Earlier this morning I read an article that included advice for a husband and wife photography team like us.  And then I went to upload some of our favorites from Kate and Joe’s English Manor Wedding to Wedding Wire.  As I was choosing the pictures to include in the album, I kept coming back to this shot:

I love this photograph for so many reasons – the moment, the friends & family, the perspective, the bubbles, the LIGHT!  But also, I love it because Jay took it. Just like the article I read this morning on husband and wife photography teams, it reminds me of how lucky I am to have Jay with me for each and every wedding we do…  especially since it wasn’t always the case.  When I first started shooting weddings, Jay was an “add-on.”  Brides and grooms would pay extra to have him with me.  Yes, Jay was “optional”.  When brides and grooms booked me for a wedding, I was excited.  When they booked both of us?  I was ecstatic.  I knew I’d be able to include so much more in our collection of photos for that wedding.  A different perspective, a different style, a different overall feel to our service.  Jay quickly stopped being optional and became a must for all weddings.  Whether he’s doing photo or video, I love knowing that he’ll capture moments like these in a way that will be different from what I’m capturing.  I love knowing that he’ll catch tons of unplanned moments while I’m setting up shots.  I love knowing that he’ll connect with our grooms in a different way than I do (like immediately understanding the reference to the tuxedos in “Dumb and Dumber” while I sit there, clueless).  I love spending the day with him when we shoot weddings.  I love knowing that he has my best interests at heart and will back me up and support me and be my right-hand man for setting up our lighting and anything and everything else that comes up.  And I know that when I exit the church and get my shot, Jay is there… somewhere… getting something completely different!   Just like he did on this day.  His and mine:

How great is that?!  And you know what’s also great?  I don’t direct Jay to get the types of shots I need.  So many photographers have to train their second shooters and members of their team.  Jay?  Jay just *knows* what to do.  He knows that we want to offer our couples a true blend of modern, traditional, and photo-journalistic photographs and he knows what his role is in achieving this.

And I’d be lying if I said those were all of the reasons why I love Jay’s shot.  Here is the last reason:

It reminds me so, so much of this shot, one of my favorites from our own wedding day.  Looking at it now I know that, inevitably, at some point during a bride and groom’s wedding day, I’ll see something, or hear something, that will remind me of the happiest day of my life.  And then I look over at the Asian guy climbing on our stool to get a shot from a completely different angle than mine and a big smile comes across my face :-)