Dear Wanderers,
Stamped in your memory may be an image of us climbing on top of furniture, ducking around 150 of your closest friends and family and doing pretty much anything we can to capture ‘the’ moment.
Yikes, that made us sound more like FBI agents than photographers.
Anyways, we wanted to give you a sneak peak into what it’s like behind the Shewanders lens during our wild, emotional, exhausting, unforgettable time of the year…wedding season.
This year we shot 29 weddings,
snapped over 80,000 images,
and clocked over 300 hours of editing.
We captured everything from a three-day destination wedding in Newport Rhode Island, a gorgeous engagement session at a lighthouse in Maine, underwater diving adventures in Bali, the ever ubiquitous tops of mountains that Mike finds himself upon and epic weddings all throughout beautiful San Diego and Malibu.
Phew. I’m tired.
When you see us working at a wedding, we are undoubtedly in the passion zone. Many people who know me outside of work think of me as this sweet, laid back gal (which I am most of the time), but when it comes to wedding day, all bets are off. We stick to the schedule, kindly boss people around and are serious about capturing every possible moment for our bride and groom.
The night before a wedding is my time to get prepared. You can find me resting quietly and calmly in my thoughts. I eat a big dinner, read or watch something really easy going, take a walk with my husband Mike, and triple check that everything is ready to go.
On my way to weddings, I love listening to The Beatles, Mom Jeans Jams playlist and “Here Comes the Sun”. I am crazy about being on time, so I have plenty of extra minutes to pump up with some feel good lyrics.
I love everything about the wedding day, but my favorite moment, hands down, is the ceremony. It is so magical because everyone’s emotions are bursting at the seams. It’s humbling and beautiful.
In order to create our natural and organic Shewanders vibe, I am most interested in capturing people’s faces and the natural movement and interaction between them. I love light and the way it can pour into a lens. I use open shade, back lighting, side lighting and rembrandt lighting to add joy to the day.
From start to finish, we shoot about 2,500 images and end up delivering about 800 perfect shots after removing all duplicates and imperfections. We also use 3-6 different lenses depending on the day.
Some post-wedding nights feel like Christmas eve and I will stay up all night pouring through them because I am too excited to wait! Other times, I have given it everything possible during the day and will wait until the morning to see the beauty come to life all over again.
With the high demands of being ‘on’, it’s important for me to refresh and take some down time. I am able to recharge with my morning page journaling, lunch by the sea, staring at the movement of the ocean, body surfing, playing with my nephew, painting and goofing around in Photoshop and a cold IPA with Mike in North Park.
Some other wedding season remedies include vitamins, comedies, yoga, swimming, laughing with Gaiden who keeps me on my toes and Sunday football with my family.
Lastly, my trick to staying creative throughout the year: gratitude. I feel so blessed that incredible people hire us every season to witness and document their wedding days. It’s such a joy. I also do a lot of personal work and photograph my own family as well. It keeps me experimenting and sharp at my craft.
Wedding season 2015, that’s a wrap.
XOXO and some Z's,
Suzanne
