As I was looking for a photographer, many of the images in their portfolios seemed “cookie cutter” like. They seemed to have very similar poses, and as I would be flipping through hundreds of pictures, they started to look all the same. Only di...fference would be the venue, bride, and groom. Those who know us, know we are FAR from cookie cutter! We are a couple of fun, adventurous, and spontaneous human beings. After all, we did meet in Japan while we were both serving in the Marines.
I would get more frustrated the closer our wedding date approached, and we still didn’t have engagement photos for our save-the-dates. Having a photographer is one of the most important details for any wedding, and I refused to pick just anyone who was going to match our budget. My MIL sent me one “hail mary” of a link knowing exactly what I was looking for. It was the link of Chrissy’s Photography Website. I started looking at all the couples she had photographed over the years and as I clicked to go to the next image I could almost hear the laughter through my laptop screen of these amazing couples she had beautifully captured. That link was the answer to all my frustrations. Her images captured the twinkle in the grooms eyes as he saw his soon to be wife for the first time, or the tear rolling down the father’s cheek as he gave his baby girl away. I knew she had to be our photographer! I wanted those images of my special day to be captured by her and turned into not just some picture frame on our mantel, but a work of art.
Due to my busy schedule with work, and my need to have our engagement session as soon as possible, I was unable to meet her in person for the first time. She was super understanding and we did a phone conference instead. Even as I spoke to her over the phone, I could not get over the sense of how passionate she was about her photography.
I felt that our pictures NEEDED to be outdoors as most of our adventures were outside, he even asked me to marry him on one of our spontaneous camping trips. We had scheduled our engagement session on what was suppose to be beautiful sunny week, but became a cloudy rainy one. The days just seem to fly off the calendar, I could feel the pressure of the BIG day getting closer, rescheduling would not be an option. My phone rang the night before, and I thought she was going to cancel. Chrissy knew how important it was to us to have an outdoor shoot, so she asked if we were comfortable shooting in the rain. My jaw literally dropped!!! That’s when her dedication just started to shine! I am not a photographer, but I do know a little bit about lighting, shutter speed, and of course about how water and expensive electronic equipment don’t mix!
The next day this beautiful blonde came out of her SUV and introduced us to her “umbrella holder” husband! You guys!!!! She actually brought her husband with her to help hold an umbrella for her!! They say a picture is worth a million words, well just look at how much of a committed artist she is. This blonde was almost knee deep in a fast flowing creek, climbing slippery tree trunks and all while she steadily held a camera to make sure we had the shots we wanted. She truly holds up to the saying “adapt and overcome”, and that she did by managing not only to create new memories of us splashing around, getting muddy and wet, but turned a campground into a romantic rainy outdoor photo-op. With her quick turn-around time, I was able to get our Save-the-Dates out!