Our Wedding Journey
Four days after Christmas in December 2002, Michelle and I set off for The Bakers of Milford to get married! It was a frosty morning, and Michelle had done all the planning. My only job? Show up. I know that sounds bad, but it’s the truth.
My brother and best man, Rommel, arrived just after us. Leah, Michelle’s childhood friend and matron of honor, was already there, waiting with excitement.
Michelle and I first met working part-time at McDonald’s. She was at the register; I flipped the burgers. Our love grew in those simple moments. We’d planned a small wedding with just one friend and immediate family, but the guest list quietly grew. It included a few coworkers, families she had nannied for, and some old friends. Altogether, we gathered about 75 people—still small but beautifully intimate.
Unfortunately, with our wedding set during the holiday week, no photographer wanted to work. At the time, I wasn’t thinking about photography for weddings, and I couldn’t take photos myself, obviously. So I enlisted my sister-in-law, Marlyn. She was incredibly talented and creative, though I’m not sure she realized it. She captured the moments that mattered most to Michelle and me. I’m glad she didn’t choose wedding photography professionally; her photos were just for us, filled with love and warmth.
Our wedding was short but magical. By one in the afternoon, we were already off to a cozy bed and breakfast, ready to begin our new chapter.
Six months later, we went to Eric and Tanya’s wedding in Rockport, Maine. Eric is Michelle’s brother, and they’d hired a professional photographer. I’d never met one before. During the rehearsal and ceremony, he and I chatted. He told me why he loved wedding photography. He was passionate, and something clicked for me. That conversation became the doorway to my own career in photography. Wedding photography, I realized, had fallen into my life as if by fate.
Now, as a professional street photographer, I capture people as they live and love, usually in black and white. Wedding photography, to me, is an extension of street photography—a chance to hang back and catch couples in their natural, beautiful moments as they go about one of the most important days of their lives.