The Decade Challenge | My Very First Wedding

So, if you’ve been anywhere around social media lately, you’ve likely seen people posting about something called “The Decade Challenge”. Since we’re coming up on the end of a decade, it seems to be the thing to go back & find a photo of yourself from 10 years ago, and post it alongside a photo of yourself today – with a full decade in between.

Well, I have my own “Decade Challenge” to post – but with a slight twist: I photographed my very first wedding 10 years ago (and “Decade Challenge” or not, I had already planned to write this post!)

10 years ago, with a tiny Canon 40D in my hand (I think I had 2 lenses & 1 flash) I photographed my very first solo wedding. I’ll never forget talking to the sweet bride, Alicia, on the phone a few months before her wedding: “I have to be 100% honest with you – I have never photographed a wedding on my own before! I have assisted a photographer on a wedding day & obviously, I’ve taken a lot of portraits, but I’ve never shot a wedding all on my own.” And she was so sweet to trust me & believe in me & still want me to photograph her wedding!

I was terrified and I was thrilled. I was so excited to finally have the opportunity to photograph my very first wedding! I knew I loved photography – I knew I loved photographing people – and I really wanted to get into wedding photography. But, probably the hardest part about shooting weddings is booking that very first one. Not only do you have to find someone who will trust a complete amateur who has zero idea what they’re doing to capture the memories of one of the biggest days of their life (trust me, I don’t care how much experience you have, at your first wedding – you have zero idea what you’re doing) but you have to have enough guts to put yourself out there to do it!

So, I was terrified, but I was also so excited to finally have this chance. I have to give credit where credit is due: Derrick is the one who suggested me for the job! Justin & Alicia were attending his parent’s church & he suggested that his fiance (we were newly engaged & planning our own wedding) come up to photograph their wedding. Pretty much sight-unseen, they trusted me to photograph their wedding day.

As much as I was terrified, I was also very confident. Looking back, I was probably too confident. In fact, to this day, I don’t think I have ever worked in a more challenging lighting situation. I have had to use flash for different parts of different wedding days – but for my first wedding? I had to use a flash for every single photo – the entire time I was shooting. Obviously, with a late November wedding, it was dark. Not that it mattered, but Alicia got ready in a room with no windows. Their ceremony was in Derrick’s parent’s old church, which had the most horrendous lighting I have ever worked in. I had to do all of their formal portraits inside – because, it was dark & cold outside. And their reception was in a small restaurant – again, with less than ideal lighting.

If I was presented with the exact same wedding today – obviously, I would approach it from a much different perspective – but I would still have an element of terror, simply because of the many challenges it presented.

When I went back to look at these images, I was a little scared – but honestly, after going thru them, I’m very happy with what I captured. Are they my best images? Not at all – Justin & Alicia’s gallery is filled with strange angles, tight crops, inconsistent editing, and yes, I am almost ashamed to admit, but there are a few selective-color images in there as well. But overall, considering immense lighting challenges this wedding presented plus the fact that it was my very first wedding – I’m proud of the images I captured.

Happy 10th wedding anniversary Justin & Alicia!!