Labor day weekend we headed up to the Seattle area for a wedding. Its interesting once you become a photographer and then you go to a wedding, the assumption is that you will be doing the photos for said wedding. Nothing wrong with that assumption as it is a logical train of thought, it is just funny how you don't think about those things until they start happening.

This wedding was a for a very good friend of mine. Almost a brother. I consider his family to be an extension of my family. I did his engagement photographs. He and his fiance did ask me if I would like to be their wedding photographer but they also gave me a choice to just sit out and enjoy the day, no work involved.

I thought about this choice long and hard. While I would have loved to capture their day, I also did want to just be in the moment and enjoy myself, catch up with family and friends and not have to stress about getting all the perfect shots.

I chose to forgo shooting the wedding. They did find a fabulous wedding photographer so I thankfully didn't have to worry about them either not having any wedding photos at all or having some really substandard photos done.

On the day of the wedding, it was confirmed that this was absolutely the best choice I could have made.

There were so many guests who I haven't seen in a long time and wanted to catch up with. I was able to enjoy the ceremony and reception without having to run around and sweat to make sure I was capturing all the moments that needed capturing while also having to explain to people who wanted to chat that I needed to get back to work.

I had a great time. They got amazing photos from another photographer. All was well.

I did offer to take some shots for them at the rehearsal dinner. For some reason I ended up with like ZERO photographs from my own rehearsal dinner. I have no idea how that happened or how I don't have any photos from that event, but I wish I did. I remember having a great time but I have no evidence to look back on. So I wanted to provide that for them.

Here are some of my favorites from that rehearsal dinner.

This is grooms brother Ryan. Every time I would point the camera in his direction and told him to pretend like I wasn't there, this is what he did. I guess this is his "act natural" look?