There are some weddings where I arrive with a plan. It’s part of my OCDness to have a plan at all times, regardless of knowing that I’m totally ready to throw it to the wind. For most wedding days, I have my shot list. I have my ideas in hand of where I’m going to shoot and when, I recall to mind different things I’ve learned about angles and the direction of the sun, and most wedding days, I brace myself for potential panic. Yes, you read that right, panic. No matter how well planned, as a photographer, there’s almost ALWAYS a moment of panic in shooting. Maybe the sun dropped to fast or the ceremony was set up in a difficult position. Maybe a wedding guest steps in front of the first kiss shot or grandma falls while dancing on the dance floor {yea, that’s happened}. But, ready for whatever may come and with crossed fingers I step into the day.
But there are some wedding where I arrive and am completely and totally inspired. It’s as if the light falls upon the world differently that day. It’s as if things are moving slower, like the spinning of the earth has slowed just for me. Maybe it’s in the air, maybe it’s a testament to the planner or perhaps it’s all due to the energy of the bride, but whatever it is, Mariko and Kyle’s wedding day swept me away on a hazy dreamy beautiful breeze of inspiration. {I think I could throw in a few more descriptive terms there!}
Those three images, the butterfly, the door and the covering of the trees overhead are the first three images I photographed from the wedding day. Yes, *gasp* I don’t always post my photos on the blog in the order in which I shot them…don’t tell my OCD! But seriously from the moment I saw that butterfly, looked up into the trees as a squirrel ran across a branch and pushed open that door to the ceremony site, this wedding day was cemented as the day when I realized that if I could do this every time, if I could slow down my mind and my heart and focus on things like the fluttering of a butterfly wing, the creaking sound of a door as it opens and the ocean breeze making it’s way slowly through the trees, then will I be truly truly happy with my work. 
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