Working with couples I already know in real life, outside of wedding-related things, is becoming one of my favorite things. Meredith (the bride) is one of the life-long friends of my sister-in-law Brooke, so if she's BFF's with Brooke, this gal must be legit!
Meredith and Petey are my kind of people to work with-- they kept the main thing the main thing on their wedding day (celebrating their new marriage!) and focused on enjoying the day with their loved ones. They both took photo guidance and directions like pros, which helped their images turn out amaaaaaaazing, so the day was a win-win in my book. To boot, Brooke was in the wedding party, which was nice to have an "insider" on the wedding day and my other sister-in-law Katie helped me cover the day from a photo end, so we were literally one big happy family that day!
For Meredith and Petey, we arranged a customized 4-hour day. That meant skipping the getting ready photos and detail shots that I would normally get before the ceremony, but these two were happy as clams to have just the main events of their day photographed-- the ceremony, family portraits, bridal party photos, bride and groom portraits, and the reception.
We planned a First Look for Meredith and Petey, so we could secure bride and groom portraits and bridal party photos before we lost the sunlight. With a 5 p.m. ceremony start time in October, we didn't want to put those important photos at risk by waiting until after the ceremony. That meant that we only had to focus on family portraits immediately following the ceremony end, which helped the day run smoother than if we had waited to photograph family, bridal party AND bride and groom portraits within the limited amount of time we had after the ceremony and before sunset.
Meredith and Petey's wedding day was beautiful and extra fun getting to work with family and friends for the day!