This wedding… man! Where do I even start? If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a hundred thousand times – I love my home town. Sacramento holds a dear spot in my heart and this wedding was a love letter to the town I adore. Molly grew up in East Sacramento on 41st Street. The same street her grandparents live on. This street means the world to this family so there seemed no more fitting place for Molly’s wedding. Molly and Bryan and their incredible family and friends made this wedding one for the history books here at SMP. We referred to this wedding internally as “The Lady Bird Wedding” after another love letter to Sacramento. It was joyous to work with an incredible group of talented vendors who pulled this wedding off with so much grace and style. I must admit I was a wee bit nervous about photographing this wedding. I was so looking forward to the challenge, but also knew I was not just recording the beginning of a family, but the history of one as well. As a girl who grew up in the same house her whole life, I knew how important this was not just to Molly and Bryan, but to their whole families. I also approached this day with a tender heart full of love for this family who I’d never met before. Molly’s mom is bravely fighting cancer, like my dad was on my wedding day. I knew how hard this year had been on their family because I’d walked that rocky road myself. I poured my whole heart into capturing every moment that I could for them. At the end of the night, as we were packing up to leave, Molly’s dad got up in front of the band and sang to his beautiful bride. I grabbed my camera back up and raced over to catch this moment. I sobbed through the whole thing. Love like that is worth singing about. Molly and Bryan have some incredible examples of long marriages and deep love to guide them through the years ahead. I truly can’t express my gratitude for having been there to be part of this day and record this for them. Enjoy some of my favorite photos ever!!
Do you have any advice for other couples planning their wedding?
I know it sounds cliche, but it’s for good reason — don’t lose sight of what’s important. At the end of the day, your checklist should be: Are the people I love here? Am I marrying the love of my life? Are we having fun? If you can answer yes to all of those, it’s a perfect wedding.
If you could do it all over, would you change anything about your wedding?
One of the things I worried most about my wedding was waking up the next morning and regretting something — or being disappointed that it was all over too quickly. The morning after the wedding, I couldn’t stop smiling because it was everything I wanted. I didn’t want to go back and do it again because it couldn’t have been better.
What is your favorite photo from your wedding and why?
This is such an unfair question! I could never choose a favorite, but this photo stands out because this is exactly what we wanted when we chose to get married on 41st Street. When we saw this photo, I thought, “Oh my gosh, we did it! We had the wedding we dreamed of!” Those trees, all the people we love sitting there, watching us on the street that means so much to us — it was everything. This photo is our dream wedding in a nutshell. Photo below.
What was the most memorable moment of your day?
I’m glad you asked for the most “memorable” moment rather than “favorite” because it would be impossible to choose! The memory that sticks out most is during the speeches after dinner. We had already had the ceremony of our dreams, an amazing cocktail hour, the dinner we had hoped for, and just finished listening to some of the most important people in our lives give speeches. Bryan and I couldn’t have been happier with how the day had played out so far. We were standing there, getting ready to thank everyone, and I just remember thinking, “The most important people in our lives are all here together celebrating us.” I just about burst with happiness. At the end of the day, nothing is more special than being surrounded by people you love, and that’s exactly what our day was. The wedding of our dreams had come true.
Where did you honeymoon?
Fiji! And it was perfect!
Check out their slideshow for even more of this awesome day!