Jessica is a dear friend to me, so I was really looking forward to shooting her wedding. We began as colleagues teaching acting. Our friendship grew from there. We really got to know each other well when she acted along side me in a two-man holiday kids show I wrote and directed.

Jessica has always been so supportive of me. Back when I was on the more green side of wedding/engagement photography she volunteered to be my model for a fake engagement shoot. In short she dragged her boyfriend  to the beach and made him play along as I ran through all my poses practicing and developing my skills. When they actually got engaged and asked me to shoot their “real” session it was a case of deja vu, only this time they were pros at posing and I knew exactly how to move our session along and get amazing shots of them. We had a blast shooting at a coffee shop (their special place) and I left excited to be taking part in their New York wedding.

When I found out I was pregnant and I would have a 4-week-old baby the date of Jessica’s wedding, we chatted about a replacement for me. Jessica insisted it was no big deal and she was fine if I needed to tote my newborn in a sling/baby Bjorn while I shot. No biggie right?

After watching my sister and her new baby, memories of what newborns are actually like came flooding back to me (amazing how quick you forget the baby stage; my kids are currently 4 and 8). I realized I was crazy to think taking a newborn on a plane for 6 hours then strapping her to my chest while I worked a 10 hour day was a good idea. I do like to consider myself a super woman but I had to admit this probably wasn’t one of my smarter plans. Sadly I called Jessica, broke the news, and told her the solution. My friend Sara Lockhart would shoot the wedding and I would edit the photos. Sara is an experienced and phenomenal photographer, plus she lives in NYC. Sara to the rescue!  https://ryonlockhart.com/

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