January 11, 2003
“I'm having such a great time” said Jen with a great big smile as we were taking pictures at the alter. This is what I and everybody wanted for her, she was living the moment, and she was loving the moment. For Jen Danskin and Andy Smith this wasn’t just any other day, and it was far beyond a normal wedding day, it was a promise of a Lifetime.
The one thing that made their wedding very unique and almost unheard of these days is that they shared their very first kiss on the alter, at their wedding, in front of friends, family and the big guy upstairs. After the kiss, screams of jubilation filled the chapel, along with applause and resounding chorus of “Hallelujah” It was the culmination of a three year courtship. Andy was concerned that he wouldn’t remember how to kiss well because it had been so long, but checking on the big first kiss later, Jen rated it as nothing less than “Wonderful!”
Andy and Jen’s story of their courtship is nothing less than astonishing, and really a lot of fun. They are super Christians and decided that they would leave the physical aspects of a relationship to after the wedding. But, really folks, get a look at Jen, she's so cute, how could anybody keep from kissing her?
We started the wedding photography journey at Jen’s hotel where she was getting ready with her bridal party. I decided to bring along Joy as a second photographer and assistant. Joy has spent years working second camera for some well established LA studio’s but came to Lifetime Images after seeing firsthand the type of job we did for her cousin’s wedding. She felt the creativity, efficiency and professionalism were more in line with what she was striving for. Of course she brought along to the wedding an assertive drive to get the shots , some pure artistic energy and some new ideas that were very much appreciated. You can expect to see more of her work gracing our website. For Jen and Andy we only wanted the best for them!
As you can probably tell, Jen and Andy are extraordinary people. They tried to only select vendors who were excited about them as people. They selected us, Plug Video (www.Plugvideo.com) and Music Unlimited as their DJ (www.Musicunlimitedtalent.com). About the only vendor they were frankly less than thrilled with was the place that had their ceremony and reception. They gave very generic service, and treated her as a sterile business transaction. It frustrated Jen to no end that the one vendor that she gave the most money to was the one vendor that cared about her the least. Just the same they performed their function smoothly . The only problem we saw was at the hotel. While Jen was getting dressed her pearl necklace fell apart, and pearls went rolling all over the wood floor. She had bridesmaids crawling all over the wood floor looking for pearls. And though she wasn’t laughing about it at the time I’m sure she will be telling that story for years. One of her bridesmaids rigged the necklace back together and she looked perfect. Since Jen is a devout Christian I’m sure she can find some kind of metaphor in the necklace. Everything happens for a reason.
Jen decided to have her photos taken at the Arboretum in Fullerton. In the weeks prior to her wedding I brought up the concept of a contingency plan in case of rain. She told me that wouldn’t be necessary since she had the big guy upstairs in the number one speed dial slot. Let’s see, on the Monday before it blew so harder than anybody could remember, on Thursday it rained. On Friday it was overcast and disgusting. On Saturday it was beautiful. The weather was comfortable and the family and bridal party enjoyed the afternoon as we took photos before the wedding. One thing that was kinda strange was that Jen and Andy saw each other before the wedding, but, they couldn’t kiss, so kissing pictures were certainly out of the question. The timing worked out perfectly, we took just the right amount of pictures, didn’t forget anything, and showed up to the banquet site right at five o’clock.
One thing that I have noticed about the banquet facility is that they crack the whip down hard on the bridal couples. I was upstairs with Jen when the coordinator came in and said “Girls, get in your places, we are going now!” Not an “are you ready?” which I found wasn’t the most tactful thing since there were two bridesmaids still applying makeup on her. We got into position and everything went smoothly. The one thing I can say in favor of this place is that it had a dramatic staircase where the bride walked down. Now, for all you people who think that it isn’t special if the bride and groom see each other before the ceremony, let me say this. I had spent the afternoon with Jen. I had seen her in Blue Jeans. I had by that point take a couple hundred photos of her. She is a gorgeous gal, and she is very easy on the photo equipment, but when she walked down that staircase in that white wedding dress it was like we all saw this vision of white for the very first time. Her father, a retired Marine Cornel and retired LA County Fireman was humbled by her as he walked her down isle. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. The ceremony was part religious, but mostly a recanting of the story of their courtship by the man knew them best as a couple, their reverend.
I had suggested that they hold the kiss for a few seconds so that that we could cover it with three different cameras. Of course by this point the reverend had explained to everybody there about this magic moment. And it was indeed a climatic moment. The applause and cheers filled up the room, women wiped away tears and the rest of the evening was pure jubilation!
I really wanted to thank Jen and Andy for letting us take an intimate peak into their world. I received e-mails from many people letting me know how excited they were for Jen and Andy and I shared with them the well wishes from people who admired them. I know that for every bride their wedding day is special and they look forward to it with great anticipation. I do have to say that Jen took the joyful anticipation (believe me, she was not obsessive) to a level I had never seen before. They are young, and since they are devout in their faith, and their career will be in a direction missionary work, they probably won’t ever be rich in material possessions. If it wasn’t from the support from their parents this wedding day would have never happened and Jen expressed to me on numerous occasions how thankful she was to them. I heard over and over again affirming messages coming form their family about how perfect they were for each other. I couldn’t agree more! And, I am very honored to be with them on this special day, and I will never forget it. Jen and Andy remind me how lucky I am to have a career that I love, and how fortunate I am to work with people I truly admire.
