Texas Backyard Wedding: Abbey and Eric

As I am writing this, we are in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. Doesn’t that sound unreal? My emotions have been some sort of free-wheeling roller coaster of madness :P. My heart is heavy on most days. I miss my family. I miss my friends. I haven’t gotten to see my family in 8 months, the longest I’ve gone without being with them. I have friends who have lost loved ones. Small businesses are closing. Families are at their wits’ end. I wanted to write these thoughts today because it feels so heavy, but I stay hopeful. A lot of things have changed for weddings in the last few months and it’s been wonderful, interesting, scary to document.

Abbey and Eric’s wedding was the first wedding I photographed after the shelter-in-place mandate was lifted in Austin, TX. They had always planned on having an intimate backyard wedding at their parents’ house, dubbed “The Happy Place”. They originally had a guest count of 75, but with COVID and the everchanging landscape of a pandemic, they chose to keep their original wedding date with a reduced guest count of 25, consisting of mostly family. The bride couldn’t help but feel partly relieved that she didn’t have to stand in front of so many people :P (she marched straight back up the aisle after the ceremony, one of my most forever moments I’ve ever captured in my career). The wedding took place outside, with tents in case of rain. There were dogs, silly children, hand sanitizer, and even an outdoor projector featuring embarrassing childhood photos. It was small and it was sweet.