reflections at the buttes arizona wedding | jason + sam

I ran into a photographer the other day before a session I was photographing...we were chit chatting about the type of photography we enjoy photographing the most...I told her that I enjoyed senior photography and especially wedding photography...I was slightly taken aback to her reaction though...she scoffed and somewhat snorted (I have no idea how else to describe the frustrated noise she uttered) ;)and swore that she would never photograph weddings...proclaiming that weddings were:"too stressful...too many people to manage...too much work...with crazy amounts of editing!"I literally struggled to not let my jaw drop...I genuinely could not understand her perspective.it was just so polar opposite to my own as a wedding photographer...so what is my perspective?my perspective goes hand in hand with my own experience in being a young bride.as a young bride, I honestly had no clue at the behind-the-scenes effort and amount of people it took to put on a beautiful wedding...so I will agree with the anti-wedding photographer on that one...but to be honest, as a young bride I don't think you're really supposed to be good at knowing what goes into planning a spectacular wedding...it's why you hire professionals and enlist family and friends who have "been there" and "done that" to help you...every bride has a unique and distinct vision of what she'd like her day to look/taste/see/smell and sound like...I've been married sixteen years now and not one year goes by that I don't dust off my wedding album, fire up the VHS player (yup, still have one of those) ;),pull my dress out of storage and remember the dreams leading up to MY day and remember fondly how beautiful my wedding day was in real life...every time I head down my wedding memory lane, I always smile and am thankful to my dear friend who I'm fairly certain worked over eight hours pro bono to capture my wedding day that quite honestly, I wouldn't remember as well as I do without the photographs that he took for me.are they "perfect" photographs...no, but the graciousness of my friend has become one of my all-time greatest treasures...looking back, his photographs are a large part of the reason I care so much about providing excellent quality and timeless photographs for my clients now that I've chosen it as a profession...those sweet pictures and video that I possess are absolute treasures to me...and they will continue to be for me and for my family as the years go by.that is my perspective when a bride and groom choose and trust me to photograph their treasured day.these are their memories I'm capturing...these are their people that might not all still be there in ten, twenty, fifty years from now...and the "stress, work and hours of editing" seem incredibly small next to the treasure I know I'm providing for my clients...my clients notice that I tear up as the music swells and they walk down the aisle to say "I do"...they notice that even though families are large and sometimes like trying to heard cats...we have a smile on our face and are patient in trying to find that grandma that slipped into the reception during family portraits...they notice that elizabeth and I are dancing (her better than me) on the sidelines as we photograph them get down with their people,they notice that we think and photograph them as so much more than clients...I love that because of the perspective I have from my own experience I find that my "clients" aren't really clients by the end of the day...they're friends.friends that we got to gift with a day full of photographic memories to treasure for years to come.jason + sam?your weekend was spectacular and you are undoubtedly surrounded by people who love you tremendously...thank you for allowing elizabeth and I the privilege to photograph your memories!photography: kreatid photography + design| Elizabeth Ann Photographyvenue: Reflections at the Buttesvenue coordinator: Johannawedding coordinator: Jeri with Celebrations by Design LLCbrides dress: Camille La Viegroom's attire: Men's Wearhouse Tuxedoflorals: Celebrations by Silvia, LLCcake and desserts: Village Bakehouse