This is another image that gave me chills when I captured it. The bride called me a few days prior to the wedding. It was for a wedding at the Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia, and she asked me to take her to see her grandmother, who she considered the most important person in the world to her. Her grandmother was too ill to make it to the wedding and I was able to bring her to the South Philadelphia hospital before the ceremony so she could spend some time with her on her wedding day.
Whenever shooting something like this, it’s so important to be as unobtrusive as possible. It was a very emotional few moments, and the decisive moment was when the bride leaned over and shared a smell of her roses from her bouquet. We went on to the wedding ceremony and reception at The Bellevue Hotel shortly after this visit.
A short time after the wedding, the bride called me and asked if I’d made any good pictures from the visit with her grandmother in the hospital because she had passed away. I told her that I absolutely did, and I sent her this print right away.
Images like these continue to remind me that when we shoot weddings, we’re recording family lineage, and we’re documenting some of the most precious moments in the lives of our clients. I show this image, and a few others, when I talk about capturing moments during the wedding day. It’s a very powerful moment, and it will stand the test of time as one of my favorites.
Location: South Philadelphia, PA.
1/320; f/2.8; ISO 1600; 32.0 mm.