Behind The Scenes – Photographing In 2018

In 2018 I photographed 18 amazing weddings!!
(How crazy is that? 18 in ’18? I never realized that until just now!)
To me, that number is not only a huge accomplishment because, it’s the most weddings I have ever photographed in a wedding season, but it’s a huge accomplishment because, for 15 of those 18 weddings, I was pregnant!
The 3 weddings I photographed way back at the very very beginning of the year, were small & I don’t really have behind-the-scenes images from those weddings. So, I do believe that I am pregnant in just about every single one of these photos – promise! I wasn’t just hitting up the donuts hard-core before every single wedding I photographed in 2018!

I know behind-the-scenes photos are always a ton of fun (I love when other photographers post photos of them working behind-the-scenes!) but for me, especially for the year 2018, these images prove so much more than just the fact that I photographed 18 incredible weddings. They prove that I’m a strong woman. That I’m capable of working long hours in crazy conditions and still giving 110% of everything I have. These images prove that I can do anything I set my mind to: 24/7 “morning” sickness, swollen ankles, and all. That I’m a hard worker & no matter what I feel like, I always do my best to have a smile on my face (although, you’d probably beg to differ with some of the expressions caught in these images!)

These images also prove another fact: that Derrick officially came on board this year as my second-shooter! In years past, my behind-the-scenes posts have been sprinkled with photos of my sister Ellen and Derrick as my second-shooters, and (sadly), Ellen & I didn’t photograph one single wedding together this year (hopefully that changes next year, I miss shooting with you, Ell)! But it’s super cool to me that my husband has come on board as my official right-hand-man on wedding days. For the most part, if it isn’t a mirror-selfie, all of the images that I am in, in this post, were taken by Derrick.

I love to do these behind-the-scenes posts for many reasons (see the paragraph I just wrote above), but I also do them to show off just how much fun my job is! Seriously, I have the best job in the whole entire world & I love every single moment of every single wedding day!

I also always think it’s fun to look back at what I was into wearing for each wedding season (for example: in 2016, I wore almost the exact same thing to every wedding – putting that post together spurred me to go out & buy some more wedding clothes!) This year, since I was pregnant, I pretty much wore the same stretchy dress (that kind of hid my tiny baby bump) for half of the season, and then wore a black maternity dress I bought from Target for the rest of the season. I’m already pumped about wearing different things next year!!

So, enough talking: what follows is a little peek into what a wedding day looks like from the other side of the camera, along with some fun commentary.

If you can’t get enough behind-the-scenes, check out:
2017’s version, 2016’s version, 2015’s version, 2014’s version, and 2013’s version!
(2014 is the other wedding season I was pregnant for, just in case you were curious)

If you can’t tell, I’m standing up on a chair – I love that the guy in front of me is “protecting” his wife from the crazy pregnant lady falling over & crushing her!

“Does it smell in here or is it just me?”

Hiding in a jungle (apparently) and singing “I’m A Little Teapot”.

Doing the twist.

After I saw this picture, I realized that leaving my curly hair down (no matter what the humidity level) is a bad idea – the frizz/fuzz is real.

OH – that one day that we showed up at Bushy Run Battlefield for wedding portraits, just as they were closing (oops) but because the bride & groom knew the gentleman who was working there, he said we could stay (win!) – as long as we promised to close & lock the gates when we were done! So, here is Derrick, closing & locking the gates in the pouring down rain! He’s such a champ.

“Here, let me hold your hand.”

Just in case you thought taking selfies in a mirror (or reflective surface) was easy..

Much better.

No idea why I was clown-impersonating at the beginning of this ceremony.

“Listen guys, if the person who ripped Sara’s veil out would just come forward, we could move on with our day.”

After shooting almost 100 weddings, I can usually figure out how most bustles work – but when we found several of the bustle ribbons completely shredded underneath Katie’s gown (still confused as to how that happened) – well, we made it work.

“I smell food. Must eat food.”

Dodging raindrops – the true theme of the 2018 wedding season!

Of course, we spent a lot of “non-wedding” time at Kennywood (as usual). Derrick got a stabilizer & monopod this year (his “reward” for being a fabulous second-shooter) & the quality of his YouTube videos has dramatically improved!

Our little helper – love her!

The following two images are not Kennywood (just in case you couldn’t tell) – they’re from when we were on vacation this summer – cameras still in hand!

Oh you know, just casually being chauffeured around in a golf cart!

My face – I just can’t!

I promise, I wasn’t pulling Chelsea’s veil out of her head – promise!

Just hiding in this corner back here!

Derrick became a professional veil fluffer this year!

He’s probably going to kill me for posting this – but if I can post all of my funny expressions, I can sneak in one of his too!

Am I the only one who finds it hilarious to see how Derrick’s hair changed throughout the season?!

YAY for staircases – making the largest group photo I have ever shot at a wedding SO easy!

“Nope, I don’t know when they’re going to let us start eating the cookies either, but I’m SO ready.”

When you’re out testing a light setup & the DJ starts playing your favorite song..

My last wedding of the season – shot at 33 weeks + 1 day pregnant! We did it baby boy!
(WHEW – just looking at all of these photos makes me so so so infinitely glad not to be pregnant anymore!! HAHA)

If you can’t get enough behind-the-scenes, check out:
2017’s version, 2016’s version, 2015’s version, 2014’s version, and 2013’s version!