It's show time!

I'm so thrilled to be starting my 2009 wedding season tomorrow with Andrea and Cory's Freeport wedding! Could there be a better way to celebrate Valentine's Day for someone whose passion is telling the stories of people in love? That said, there is always a healthy bit of anxiety going into that first wedding of the year, as it's been a looooong (but oh-so-busy) four months since I sent out my 2008 season in style at Sandra and Kendall's nuptials in Buckfield. In preparation, I've spent the last two months studying my 2008 imagery, cheering the things I did well, and confronting myself to consider what I could have done better. As creatively challenging as this has been, it's also been a surprisingly physical process; as I cycle through the images, my heart dances with delight, my eyes fill with tears and my cheeks puff up with giggles - sometimes all at once!

I recently wrote a wordy review of 2008 but I wanted to share my season in pictures. Putting together this slideshow was a painstaking process- I've taken perhaps 75,000 pictures at weddings this past year, and it's hard to pick favorites because every single image was taken with intention and has nearly as much emotion attachment to me as it does to my clients.

While I may not know how exactly the subject of each shot was feeling at that moment, I remember how it felt for me to bear witness to them: how I was humbled by the strength of a recently widowed mother both laughing and crying as she watched her son marry his college sweetheart; how happy I was when a bride whose wedding was moved up an entire year due to a serious family illness erupting in the joy of the realization her wedding was really happening (and in the sun no less!) at the sound of the bagpiper's first notes, and how hopeful I was watching 22 couples gleefully and thoughtfully enter into something that has been so meaningful in my own life. Marriage.

Much like the season did for me, the show flies by rather fast. Enjoy and do let me know in the comments section what you think/feel and what your favorite images of 2008 were. (You can watch the show above -it takes a while to load - or click here if you'd prefer to view it in full screen.)