There’s a joke among us wedding photographers, that we feel hungover after shooting a wedding even though we were busy sipping water or kiddie cocktails (my personal favorite) all evening long. There’s this feeling on Sunday morning after a wedding that leaves you stuck in bed a few extra minutes reliving the previous days events and basking in the fact that your body got ran over by one glorious truck filled with love and blessings.

Maybe it’s because we are constantly waiting for the next perfect moment to happen or we are running around on our sore feet from start to finish, or maybe it’s because we are guilty for busting a dance move or two at the end of the night. Either way, there is no escaping the soreness that reminds you that you are lucky to have this job and call it yours. Drew used to laugh at me on Sundays as I would wearily roll out of bed with mascara (and a smile) on my face and wonder if I ran a marathon or shot a wedding the previous day. He has now learned, with time, to serve me my favorite breakfast in bed and to not judge what I look like when I finally decide to emerge from our bedroom. (I told you I married up…)

I sometimes dream about my weddings, I coordinate photos in my sleep, and jump awake (sometimes disappointed that it’s over) to realize that the wedding is over and I actually back home in my pajamas. There is something about anticipating what is next for an entire day that leaves your brain spinning like a merry-go-round long after you leave. You carefully keep your camera glued to your hand and wait for that candid laugh or the sweet embrace or that stellar dance move to break free just in time to hear your shutter click with a memory forever remembered. There is something so precious to waiting anxiously for the first kiss or the fist pump when the couple is announced as Mr. and Mrs. for the very first time.

Either way, Sunday mornings aren’t the prettiest of the days but I’d gladly take wedding hangovers over the real deal. I would take them over anything else because to me that means that I did my job to the fullest, that I used every ounce of my being and poured my little soul into creating images for a special couple to cherish for a lifetime. I tell people I am blessed to call this my job and I seriously mean it – wedding hangovers and all…

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