In March, I had the pleasure of photographing Stephanie and John, for their wedding at the Lord Mansion in Olympia, Washington. What began as a normal wedding photography session, with the usual candid and family shots, quickly turned into a series of humorous events that made this wedding somewhat more memorable and spontaneous than most weddings I have photographed.
Upon arriving, I met the bride and her mother who asked me to photograph some of the guests. Perfect! It's a great way for the guests to get used to my presence and for me to get my equipment dialed in. I noticed a majority of the guests were in a particular room so after shooting a few detail scenes of the facility, I entered the room only to discover one of the groomsmen was not fully clothed. He was not concerned, given the number of people around him, but I opted to photograph him later.
The Missing Groomsmen
Though I had met the bride prior to the wedding, I had not met her groom. When I found him, I asked him where I could find his groomsmen. He did not know, but pointed in the general direction he thought they might be. I found a group of similarly aged men, so I asked them if they were the missing groomsmen. "No," was the answer. "What's a groomsman?" was asked by another fellow. A minute later, one of the men decided he would be a groomsman so, after discussing the idea with them, I officially nominated them "groomsmen for the day." Later, it turned out they actually were the groomsman. I think they were pulling my leg but after a bit of reprimanding from the groom, they insisted they had forgotten.
Now on to one of my favorite candids in all of my wedding photography. To make it easier to follow, I set up the photos in order of sequence.
Bride Tosses Bouquet
I know it's a little hard to see, but the bride has tossed the bouquet from the balcony. Pretty normal, right? Except that the groomsmen are trying to catch it!
Groomsman Catches Bridesmaid
Here we see the first groomsman missed the bouquet, but the second one, hoping to succeed where the first failed, has actually caught one of the bridesmaids!
Groomsman Tackles Bridesmaid
Fully committed to catching the bouquet, the bridesmaid is unable to move out of the way of the groomsman, and down she goes! The bouquet goes to the man in the back and the "tackle of the year" is awarded to our groomsman.
Okay, So Who Catches the Garter?
Fortunately, no one was hurt will no ill will towards anyone. The remainder of the day proceeded smoothly, right up to the bride's dad catching the garter. Wait, is that right?
