It's easy to stay inside of your personal box and become content with yourself. For this reason I was really looking forward to changing roles from primary photographer to backup for a few weddings. Without the expectations of the primary photographer, I could pretty much shoot whatever caught my eye.

Last weekend I photographed Kyla and Wyatt's wedding with Mike & Cody with TriCoast Photo. These are great photographers and great guys in general and I enjoyed the chance to see how they operate and interact with their clients.

Much like myself, they establish good bonds with their couples and it definitely showed on the wedding day. They received so many hugs and smiles from the family it was if they were just cousins with expensive cameras.

Kyla & Wyatt's story is a modern day "city girl meets country boy" story and they played the country portion up for sure. Some highlights included:
• the flowers the groomsmen wore were set in empty shotgun shell casings
• commemorative koozies with the couple's names for the many cans of consumed beer on the day
• some bridesmaids wore cowboy boots
• One of the most creative groom's cakes I've ever seen...full country theme with faux sheet-metal gate backdrop
• during the garter toss the bride hid a shotgun in her dress to surprise the groom
• birdseed tossed at the couple upon their exit

These two were genuinely in love and had one of the more lively receptions I can remember. Here are some of my favorites from the day:

These guys loved beer!

I was on "sniper duty" from the balcony of the church and was able to capture nice, scenic images of the church...

...but also close up shots of the couple during the ceremony