Maine Wedding Photojournalism Award Winning Image

On the wedding day, the getting ready portion is the time I spend settling into my creative groove and getting to know the key people I’ll be spending the day with. The couple are obviously the main focus but the family and close friends that radiate around them are also extremely important too.

It always seems that on the day of there will be one or two people who stand out from the rest of the family and friends – they’re the ones who have a very meaningful connection to one or both of the couple, whether that is a close friend, a parent, or a cousin. In the case of Megan and Michael’s wedding day, it was a no-brainer that their young son was going to be one of the people I’d be incorporating a lot into the wedding photos.

He awoke from his nap shortly after I arrived and just was not feeling all of the commotion, excited voices, music, and strangers hanging around so while he didn’t get fussy or angry, he definitely was doing a lot of side-eyeing! He preferred to stick close to his mom or her parents who he has a very close relationship with too.

All day he dodged kisses from bridesmaids (I caught him on camera acting like a cat and leaning as faaaar away from her as possible when she tried to plant one on his cheek), gave faces of displeasure during the reception while his dad carried him around on his shoulders (also caught on camera!), and gave me lots of looks like “lady, what ARE you doing?” that I couldn’t get enough of. His emotions were always right on the surface of his face and yet he never was mean by any stretch of the word – he was just very cat-like and stated his boundaries clearly.

I admired his expressions from afar so as to not bother him too much, but I definitely made sure to get plenty of the moments he was a part of recorded to my camera.

During the getting ready he was still shaking off the sleep and wanting to be soothed by Megan who had a mile-long list she needed to complete. So while Megan attempted to care for him and still make it to the wedding on time (and beat the rain) her mother rescued him from being too underfoot, by swooping him up and bringing him to watch as Megan grabbed her gown from the hallway which is the click of the camera you see here.

I’ve said it many times before (here, here, and here to name a few!) but I absolutely love photographing moms on their wedding day when their small children are around. There’s some special magic in these women that I thoroughly enjoy photographing and I find lots of cool moments of the love they have for their new partner, but also the strong enduring love they have for their children. There’s a grace and an attitude these women all seem to have that I cannot get enough of on a wedding day.

I’m a sucker for a moment and this image in a dimly lit hallway with the two women looking up at the dress and the bride’s son taking part in the excitement in a way he doesn’t quite realize the impact of yet, sucked me in and I was so pleased the WPJA saw the importance of it too.

If you’d like to see more from Megan + Michael’s Rangeley Maine wedding day, CLICK HERE!

And thank you once again to WPJA for recognizing my work and awarding me for this image! If you’re interested, feel free to take a look at my full profile on WPJA to see the rest of my award-winning wedding images by heading HERE!