Everyone has a story… and that story is what makes them special, unique and valuable. I value Cristabel + Curtis’s story so much. I don’t know every detail and unless you’re in that relationship, you’ll never know it all, but what I do know is this. They have gone through a lot, many decisions and much love through it all. They’ve overcome so much and I can sense that when I see them. I feel their strength and above it all, when I’m with them, I can sense God’s presence in their lives. As faithful believers, in the end, that’s all that matters and that is what makes us who we are. Without Him, there is no us, there is no love.
My favorite thing about Cristabel + Curtis is the fact that they’re very genuine. There’s no fake bone in their body and I love that. They’re not afraid to just be who they are. Through their wedding and now their post wedding session, we’ve shared many laughs and some of them were very uncontrollable. You know how with some people, they just don’t “get” your humor? You try to be funny, but all it does is cause awkwardness? Yeah, that happens to us time to time, but not with this couple. They thought everything Craig said was hilarious (well, I hope anyways), and just about died laughing together. Ok, so this summer for our photo shoots has been full of stories of events that we had to overcome. Let me tell you what happened and why we are just now blogging their post wedding session that should’ve been blogged a couple of months ago.
Back in October of last year, these two said, “I do”, and it was one of the best weddings we shot that year. Since then, we scheduled their spring post wedding session, but we had to reschedule the first time. I honestly don’t remember why right this second. Then, when the day came, the weather gave us trouble…. lots of trouble. It couldn't make up its mind (typical Georgia weather), but we decided to go for it. We got to McDaniel Farm and then got a phone call from Cristabel. She said that they were stuck. Literally stuck. We were like, “whaaaaaaa?” A tree fell in front of their neighborhood’s entrance, so there was no way of them getting out. There were guys trying to fix the problem, but it wasn’t going to get resolved anytime soon. What are the chances, right? Well, so a family member on the other side of the tree let them borrow their car and they were able to get to the shoot location. Whew! How crazy! (Just keep reading because there’s more.) So, we went on with the shoot and we did our thang.
We planned downtown Duluth to do their night time portraits. We really wanted to make this happen for them because Cristabel’s regret was not getting these done on their wedding day because they were super tired. So, on the way to the second location, they followed us in their car and we heard a huge BOOM! I was like, “WHAT.WAS.THAT?” Curtis was driving his mom’s car (the one he borrowed because his car got stuck behind that tree.) and it was that car that made the loud THUD. In our rear view mirror, we saw that he pulled over, so we made a U-turn to get to them. The car was gone…. DOH! What in the world? OMG, so we just couldn’t leave the car there to finish the shoot. So, we just knew that we had to reschedule the second part of the shoot again. We didn’t want to just leave them there, so as Curtis was trying to get things straight with his mom, AAA, and everything else, we stayed to talk to them. It was super fun getting to know them more and even Curtis’s brother in law, who is one of our previous groom (Brandon + Lindsey) came to the rescue too. It was like a small reunion, so it was great! We had dinner too. Yes, things didn’t go as planned, but you know what? It’s ok… It’s really ok. When things like this happen and everyone is ok (because you know, they could’ve really gotten hurt), I always feel that God is wanting me to be reminded that love is all that matters. That He is all that matters. Our plans change, but He doesn’t, and I must have faith in that all things happen for a reason, and I have to trust in God’s plans. Craig and I went home feeling bad that their shoot ended this way, but we were also happy that we had this time to get to know this awesome couple and have this night to remember for all of us!
Ok so we rescheduled the night time portraits in Downtown Duluth and guess what? This time, nothing went wrong… everything was perfect. The weather, no car troubles, no tree in the way… none of that! It was pretty hot, but hey, I’ll take that over all of those other things. We just had one more outfit left for them so they came dressed and ready to go. I’m just so happy that the night time portraits that Cristabel wanted from their wedding day finally happened. We shot one of the best steel wool shots ever as well as other epic ones. As you can see, this is one beautiful couple. They’re both so good looking and VERY photogenic. I mean, didn’t you think they were models? Ah…. Cristabel + Curtis, we did it ya’ll. We did it! I hope that when you see these photos that you think, “It was all worth it.” Yes, it was indeed. Next time, we just need to relax and hang out over some pho (wait, Curtis hates soup) and watch a movie or something. You guys, it’s been a pleasure! You have been so patient and understanding through all of this. Love you guys very much and I wish you the most beautiful marriage. You are very special to us and to so many around you. Cristabel, I hope we continue our convos via texting. :)
With much love,
Craig + Unchong
