooms like to look at weddings for ideas, whether dresses, tuxes, cakes or details.

But I wanted to include photographs that spoke to me – that captured a fleeting moment in time. I see a part of myself in each of these photographs – they represent how I felt about each wedding. Of course we photograph families, friends ceremonies, dancing and details. But I think the most meaningful photographs are those when a bride or groom is not aware of the camera, let down their guard and reveal their true personality and feeling.

We’re unlike any other vendor at a wedding. Florists and cake artists drop off their work and leave, rarely interacting with the bride and groom. We spend a lot of time together with our couples from our initial meetings and engagement session through wedding day. We’ve built a special relationship that allows us capture moments like these –  our couples have to be comfortable with us to let us into their world and become a part of their friends and family.

We’re so busy during wedding season, processing and editing, photographing engagement sessions, running our business. It’s very long hours and we move from one task to the next without thinking. This little January break has allowed me to step back and reflect – to realize again how much I love my work.

Barb and I have been married for a long time – 25 years this August – and like anything life becomes routine. But every week, in a way, we renew our vows. We see the love and affection of our newlyweds and steel a glance at each other and nod. It brings back that moment when Barb first walked down the aisle and thet flood of emotion and love.

We would like to thank all of our couples for trusting us to tell the story of their wedding day. You’ve enriched our lives. We can’t wait for this year’s wedding season!