Adventures in Wedding Photography

In the past year or so, I've been shooting weddings, which is a lot of fun.  The other day, I shot one with my friend Jay Adkins, who has been a professional photographer for longer than I've been a lawyer.  Say hi to Jay:

(That's what we both looked like in the middle of a 90-plus-degree outdoor reception.)

This wedding was at a small chapel in Olive Branch.  After the lovely ceremony, everyone headed to the reception, which was a couple of miles away.  Jay and I had about an hour to kill with the wedding couple, as they weren't "allowed" at the reception yet.

We sat quietly in the chapel, talking with the couple about how beautiful the ceremony had been, brainstorming for some post-wedding photos in the chapel and the cemetery behind it.  Suddenly we heard an ear-splitting screech, followed by several deep thuds and crashes.  We exchanged dumbfounded glances for a few seconds, and tore out of the chapel toward the road, about 75 yards away.  The bride was afraid that a member of her family was involved, since they had all just recently left.  She was an impressive sight, still fully dressed in her gown and train from the wedding, tearing across the lawn at full speed toward what we by then saw was a flipped vehicle.

A 17-year old kid was crawling out the back window of his car.  Miraculously, he only had some cuts on his hands.  He had lost control of his car going over the hill in front of the chapel, and flipped the car several times.  The bride and groom immediately sat down with him, comforting him, trying to calm him down.  Jay and I still had our cameras around our necks.  We exchanged a knowing silent glance, which said, "Hey-- how can we NOT shoot this?"