One of my number-one wedding priorities is definitely the documentation of the day. I want to be able to relive every second of that pivotal moment in my life… the ones burned into my memory forever and the ones I glaze over or miss because it does go by in such a blur. I’ve learned in the fifty days I’ve been engaged {yes, I’m writing this 12/30… I can count!} that life happens a lot faster once you’ve finally gotten what you’ve been waiting for than the time you waited for it. Since that spectacular Thursday evening in November, time has flown by insanely fast. It seems like yesterday I was gushing over the Amsale “Aspen” gown to Stephanie after The Bride Room got back from NY Fashion Week, weeks before I ever stepped foot in the salon to find and try on MY heavenly dream dress. It’s been seven years since I first decided what my wedding color scheme was going to be {it has changed since then, for the record}, but I still remember the exact thing that inspired it so many years ago. I’ve seen brides who frame their wedding dresses and display them in their bedrooms on Pinterest {amazing idea, right?!} and I love clamoring over wedding portrait canvases in my married-friends’ homes.

Weddings are just something magical – easily the most important party one will ever throw, but so much more than just that.  They’re a celebration of a huge milestone in life, the declaration that your life will never again be spent alone, but in the company of another who will share it forever.  The only other occasion I can think of where someone’s loved ones from all walks of life will be gathered in one central place, together, is a funeral.  As morbid as it might be that I just actually said that, think about it.  WHEN will your college roommates, your sorority sisters, work colleagues, childhood pals, near and distant family all be together to celebrate with you?  Unless you come from a really small town and never leave it, it’s inevitable that people move on and move away and the opportunities to get together lessen and lessen.  Your childhood best friend who moved to Germany might not be able to justify a thousands-of-dollars plane ticket to come to your birthday party, but your wedding? Absolutely.

So with all that said, it’s obviously very important to me that my wedding be properly, sufficiently, and beautifully documented. One of the ways to ensure this has been carefully choosing my wedding photographer.

Let it be said – it is difficult choosing the perfect wedding photographer when you are heavily immersed in the wedding industry as I am.  If you’ve ever looked at my “All Things Wedding” Pinterest board, you will see I’m no stranger to beautiful wedding photography. At this current point, I am pushing 1600 pins. In one board. That I’ve had since late January. To say I’m no stranger is a gross understatement. I am constantly perusing gorgeous wedding blogs and magazines. I’ve had the great fortune to work at a host of delightful weddings and see firsthand how they were translated from real-life to permanent frames. And through my beloved StudioWed, I’ve also gotten to see the best of Nashville’s business.

Once I figured out approximately what I wanted to invest in wedding photography, I narrowed my choices down to about 15-20 vendors who offered the packages I thought were reasonable and in my price range.  Couple that with going back-and-forth a zillion times on our wedding date {September 29th? August 25th? Fall 2012? November ’12? January ’13? March ’12? May 12th? July 7th? July 21st? July 22nd? July 28th?} and trying to find out photographers’ availability for a date that wasn’t set in stone… talk about a headache. For two good weeks, I forced Drew and my bridesmaid, Laurajean, to sit through entire gallery slideshows of different photogs’ work. Even my friend and bridesmaid Heather, who lives in Kansas, had to endure constant text messages and emails asking her to visit blogs and tell me her perspective.  By the end of it all, I had interrogated a zillion people {including my former youth pastor circa 2002 who now has a fantastic photography business in Atlanta} and narrowed down the list dramatically, but it was still up to me to decide.

God gave me peace about getting married in July, so that helped us get one step closer. We wrestled with four or five potential weekends to set the date at, but after considering family circumstances and some of our other must-have vendor availabilities, we decided on Saturday, July 28th as our final* date. {* denotes the fact that July 28th is NOT actually our final date, it was just what we decided when we were going through this ordeal.} And so our choices were narrowed further.

From that point on, it was a simple decision as to who we’d go with. She had been a top contender throughout the whole ordeal, but I felt like it was my duty as a wedding aficionado to exhaust all my options before just going with who I knew was the right one. Part of my indecisiveness stemmed from the fact that I had planned out every detail of my wedding to the NAPKIN before we ever got engaged. Little did I know then in my compulsive planning that almost every thing I had anticipated wanting and having with ZERO question was not actually what I’d want or have in reality.  “You feel like you’re breaking up with them,” Hillary of Brocade mentioned to me last week when I met with her to discuss my evolving color scheme.  When you’ve lived with the idea of how your wedding will be for years and suddenly all those little details no longer fit perfectly into the big picture of reality, it isn’t always easy.  As silly as it sounds, I have had to go into mourning for a few things I thought I wanted but couldn’t have. That doesn’t mean they’re not still absolutely lovely and perfect for other weddings, and it certainly doesn’t mean I’m not happy with the things for which I’ve changed my mind… it just means you don’t always know what you want or what’s best for you until it’s all in hindsight.

To find out who we chose and read the rest of this post, visit the A Delightful Day blog! :)

Inspiringly,

~ Kelly