After a long day of wedding photography, I go home, put on my sweats, get some tea, and start going through photos. As you may know, I send couples as many pictures as soon as possible. So that typically means I’m up for a good 5-6 hours after I leave a 12 hour wedding. As I scroll through the photos, I find myself falling in love with certain photos. As they come up, I melt and remember why I love doing wedding photography.

They’re not necessarily the most glamorous photos. They’re not perfect, they’re not posed. They’re the uncontrolled, all-out giggling pictures. The ones where the couple is so ridiculously happy that they forget I’m there and break down, succumbing to their emotions.

I LOVE those photos.

There’s so much in this world that is fake. Photoshop can do anything, right? There’s so much that is just… artificial. But I can Photoshop good skin, brilliant eyes, and flawless hair. But that’s not what matters. These smiles, these faces, these uncontrolled moments of laughter, these are what matter. Show you both that you were in love, with each other, with life, with God. Showing you both the way he used to make you laugh. The way her nose bunched up when you made her laugh really hard. That’s what matters in ten years.

That’s why I love the ridiculous, scrunched up, imperfect faces of my puppy-love clients. You can’t Photoshop happiness.