To quote Liz Lemon: “What the what?!?!?!”

This past weekend I hit a crazy milestone that is just absolutely blowing my mind. I just shot my 100th wedding. Actually… I shot #101 the next day, so this is already a little out of date. It seems insane that I’ve been able to document the start of that many marriages, but as I look at some of my first weddings they seem like they were decades ago. I’ve had some amazing milestones along the way.

Now, full disclosure: To be technical about it, I shot two weddings prior to the ones shown below, but they were before I considered photography a “job” so I’m not counting them. They were SO long ago that one was shot on film, for my brother, using my dad’s camera, and the other was before I ever considered that photography could be a job. With both of those weddings I didn’t even keep copies of the photos for myself. Even if I wanted to show them to you, I couldn’t! I never thought I’d need them! So… I guess I’m only counting the photography jobs that I would consider to be professional commitments. Not the favors.

As I’ve prepared for this post I’ve been thinking about all of the things that have happened within these 100 weddings. Come on! I’m a wedding photographer… you HAD to expect I’d be a bit sentimental.

So in my six and a half-ish seasons of wedding photography I’ve had some fun things happen. I thought I’d try to round up some of the facts today.

• Of the 100 weddings, about 50 were in the Warsaw/Winona Lake area
• I’ve shot 11 weddings in Illinois and 3 in Michigan. The furthest I’ve traveled was this past weekend to Evansville, which I was shocked to learn is south of both Louisville and St. Louis, but later this summer I’ll be shooting in Eastern Pennsylvania!
• The other 36 weddings were divided between Indianapolis, South Bend, Ft. Wayne, La Porte, Rochester, Culver, Columbia City, Goshen, Nappanee and the Webster/Syracuse lake area.
• I’ve shot two weddings for Russian families, one for a Vietnamese family, one for a Mexican family, one for Brits, one for a Scotsman, several former African missionaries, one Jewish couple, a lottery winner, and one solider. That’s a whole lotta diversity for Northern Indiana.
• I tried to count how many of the couples have had babies since their weddings, and I think it’s close to 20 couples who have had or will very soon have little additions to their families. Many couples, about 15 if my memory serves me correctly, had children that were able to be part of the wedding either from blending families or kiddos that came along before the wedding. A lot of the other couples have opted for puppies, fish, or plants so far.
• Among the weddings I’ve shot, I’ve had weddings for my own niece and nephew and about five different sets of siblings. I love shooting a wedding for the sister of a former bride. It’s so cool to catch up with their family after a year or two.
• I’m ALWAYS amused when a bride sends me an email a year or two after her wedding to ask a question and she opens her email introducing herself and asking if I remember her. Trust me. I remember every. single. wedding. and every couple! No need to introduce yourself in an email later. ;o)
• One of the most impactful memories I have of my career so far as getting a message from a bride letting me know that she had to cancel her wedding after the intended groom had violently abused her. I remember tearfully replying to her email and wishing her hope for true love in the future. The happy ending to that story was when she contacted me again to book her wedding. This time to a man who will cherish her and care for her appropriately. Again, more tears on my part, but this time tears of joy over the bride finding love, joy, and redemption out of such a devastating situation.
• In shooting weddings I’ve taken some of the last photos of grandparents before they’ve passed away and I’ve had the sad honor of providing portraits for several meaningful funerals and memorial services. I’m so glad I’m able preserve some of those fleeting moments for those who are left behind with nothing but grief and memories. To them, those images quickly become priceless.
• I do want to take a quick moment and acknowledge as sensitively as I can that one of the couples below has since divorced. In addition to that, one bride is now deceased from a long hard battle with cancer. I only mention that because I think that only one divorce and one death is actually a very small number. I happen to think that’s pretty cool that 98% of the couples pictured below are doing well!! That’s something to celebrate!
• More than anything, I LOVE that wedding photography has allowed me to meet about a hundred new people every weekend. I’ve made friends with people I never would have met otherwise.
• I’ve found a network of amazing florists, bakers, caterers, DJs, and even other photographers that have become my peers and I’m proud to be counted among them.

More than anything, I’m so happy that I have a job that allows me to make so many new friends and to be touched by their love stories. It’s an amazing opportunity to spend so much time around people who are deeply in love. I have the incredible task of documenting some of the most important days in a person’s life! I still cannot believe that I am invited to participate in such intimate and monumental moments!

Since so many of you have invited ME to be part of YOUR milestones and memories, it seems only fitting that you participate in a milestone and some memories with me.

I especially need to thank you, because 95% of my business comes from word-of-mouth advertising. (The other 5% is from google/facebook.) I run a tiny little business, and I can’t really afford to do much advertising. Fortunately I haven’t had to, because my business so far has come from the people pictured below sharing with their friends that they appreciated my services and recommending me. I cannot thank you enough for the ways you all have been my cheerleaders. Your kind words literally are putting food on my table. How cool is that?!?!?

Thank you to all of you who have trusted me with your memories! I cannot tell you how flattering that trust is to me. I’m so grateful.

At wedding number 101 this weekend I was able to see three couples at once and it really warmed my heart to catch up with each of them.

Here are the Squires, The Daubles, and The Koehls:

I hope I’m able to share another 100 weddings with you all very soon.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Thanks for celebrating with me.