Holy tears batman, grab your kleenex while you can.
SO... we've encountered a serious problem. Not as serious as when our AC stopped working a week ago, but close. We're running out of Blumer sister's weddings to photograph. Granted, Cole and I are happy that everyone is married, but this is a major dilemma. For us, anyway. Last year, we photographed Matt + Kory's wedding, and this year we got to shoot her sister Kelsey's wedding. To say we were excited about a Blumer family reunion would be slightly understating it. They are just bomb... polka dancing and all. Actually, that might be my favorite part?
Kevin and Kelsey got married at the magical DC Estate Winery - possibly the perfect venue choice given Kelsey's parents are wine makers themselves. I'm not going to talk about the added bonus of having Tia Laswell as your wedding coordinator, but it's a pretty good selling point for getting married there. We heart Tia. She frees us up to be able to just do our job instead of being part time wedding coordinators on the fly.
I think the reason I resonate with this family so much is because they remind me so much of my own. I have a fabulous family too (although that might not be a super obvious fact since I continually ask the Blumers to adopt me). I mean, wine making aside - it couldn't hurt to have a back up family. Before the wedding, as I was watching Mr. Blumer read a letter from Kelsey, a memory popped into my head. While I was taking pictures of Kory last year, he was standing right next to me watching. "You have such beautiful daughters," I said. He leaned over and whispered, "They break my heart."
And I imagine they do... in the best way possible. Life is a continual process of letting go.
Mr. & Mrs. Blumer- as basically an expert on fake emotion at this point, I can say that your daughters just adore you. They really do. I'm sure you know that, but it can't hurt to say it. Having raised three accomplished, independent, and confident women - and to see them so happy must be the greatest joy of your lives. Thank you to ALL of you for inviting us in for these two beautiful days. I hope that as your families grow, you can look back on these memories for many years to come.
(But we'll be expecting you all to do yearly vow renewals so we can see you on the regular?)
Kelsey kept looking up from reading Kevin's letter and saying, "I said the same things. We're the same... we're the same."
BTW, Kevin was straight up ON dress duty all day - we didn't even have to ask.
How much do I love a dad first look? A whole lot.
"No. You can't cry because you're gonna make me cry."
I mean, might as well finish it.
I wanted to photoshop us into the family pic. Cole said that was a little much.
I like to refer to these next two photos as a walk-off. Who did it better?
When you have the coolest friend ever, who is supposed to be in your wedding but he's across the world, so he dresses up to FaceTime you.
Congratulations Kevin and Kelsey!
Thanks to the following vendors:
Cakes by Dea (OUR FAVE)
Crimson Ridge Florist
Luxe Productions
Weis Morris Dayspa
DC Estate Winery