“Okay. That’s gorgeous. Totally worth climbing a tree over. Although, Teresa’s grandma looked like she wanted to murder you.”
I glance over at the bride’s grandma and she meets my gaze before narrowing her eyes in disgust. I shrug as I turn back to Eden. “Again, whatever.”
“What are you thinking for the official wedding photos?” she asks as she turns to scan the property. I secure the flash on top of my camera and turn to do the same, pursing my lips. The afternoon sun is bouncing off the water and in about an hour, the light will be absolutely perfect.
“Let’s get all the family shots and then we can get the bride and groom down by the water and also by one of these oak trees.”
She nods and holds out several strings of mini paper lanterns. “You want to string these through the branches while I round the family up?”
“You got it.”
As she heads into the crowd to collect everyone, I go back to the tree I climbed earlier and inspect it before looking around the property. Other trees have better branches on them but this tree has a perfect view of the lake in the background that will look gorgeous with the lights as the sun starts to go down. I quickly hang the strings of lights off the branches before plugging them into one of our extension cords to make sure they are all still working. The soft light they emit is so romantic and I can practically see the photos in my head as I smile and unplug them until we’re ready for them.
“Piper,” Eden calls and I glance over my shoulder as she waves me over to a shady spot where the family is waiting for us to begin. Nodding, I jog over to the table and grab my camera and a reflector before joining them. As Eden gets the bride’s extended family set up for their first shot, I loop the camera strap over my neck and move the reflector around until it casts a golden glow on the group. Eden snaps a few photos before reorganizing the group to include the bride and her parents. Once she has enough shots, she pulls the groom in and snaps a couple more photos before replacing the bride’s parents with the groom’s and going through the whole process again. After we grab a big group photo with everyone in it, she sends everyone on their way except for the bride, groom, and the wedding party.
“How are you guys holding up?” Eden asks Teresa as we make our way down to the lake. Maybe it sounds like a weird question to ask someone on what is supposed to be the happiest day of their lives but after doing a couple of these, we figured out that weddings are as exhausting as they are exciting. Teresa beams, clasping her new husband’s hand in between both of hers as she glances up at him and he grins down at her.
“It’s been magical.”
More images from my past hit me in the gut as we reach the edge of the lake and I resist the urge to squeeze my eyes shut. Eden glances over at me with a concerned expression but I just shake my head. When I first met Eden in a photography class a little over six years ago, I put on one hell of a good show but I was still a shell of a person, struggling to figure out how to just be but Eden always saw through the bullshit and she never pushed me to open up before I was ready. As we both continued studying photography, our friendship grew and I spilled the truth of my ugly past to her one drunken night. She never once judged me for it and she’s never used it against me. By the time the class ended, we both knew we wanted to pursue doing photography full-time and we were practically like sisters so it only made sense for us to go into this together.
“You okay?” she whispers under her breath and I nod my head. Eden knows how hard weddings can be for me which is why we don’t take all that many but they are good money so every once in a while, I have to bite the bullet. She sighs, her brows still knitted in concern. “I’ve got your back if you need to bounce.”
“Thank you.”
As she sets the wedding party up for their first photo, I stare out across the water. My issues with weddings are so layered and so complicated that I don’t even know how to begin to explain it. My own wedding day was one of the happiest days of my life and if I close my eyes, I can still see Wyatt smiling down at me as he told me that he was going to love me with his whole heart until the day he took his last breath but everything that happened after that day… I turn away from the group as I blink away tears and suck in a breath.
“You know, I think I’m going to go get some shots of the reception while you finish this up,” I say just loud enough for Eden to hear me and she places her hand on my arm, drawing my gaze back to her as she nods.
“Go. I got this.”
Nodding, I mouth a thank you to her before hiking back up the hill with my camera in my hand, grateful to be away from all the love, happiness, and wedded bliss. Not that I’m bitter or anything… When I go to my appointment with Dr. Brewer next week, she’s going to be disappointed that I ran away instead of confronting my feelings in the moment and as much as she’s helped me, sometimes her advice isn’t all that practical. I mean, hell, I can’t exactly have a mental breakdown in the middle of someone’s special day. That’s just about the tackiest thing I’ve ever heard. Besides, these couples hire Eden and I to capture every moment of one of the most important days of their life, not blubber on about the mistakes I’ve made in my life.
Once I get back up to the house, I take my time as I grab the equipment I’ll need for shooting indoors and slip in the back door, wandering around the lavish house before following the sound of music. The party isn’t really in full swing yet since everyone is still waiting for the happy couple to show up but I lift my camera to my face and snap a few photos of the flower girl, the ring bearer, and their friends dancing to the pop song playing around the ballroom before scanning the crowd and getting a great shot of the groom’s grandma laughing at something the gentleman next to her said. Sighing, I glance over at the door, guilt eating away at me that I’m not out there doing my job with Eden before shoving the feeling down and gazing around the room again. I wouldn’t mind being able to sit down for a second either. Eden and I have been here, photographing everything since noon when the bride started getting ready and my feet are starting to ache.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. and Mrs. Stewart,” the DJ booms and everyone stands and cheers as the bride and groom walk into the room, hand in hand. I raise my camera and snap a couple of shots before feeling a nudge at my side.
“Feeling better?” Eden asks.
“Yeah. Get some good shots?”
She nods, surveying the crowd. “The sunset was incredible and those little lanterns you hung in the tree worked perfectly.”
“I can’t wait to see them,” I tell her with a smile. My stomach flips, the guilt eating away at me again. It’s really not fair to Eden that she has to take on the bulk of work sometimes because of my issues but I also don’t know what else I can do about it. She nudges me again and I glance over at her.
“I know what that look on your face means and you need to knock that shit off right now.”
I scowl as I turn away from her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Mmhmm. Wanna talk about it?”
“Not particularly,” I mutter.
“I thought maybe this wedding wouldn’t be so hard since you have James now.”