Gallery Spotlight: Kim and Jere’s Wedding at The Clubhouse at Flying Horse

Please click the photo or follow the link to view Kim and Jere’s sample gallery from their wedding at The Clubhouse at Flying Horse.

When most people think of the perfect wedding, they think of chirping birds and soft warm sunlight filtering down through robust old-growth trees into some kind of picture-perfect meadow. The guests are all smiling, and all of the children in the wedding part are spotless and well behaved. In fact the day is the epitome of a well-oiled machine: everything in it’s place and everything right on time, as it should be.

Well, I hate to break it to any of you who think that’s what weddings are like, but I’ve never seen it, at least, not all of it at one time! Weddings are a very complicated event, with lots of people with individual lives and schedules, venues with staff coordination responsibilities, a myriad of wedding vendors that may or may not live up to expectations, and of course, the weather changes of the day.

I tell clients, “You know the bumper sticker ‘S— Happens’? Well, I want one that says ‘Weddings Happen’.”

No matter how well planned and laid out to the most minute detail, something always happens at a wedding. It’s unavoidable. The question isn’t how do we avoid anything from happening, but rather, how are we going to handle it, if it does?

The simple answer is: with positivity and flexibility.

Kim and Jere had a lot of things going for them: 1) Kim was absolutely resplendent in her dress, and Jere cut quite the handsome figure in his tux and they were deeply in love, 2) they’d picked an incredible venue in The Clubhouse at Flying Horse, 3) the family and friends were all beautiful happy people…

But none of that mattered as much as two, really, really, important things: 1) Their attitudes were awesome and unshakable, and…

… 2) Their wedding planner, Christian at Bella Dia Events.

I’ll be honest. I fell in love with Christian (in a completely professional way, of course…). She swept me away with her happy and upbeat attitude, her incredible attention to detail, and her staff of very competent and helpful assistant planners. And all of this is great because…

… there was a tornado/lightning warning when we arrived, and once the appointed time for the outdoor-only ceremony rolled around, it was a pure downpour! A literal torrent of water! Luckily for the bride and groom, Christian had anticipated such a likelihood and had an event-tent conveniently set-up that covered the entire ceremony site perfectly ( photo-tech moment: it gave us a giant white bounce for our flashes, lovely). She even had a basket of umbrellas decorated and waiting for the guests to use as they arrived down the corridor from the valet.

Now, we’ve worked with a lot of wedding planners in our career, and it is really great to have them at weddings we’re photographing, because a lot of times we end up being the wedding day coordinators if there aren’t any. Wedding planners can make our jobs a lot easier. However, not all wedding planners are created equal.

Christian (from Bella Dia Events), is one of the best. She was the most organized, pleasant, decisive, calm, and professional planner I’ve seen. She had some real “doosies” of problems to deal with for Kim and Jere, and she not only made the right decisions, but she did it in a way that the couple was never frazzled or worried in the slightest. She exuded the vibe of “Everything is under Control“.

And Kim and Jere were a dream couple. Beautiful and handsome, deeply in love, with really fun friends and family. A wonderful time was had by all.

Oh, and a funny little side note that I feel perfectly illustrates Kim’s awesome attitude: As the guests were all lining up to throw rice as the couple ran out to the horse-drawn carriage, one of the gigantic horses took a HUGE dump, and I mean small hill-sized! It reeked, and some of the guests began fretting and asking the staff if they could “clean it up before Kim will see (smell) it…”, but there was no time. The couple proceeded down the veranda and when Kim entered the valet drive, she saw the poo, took in a huge breath and said, (and I quote), “Ahhhhhhh, I love that smell. It reminds me of my horses…” Now that’s a great attitude!

I look at the finished product, and it seems to me that this wedding is the perfect testament about managing one’s expectations: Kim and Jere didn’t wish for severe weather and rain, but because they kept the perfect attitude and shifted their expectations, they ended up embracing the weather and we made it work,  wonderfully. We ended up capturing some really unique and awe inspiring wedding photos because the skies, wind, and wet ground became a character in the wedding itself.

Charlotte and I had so much fun at Flying Horse. It was our first time there and we were blown away by it’s rich details, Nouveau-European style, and amazing atmosphere. It was truly a photographer’s dream to shoot there, and we didn’t even get to do half the things we’d thought of! It’s a cornucopia of photo-ops!

Thank you Kim and Jere for the opportunity to capture your day for you. And Christian, thank you for all of your amazing help.