Happy New Year! I know 2016 was a dumpster fire for a lot of people, but for our little family it was filled with many blessings, silver linings and answered prayers. Much like 2015, it feels like we stuffed 5 years into one. Our son had open heart surgery, my husband Scott took a better position at a different company, I photographed 29 weddings, we were able to see our Atlanta family FIVE times, we were blessed with the love and support of our community, and I now have about ten new forehead wrinkles. On new years a couple of days ago I was shooting a wedding. At the stroke of midnight, I had tears come to my eyes and roll down my face. A flood of emotion came to me while my brain raced through in hyper-speed all of the extremely difficult and extremely happy times we’ve had over the past 12 months. And at the end of that moment I was having with myself, I pushed the button on my camera and took a photo of my two brides sharing their first kiss of the new year. And I felt such a sense of peace and gratitude wash over me. This is the best, I thought. It doesn’t get better than this! And to be honest, I’ve had that feeling at almost every wedding I’ve ever shot.
That’s why I’m more than excited to share this blog today- Best of Weddings 2016. Last year I divided this post into two blog posts: Best of Weddings and Best of Wedding Details. I’m making it all one post this year for a couple of reasons. One, I really don’t believe the “stuff” or details is what makes the weddings. It’s super eye-candy, yes, but I don’t feel like the photos I take of inanimate objects are really what makes me a great photographer. It’s capturing the human interaction. So you will see some “pretty stuff” mixed in in this post, but mostly I wanted it to be about the awesome couples I had this year. Two, last year when I made my Best of Wedding Details blog, I had a whole section of cakes. When I was putting them all together, I realized that I had had at least two slices of each of those cakes *hangs head in shame*. I could have saved myself at least 10 pounds by not eating any of the wedding cakes. But seriously, doesn’t that idea just sound dumb? Now that I’m fat and happy this year, I want to blissfully ignore how much cake I ate, and so I’m not going to give myself that visual reminder.
So without further ado, enjoy this compilation of 2016 weddings. I’m in such awe of how lucky I am to have spent these days with you. I can’t wait for 2017 weddings to begin! Until then, keep a look out as I still have a lot of last years weddings to blog. XO Jess
