Why I'm NOT a Wedding Photographer...

I was going to tell you ALL about my LA trip and post some pictures and talk about how my sisters thought I needed a make-over...but then, I didn't feel like it...I feel like discussing something else!

It feels SPRINGY here where I live.

The weathers warm and taunts you all day in a cubicle to "Come Out and Play"...

I love this time of year as much as I dread it.

Because along with the great weather and feeling of euphoria and "let's play hokey" devil on your shoulder you get...

WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENTS!!!

UGH!

People ask me all the time why I am not a WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER...

"Shelle, you would make SO MUCH MORE MONEY if you shot weddings!"

In which I answer, "too time consuming right now for me and my little family and money isn't why I take pictures".

Although that is an HONEST excuse...it is not the ONLY excuse.

So I'm going to get this OUT in the open to all my closest friends...

I don't like weddings, nor do I like receptions.

There I said it.

I don't like them. I don't like waiting in line to congratulate the ONE person I know in the line just so that I can smile and be nice to total strangers who tell me who they are related to or WHY they are in the line.

The food is sometimes okay...but most of the time stinks, plus, I don't want to be THAT fat girl who keeps going up to the refreshment table to fill her plate.

And...I'm not one for PDA...I don't know why...but it makes me feel uncomfortable. And it's like welcoming the PRESIDENT of PDA when you go to a wedding...of course, it's to be expected of the Bride and Groom...but for some reason it's like a sneeze...the cloud nine, kissing face, huggy euphoric feeling the bride and groom give off to each other catches on and before you know it the whole lot of people are groping and getting a LITTLE too comfortable, especially if they are single and on the hunt.

I'm one of the ones who smugly smiles at the happy couple and thinks to myself, "Enjoy it now...because this HAPPY, GO LUCKY, NEVER GOING TO CHANGE feeling...changes."...now don't get me wrong, I don't want to sound like a pessimist...the WAY it changes either for good or bad is completely up to the couple...


(Okay I love the way they kiss...like it's important for them to get it just right...I hope MountainSport Man and I kiss that good!)

But you know what I mean...hard times come...but when you are in that stage of engagement and newly married, you believe that NOTHING will change...that everything will always feel and always be the way it is now...and you feel invincible and unbreakable.



I was the WORST culprut of this romanticizing of life. And it was WONDERFUL...

But back to wedding announcements.

I also don't want to do wedding photography because I can't have a DO-OVER and the only way I can go into a photo shoot confident is KNOWING a can offer a DO-OVER if the pictures don't turn out right.

It's the second child syndrome in me.



I DO however LOVE to be an onlooker of a stolen kiss or a impromptu embrace. To me the innocence of it is endearing. So I LOVE to take Engagement pictures or Bridals or married couples...I just don't like to show up at the wedding and reception, which can be a problem when you are a WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER.



So when I get a wedding announcement I cringe and go through a battle in my brain to see how desperate I am to fly somewhere just to get out of going...but I always end up going, because it matters to the people I love.

Okay I admit I may be a TINY bit jealous of the that euphoric feeling I was talking about before...some of the BEST years of my life where when I was engaged and newly married...figuring it all out. Having my little body, fake nails, and fake tan. Plus every wedding announcement I have gotten in the last couple of weeks is of couples who SHOULDN'T be together by the LAW that only ONE person is allowed to be beautiful...hopefully the bride-to-be...but not BOTH. Honestly...

So I LOVE this spring feeling...I'm in LOVE with the weather...and I'm sure I'll give in to the DEVIL on my shoulder.

And MAYBE if I ever TRIED being a WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER I would love it...but I'm a coward! There I said it!

But for the LOVE...it's just not humanly possible to attend 4 wedding receptions in ONE weekend is it? Can people REALLY ask that of me?

Love,

Shelle