The part of being a wedding photographer that I enjoy the most is getting to hear the different couples' stories. Cathy and Dean are a perfect example: Dean was born in Kenya, and moved to the USA when he was a young boy. Cathy was born and raised in Fernie. She moved to Calgary after highschool and started working for a company doing IT management. Part of her job involved traveling around to the different branches managing their IT solutions. On one trip to Texas, her and a girlfriend decided to take a couple days and visit New Orleans during Mardi Gras. On the trip, she met Dean, they hung out for the weekend, then went their seperate ways. A month or so later, when Cathy was back in Texas on another trip, a couple of her friends from Canada came down to visit, and the girls again decided to head to New Orleans. The second night there, while walking down Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, who should pass her? None other than Dean! They decided that maybe Fate was trying to tell them something, and began to spend more and more time on the phone together, visiting each other as much as possible, until finally, Dean asked her to marry him.
The other part I love about my job is when couples put their trust in me to unleash my creativity and go on a little "adventure"... As Cathy was getting her hair done, she asked if I had any great places for their photos lined up. I had a couple of my "go to" spots in mind, but because their ceremony was at 11:30am, and the reception didn't start till 6pm, I knew we were going to have some extra time. Add to this the fact that there were 7 (!!!) other weddings in Fernie on the same day, I really wanted to get away from everyone else. I asked Cathy if she was interested in going on a little "adventure" and try somewhere that I'd always wanted to go but never had the time? She said, "Kyle, I've seen your photos so if you want to go some where that you think is going to be great, I'm going to trust you completely." Wow, that kind of made my day!
The spot that I wanted to get to was at the top of Morrissey Ridge, a place referred to as the Microwave Towers. From this location you can see Alberta, the USA, and of course, all of the Elk Valley. The only catch is that its about 45mins up an old logging access road. Four-by-four is mandatory. I had cleaned up my Jeep, in anticipation of the Bride and Groom jumping in my vehicle, but when I found out they drove a big Nissan Titan, I jumped in with them. Dean asked if I wanted to drive, since I knew exactly where we were going. About 3/4 of the way up, he thanked me for driving... the look in his eyes was a mix of childish exciment, sheer terror, and total awe. Even though Cathy had grown up in Fernie, she confessed that she had never been up there before. For the both of them, it was the icing on the cake of the most special day in their lives.
Enjoy the pictures.
