This is the image I used for Pam Zola Weddings' 2015 holiday card. It was taken this past summer. To the far left, the gorgeous bride, that's my sister. Trailing behind her are her closest friends who, frequently the case with bridesmaids, are like family. Along the right is my handsome husband, and me, carrying our then three-month-old son. In the foreground are my sweet niece, the flower girl, and my nephew, who charmed and amazed every guest by playing the ceremony music, solo. In this moment, we are carefully heading down a kind of muddy and potentially slippery slope, away from the historic stone house on my (almost) brother-in-law's family's farm where we had just spent time waiting out a pretty epic rainstorm, towards the ceremony site.
I chose this photo because it's personal and it represents what I love most about weddings:
Intimacy. All of those moments that make up a wedding day that are so potentially ordinary, but because of the specialness of the day, those who are sharing it with you, and because (if you get just the right photographer who snaps at just the right moment) they are captured so poetically and full of emotional action.
Family. The ways that families come together and interact on this day, the things that are said and felt and remembered. It's all so beautiful, expansive, powerful and gets me choked up in the best possible way.
Beauty. There is a lot of outer beauty happening on a wedding day, but what really gets me is all the inner beauty that's exposed and vulnerable and celebrated.
Unpredictability. After all of the meticulous planning that goes into a wedding, there is always some degree of unpredictability: there could be windy weather for your outdoor ceremony; you may actually love the way you look in fake eyelashes (because they're awesome!); a guest could cancel at the last moment. Unpredictability is part of this day and every other. The beauty is in being able to react to that unpredictability with flexibility and problem solving. And because, as a bride, you should not have to be flexible or a problem solver on this day, that's where your wedding planner comes in!
Let's talk more about how I can help you create intimacy and beauty on your wedding day, and how I can expertly plan your wedding to minimize the unpredictability and take care of it when it arises. Email me at pam@pamzolaweddings.com
Photo credit to the talented Jillian Mitchell who captured some of my favorite photos ever.