Why I'm so passionate about each wedding...

Growing up I always wanted to see a photo of my parents on their wedding day. I had heard beautiful, and funny stories of how my parents decided to take the plunge. Queen Elizabeth II had just gotten married, and tales of her glittering gown, and the roguishly handsome newly crowned Duke of Edinburgh who gave up his reign over Greece and Denmark to marry the spitfire that is Elizabeth Windsor, swept across the world, captivating young couples everywhere. My parents, Francis and Linda, were not so unlike the newly wed crown princess and duke, although regrettably, without the crowns, jewels and titles. They loved each other deeply, and after a long and hard fought war, were not about to let anything or anyone stand in the way of their happiness.

So, with the glittering images of QE II still sharp in everyone’s minds, my parents felt the insatiable need to get married, and get married now, all the more pressing. The young pair took to their grand plans to elope. They had heard of a cathedral in Baltimore that was stunning, and welcoming to young, lovestruck couples who wishing to marry, and with another couple made up of their friends in tow, they took of for Maryland. 

Sometime, in the middle of the night, half way to Baltimore, my parents, and their newly befriend couple, had to stop for the night. Clearly at this point the adrenaline had died down. 

My mother, and her girl friend, coming to their senses, entirely mortified by the idea of eloping away from family and friends, and having to stay with their respective beaus for the mandatory 3 day waiting period for marriage licenses, wanted to return home. Too tired to make the trek and faced with the possibility of returning home, unwed, having stayed over night, for several nights, with a boy she was dating, mustered all possible courage and, very much like my mother all her life, dug in her heels. She would return married, or not return at all.

Minds made up, the two young couples decided to wait the three days and elope, with the others as witnesses.

For such a unique and colorful story it would be invaluable to have images of the day. Did my mother wear slacks, as she most often did? Was my father in his Navy whites, looking stunning and like the clear catch he was? 

These questions and more can never be answered. No one brought a camera, no photographer was hired to capture the moment, and no one will ever be able to get that moment back. This is why I’m so passionate about each wedding I document. There will always be relatives who didn’t attend, children who weren’t born, or some crazy story to tell, and photographs are the only way to do it.