If you’ve never photographed a wedding before, you might not realize that a lot goes into it. John and I typically cover each wedding day for an average of eight hours, and in between that time we’re shooting details, family formals, bridal party shots, ceremony, posed portraits, etc. We move trash cans out of the backgrounds of pictures, clean up clutter from the foreground, and stage details so they look beautiful. We give people helpful hints on where to stand for the best, most flattering light, set up off camera flash during receptions to add a pretty glow, and help people look their best by either posing them, or giving them tips. But by far, the most important thing we do, is capture moments as they unfold. The past 50 or so weddings I’ve shot have taught me to stay on my toes and anticipate these moments almost before they even happen. I live for these moments because they are what truly tells the story of each wedding day and makes it unique. These are the honest, unscripted moments that evoke emotion and will live to tell the story of the day long after it’s over.

It was definitely hard to narrow them down, but here are just a few of my favorite “unscripted” candid moments from 2013 weddings!

I’ve never seen a bride so happy and radiant…as it starts POURING literally minutes before her wedding ceremony. Emily, you are awesome!

Sean is more of a serious guy with a quiet demeanor, so capturing this huge smile on his face was something that made me really happy! One of all time favorite images!

Maureen was overwhelmed with joy when she and Jess exchanged gifts at their first look…both of their reactions were priceless!

I loved this emotional moment between Sam and Vernon right before their wedding ceremony…they chose to pray together on either side of a door.

Nic’s reaction to seeing his bride, Sarah walking down the aisle was one of the most emotional I’ve ever seen and one of my favorites to date!

I loved Bill’s playful fist pump as he and Sarah shared their first kiss as husband and wife. These two are playful and sweet together, so this was such a fitting image to have been able to capture!

This image that John captured is one of my favorite moments of 2013 because it captures Meagan and Chris SO well!

Ann Carlisle and Ryan became dear friends of ours throughout the course of their time as our clients, so this image particularly makes me really happy!

One thing I love to do throughout the day is capture the reactions of friends and family to events as they happen…I turned around during Sam and Vernon’s first dance together to sneak this adorable picture of her bridesmaids who had teared up watching them dance 🙂

I definitely teared up during Robin and Patrick’s playful happy dance at their first look! This interaction is one of the reasons I love first looks so much!

Emily and Tommy’s ceremony was incredibly moving…part of it was a footwashing ceremony where they washed each other’s feet as their officiant talked about how one of the biggest parts of marriage is serving the other. This, and the way Tommy looked at Emily so tenderly really touched me!

Another emotional image from a first look…Loved the look of joy on Greta’s face as she sees Allie for the first time!

Loved this cute moment where Shea snuck a peek at her groom right before the first look!

Chrissy was such a cute bride! She ran into her soon to be mother in law on the way to the first look and her reaction was adorable!

Kala and her mom were so sweet together! This moment from right after Kala got dressed was so touching.

Last, but not least, here’s a fun image I loved from Ann Carlisle and Ryan’s reception…he planned out a surprise dance to several of Justin Timberlake’s songs which he performed with his groomsmen!

I just wanted to say thank you SO much to all of my 2013 clients for letting me into your lives to document such a big day for you. It is seriously such an honor to get to do this for a living!!