Misti and Rob's wedding was one to remember for me to say the least. I'm usually pretty careful about my surroundings, and aware of what is going on around me, but this was the one time I took for granted what I assumed was a safe distance to a potentially disastrous hazard.
The reception/getting ready location was the house at Montgomery Farms with a pool running the length of the entry courtyard:
To make a long story short, I had seen this thing with the edge so close to both entry and exit to the house and outside, that I was sure someone would fall into during the course of the day and night to come... I didn't know it would be me!
About 5 minutes before we all headed in golf carts to the ceremony site (a great looking meadow nearby), Rob was about to come out of the downstairs doorway into the open, where Misti and the girls who were looking out of the above window would have seen each other, so I looked up to alert the girls that he was coming, and as soon as I got their attention and warned them I was already right at the edge of the pool near the house. After they acknowledged my warning, I took one step backward to get a little farther to get a shot of him coming out and them looking on/escaping (would have been a cool shot!), and splooosh... there was no ground to step on.
I went in feet first luckily and didn't fall backward thank God, although while I was going in a few things happened in slow motion. I remember thinking that I should hit bottom by now when the water got up to my shins... then my knees, then my hips, then my waist, then finally at my armpits the bottom finally came. At the same time, I thought to put my camera in hand up into the air as far as I could to save it, and luckily it only got splashed.
Everything else on me took the dunk full-on submerged.
I immediately got out and started taking stock of the casualties.
My first priority was to wipe down the camera and check for water damage. I'm not quite sure where the help came from as I was focused on what gear I could salvage to get the job done before the ceremony started in minutes, but a couple of towels appeared and people checked on me to make sure I was alright.
I stowed the wet lenses, took off all my wet gear, toweled off and grabbed my largest capacity cards and headed off shooting again soaking wet like nothing had happened.
Naturally everyone saw and was probably quite worried, but I reassured them that this is what all of our backup equipment was for and that no harm other than being wet and a couple of lenses that we had more of.
So anyway a longer story short... Compact Flash cards are amazing, they dried out in short time and I was able to use them with no problems. We had backup lenses and even cameras if need be, so we were covered there, in addition there's two of us and Tem was rocking on while I was wet and taking a casualty count. In the end, the two lenses were the only things that were useless for the rest of the night... everything else dried out and worked 100%.
Now some revelations (this may help any other photographers out there)... no matter what, always think it COULD happen to you, so be prepared:
- I will always have an extra change of clothes, shoes, socks, and boxers in the car from now on. Being wet all day SUCKS! The funny thing is, we used to have this, but after never needing it started leaving them at home.
- I will always recommend having adequate and reliable backup equipment (we did and do, but I can't stress it enough)
- I will always buy pro-level equipment for the amount of beating, abuse, moisture they can endure and still work flawlessly.
Finally... never think it won't happen to you... never think you can make do... and always, always try to think of "what if?"... it DOES happen.
Aside from my splash, it was a great wedding and you can't tell from the photos that I was wet for 6-7 hours... I hope anyway.
Thanks to Misti, Rob and family for the wonderful day and for having faith in us to capture such a great wedding.
On to the photos...
Awesome cake
Misti gave her bridesmaid a card letting her know how much she meant to her
Misti's grandfather's ring was with her as she walked down the aisle
Rob reading his card from Misti
Once again, beautiful flowers by
Jordan.
The line forms here for the golf cart ride to the ceremony site
Naoko playing the harp during the ceremony
Prepping with OFF! before heading out into the meadow... a very good idea
Rob as he first lays eyes on his wife-to-be
As they escape we chase in another cart
SEE! Look how close they are to the edge... I think the only reason no one fell in was they heard a rumor about someone falling in earlier and they were cautious. ^_^
Father/daughter dance
Mother/Son dance
Behind the farm house was the tent for the reception
Carefully removing the top layer for later
Finding the garter
Great success!
You can see our favs from the day
here.
