A wedding is a reunion

The other night I was outside talking with a guest at a wedding I was photographing, and she very casually said "now you just spend your weekends at someone else's wedding", which is true, but I knew there was so much more to it than that. One of the reasons I’ve been so happy to document weddings over the years is because I genuinely love to see families and people coming together. If I really think about what it is that I love about weddings is that a wedding is really a special occasion, a reunion, people coming back together from far away sometimes, older folks, younger folks, all in one room, dancing, listening to one another, laughing while listening to stories and tall tales. Sometimes families change from one year to another, perhaps some people leave their families for one reason or another.

Little by little our lives are always changing, yet today, in this moment, we celebrate who we are, and the people we love. 

The family below is one that very much represents the way a family can come together through challenges and uncertainty, and make it work in a new and exciting way. This frame shows a new family close together moments before entering their wedding reception together as a group, to the loud cheers of their closest family and friends - it was a pretty sweet moment for them, and everyone knew how much it really and truly meant. For me, documenting these reunions of people coming together is how I approach my work and what ‘weddings’ mean to me.