I asked my couples last year to share their favorite image from their wedding day. This exercise brought me so much joy, and I loved connecting with some of my couples from over 10 years back!
I could easily choose 1000 of my most cherished images, and they still wouldn’t scrape the surface of my all-time favorites. This is why I print family books every year so that I can look through them whenever I wish.
With this exercise, I narrowed it down to 10 frames. If all of my hard drives crashed, and I only had 10 images to remember my life, these are the ones I would want to have…at least in this very moment. Ask me tomorrow, and a few of these would change.
Most of these favorites are moments. I went back and forth on whether to include a “grip and grin” of our full family. As much as I cherish those images too, the genuine moments will always speak louder to me.
If there’s anything that I learned from this exercise, it’s that investing in photography every year is something that will always be important to us. Most of my favorites are photos that other people have taken. Every season has moments that I want to remember. Life can and does change in an instant, and I won’t take that for granted.
This is one of my favorites from our engagement session. Brendan and I have been photographed by many, many talented photographers over the years, but this image has always brought me back to the beginning of our relationship. For that, I will always hold this image close to my heart. (Photo by Sean Flanigan).
This image from our wedding stood out to me when we saw our wedding photos for the first time. There is so much wrapped up in this moment. The relationship and love I have for my dad. This beach that I grew up on. Everyone we love gathered before us. The start of a new life with my husband. (Photo by Sean Flanigan).
As I said above, I could pick many from our wedding day that are meaningful to me in different ways. This is one of my favorites from the entire day because it encapsulates the joy that founded our relationship and continues to permeate through our marriage. (Photo by Sean Flanigan).
I would maybe replace this one with a photo of me WITH my parents, but I really cherish this candid moment from a few years back. My mom had asked for a couple of anniversary photos. At the time, I was probably in the midst of peak season and couldn’t think of editing any more images in my queue. Looking back, I’m really glad we took time out of our schedules to make this happen because there are only a few really nice photos of my parents together in one frame. I think my dad probably released some gas, as my mom only laughs like this if there is something truly hilarious said or done. Those are the types of moments I will always cherish with my parents.
If you’ve been following me for some time, you know that my grandfather was an incredibly important figure in my life. He passed a few years ago, but I took the two b+w portraits in his last year of life. The other is from when I was maybe three or four. I could pick dozens more of him that I love, but these three are favorites of the bunch.
I have more photos of Brendan and Kitt together than probably anyone else. These boys are two of the most important people in my life, and I just adore this moment of them together playing in my parents’ backyard. I see the silliness, the love, and the fleeting joy of childhood wrapped up in one frame.
Note to self: scan photos from childhood. I only have a few on my HD, but this is a family favorite of my brother and I. Childhood seems forever ago. My brother and I used to play on that deck for hours. We had family dinners and birthday parties in that space. I kissed my husband for the first time on those back steps. There are a lot of memories that pop up in this frame.
Any and all photos I have of Kitt and I are beyond precious to me. I would put them all on this list if I could, but that would defeat the point of the exercise. Images of the two of us are few and far between because I’m usually the one behind the camera. This is one of the most important reasons that we hire a photographer every year to document our family. Kellie Kano took the the top image a few years back, and it will forever be a favorite. This boy made me a momma, and he will always be one of the most important people in my life.
