2016 was the year that I started photographing weddings on my own. If you had told me then that I would be where I am today, I probably would have laughed and I most definitely wouldn’t have believed you. But, time and again, God has shown up with bigger and better plans than I ever could have imagined for my life. As I’ve said before and I will FOR SURE say again… one of the BEST things about this business is the people it has brought into my life (and as you’ll see below, how they all enrich my life in more ways than just being clients!), but I want to share a little about one of them - my friend and trusted/amazing/fun-loving/selfless second shooter, Kari.
In November of 2016, I was photographing a wedding (shoutout to Jordan + Jenna Harbin!) and the couple sat me across from Kari. We ended up talking throughout dinner, about life and school (We both attended the same high school and university, and her dad was my chemistry teacher in tenth grade! Small world…) and other random things, including photography. Eventually we connected on Instagram, found that we shared a bunch of mutual friends, and two of them happened to be a bride and groom (shoutout to Jazmin + Austin Whitlock!) who mentioned in passing that Kari was considering pursuing photography again. So… I reached out to Kari to see if she would be interested in coming along to sessions and/or photographing weddings to see what it’s like and if it would be something she’d like to pursue… she said YES!
She tagged along for an engagement session (shoutout to Todd + Sarah Conway!) in April 2017 and we had a blast!
we photographed a wedding together for the first time in October 2017 (shoutout to Ken + Laura Stieber!)…
in 2018 we photographed a ton of weddings together and it. was. awesome!
and this year, you’ll be seeing a lot more of her as we continue working together AND YOU’LL ALSO SEE HER AS A BRIDE because she and her best friend, Paul, will be getting married in May. VERY EXCITED ABOUT IT.
Anyway… Kari is a gem and she has quickly become a very treasured friend. She is also an incredibly talented, creative, SUPER FUN photographer and 100% the kind of person you want around on a wedding day. Always ready to help, always smiling or giggling or dancing (when it’s appropriate, of course!), and a reassuring presence if things get a little stressful. On this exact day last year, I got to snap some photos of Kari + Paul when the Susquehanna River froze into some icy-magical-also-very-slippery wonderland. I was dying to photograph there, dying to photograph these two, and also dying to hang out with the lovely Jordan Harper, who joined us too!
We ventured on the ice, did some dancing (Kari’s a Wobble PRO), and chased the sun. Here are some of my favs… :)
