Why Hire a Photographer?

Carla on her wedding day

This article is not short or quick or any of the things in this computer age that we’ve all come to love, but it is the truth. This subject has been covered before; we’ve heard it all. It’s about the memories and it documents the big day.

I want to cover another group of reasons for hiring a professional. You may not have thought of it during this happy time but some of the people who attend your wedding will die. In my case my mother was already gone, killed on Christmas day 1981 by a drunk driver.

Somehow in my possessions I had an old photograph of my mother that the photographer had taken of her on her wedding day. She is standing on the steps of my grandparent’s home, smiling. In this fabulous dress, an illusion neckline with beaded lace sleeves, I saw her as a young, vibrant, beautiful woman starting a new phase of her life.

The night before my own wedding, I was fishing under my bed looking for something. All these years later I don’t remember what it was I was looking for, but I stumbled on that photo. Looking at it and seeing my mother smile back at me, I was suddenly struck hard by that image. My tears just wouldn’t stop.

In that moment, I realized why I had been on this ridiculous hunt for the “right dress” (I had tried on over fifty dresses by this time) and why certain plans about my wedding were so important. She would not be there to see me get married.

Our Wedding Day

Yesterday, a client whose wedding was very recent called to say her mother was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. Treatments have failed, and she is not expected to live much longer. My bride is in her mid twenties and her mother is still young – only in her forties.

I’m reminded once again why what we do here is so important. It’s more than documenting a day. It’s giving those who survive a glimpse of the person as we capture them in life. A smile, a look, a tender moment shared.

At MorningStar we have been the people with the last photgraph of the young husband who died suddenly, only weeks after saying “I do”. Weddings are also the place where families, who often haven’t seen each other over many years, gather to share a happy occasion.

Whether you select MorningStar or someone else to photography your wedding, I urge you, the bride, to consider all this day means. Maybe you aren’t thinking of the children you will have right now, or the loved ones you may some day lose. Some day, however, long after the dress is packed away and the flowers have withered and died, a child may ask you, “Momma, can I see pictures from your wedding?”

MorningStar Photography is based in Columbia, MD and serves the Continental United States, U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.