“Dear Ben & Erin, Once again, we hate your crappy photos. You totally suck. The only reason we bought the high-res images is so that we can have them made into a roll of toilet paper.” – Sarah and Angelique’s email to us after seeing their wedding photos for the first time.
What can I say. This is just the kind of relationship we have with these girls. When you spend three days together in Alaska, taking two daylong road trips, climbing around on glaciers, drinking a few too many cocktails and singing (screaming) “Eternal Flame” by the Bangles at the top of our lungs on the way home, you get comfortable with one another pretty quickly. Sarah and Angelique live in Anchorage, so we flew there and shot their Alaska engagement session over two days. It was a wonderful adventure where we got to know these two very well.
The wedding was back on the mainland, at Cave B in Quincy, WA. We arrived at the beginning of the rehearsal, where we found Sarah freaking out because of the extremely high winds expected the next day. Organizers were saying they would probably have to move the ceremony indoors (I mean, LOOK at that view. You do not want to have an indoor ceremony at a place like this). Sarah and Angelique are both pilots and understand the threat of inclement weather all too well.
In the end, they had nothing to worry about. It was windy on the wedding day, but the wind only added intrigue and drama to this already dramatic location. Sarah and Angelique were married in a jaw-droppingly beautiful, emotional ceremony where Sarah repeatedly, impulsively kissed Angelique’s hand throughout. Afterward, we did portraits around the property. Watching these two masterfully tromp around the rough terrain in their elegant gowns and heels, with the wind whipping their skirts off the ground, will forever remain a favorite visual of mine.
The party ended up being a blast, even though no one jumped in the pool (because they did that already, in their cocktail dresses, the night before at the rehearsal dinner).
And yeah, there is a lot of joking, ribbing and sarcasm among the four of us, but there is also a lot of love and admiration. Sarah and Angelique will always have a very special place in our hearts. In addition to being pilots, they are also fellow photographers, avid Halloween-party-throwers, fiercely intelligent and super fun, and are filled with a hunger for adventure and a drive to live life to the fullest. We feel pretty lucky they allowed us to share in one of their biggest adventures yet.
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