My mom died exactly one week before Jordan and Cameron’s wedding.
There are sentences I still cannot believe I can write.
She had been following along with this wedding long before that. She saw their engagement photos. She knew Jordan was gorgeous. And after seeing what Jordan wore for their engagement session, she had officially declared her my “best dressed bride.”
She was very invested in seeing the wedding dress.
So when I walked into The Preserve at Canyon Lake that morning, I was scared.
Not of photographing a wedding. I know how to do that.
I was scared of the moms.
I didn’t know what it was going to feel like to watch someone else’s mom button a dress and fix a veil and look at her daughter on her wedding day when I had lost mine seven days before.
And then the first two people I saw were Jordan’s mom and Cameron’s mom.
They were together, because of course they were. Their moms are friends. And before I could even really get myself situated, they spent the next ten minutes telling me how much they loved Jordan and Cameron’s engagement photos. How much they loved my work. How excited they were that I was there.
It felt like talking to my own mom.
And just like that, I knew I was going to be okay.
Upstairs, Jordan was completely calm.
Like suspiciously calm for someone about to get married in a few hours.
Her bridesmaids were downstairs rehearsing while she took her time getting ready in this very quiet, very pretty, very demure bridal suite.
Until somewhere along the way, all of the girls busted into a very energetic rap and completely ruined the demure.
Much better.
Cameron sent a necklace upstairs with his groomsmen for Jordan, and eventually her mom came over to help her finish getting ready.
She didn’t hover.
She wasn’t rushing around trying to control the room or make sure everything was perfect.
She was just there.
At one point, she knelt down at Jordan’s feet to help her with her shoes, then started helping her put on her jewelry.
And looking at them, I swear you could almost see the exact same scene twenty years earlier.
Jordan sitting there while her mom helped her into plastic dress up shoes with feathers and put on some giant plastic princess necklace.
Except this time, her little girl was getting married.
And then Jordan put on the dress.
My mom was right.
Best dressed bride.
Jordan and Cameron planned their wedding at The Preserve at Canyon Lake around modern elegance with softer, romantic details. Their entire wedding party and guests wore black, with white florals, natural greenery and the black accents already built into The Preserve tying everything together.
A Black Tie Wedding at The Preserve at Canyon Lake
It was polished without feeling pretentious.
Which is very Jordan and Cameron.
They chose The Preserve because they wanted the nature surrounding it as much as they wanted the venue itself. The ceremony space sits against all that Texas Hill Country greenery with the lake behind the altar, and honestly, you really do not have to fight very hard for a beautiful photograph out there.
Jordan and Cameron chose not to do a first look, so the first time I really saw Cameron that day was when he came down the aisle.
And I am about 98 percent sure he danced his way down it.
Which tracks.
But when Jordan appeared, there was something about his face that I remember more than anything else.
Pride.
Like, I cannot believe this is actually happening. That is her. And she is about to be my wife.
Their parents had each lit a candle as they came into the ceremony, one on either side of a larger candle in the center.
Later, Jordan and Cameron took the flames their parents had carried in, used them to light their own candle together, and blew the other two out.
I have photographed a lot of unity ceremonies.
That one got me.
After the ceremony, we took Jordan and Cameron away for their private vows.
They had just gotten married in front of around 200 people.
And then everything disappeared except them.
They got quiet.
They leaned into each other.
They were always touching.
That was something I noticed about them all day. I never really had to ask them to be affectionate because they already were. A hand on an arm. Fingers intertwined. Foreheads together. One of them always reaching for the other.
They just match each other really well.
Months before the wedding, Jordan told me that the photographs she cared about most were the ones of them holding hands, talking, laughing, dancing and “literally any moment that otherwise isn’t typically photographed.”
So I mostly let them be.
And then we went inside.
Sunglasses on.
Party mode activated.
But first, there were a few dances that mattered.
Cameron had the sweetest dance with his mom.
Jordan and her dad had a whole choreographed moment during theirs, which felt especially appropriate after seeing the photograph Diego captured of him absolutely WEEPING when he first saw her earlier that day.
Then Jordan danced with her mom and her sister.
And maybe because of the week I had just lived through, I noticed all of it a little more.
The hands.
The looks.
The moms.
The dads.
The people who have known you since you were little standing there watching you become someone’s wife or husband.
This is the stuff.
And THEN.
Jordan had put “dancing (!!)” on her list of the most important moments of the wedding day.
The two exclamation points should have warned me.
DJ D Krisp had that floor full ALL NIGHT LONG.
Not three songs.
Not until the older guests went home.
All. Night.
Jordan was in the middle of it. Cameron was in the middle of it. Their families were in the middle of it. Their friends were in the middle of it.
At one point Cameron and his fraternity brothers were doing their thing on the dance floor and I got in close because that is where I like to photograph receptions.
Maybe a little too close.
I almost got kicked directly in the face.
The best part is that he realized it mid kick.
I have the photograph.
Eventually, somehow, the dance floor emptied.
The music softened.
The room that had been completely packed all night was suddenly quiet.
And Jordan and Cameron stood in the middle of it alone.
They wrapped themselves around each other and danced.
No wedding party.
No guests.
No one waiting for them to do anything next.
Just them.
It felt familiar.
Because they had done the exact same thing after their ceremony.
Two hundred people around them, and somehow they kept finding a way to make the whole world disappear.
Maybe that is just their thing.
A whole room full of people.
And somehow, still just Jordan and Cameron.
Of course, the quiet lasted approximately five minutes.
Then everybody was back outside, gold streamers were flying, Jordan and Cameron were kissing in the middle of all of it, and a white vintage Rolls Royce convertible was waiting for them.
Because apparently this wedding was not interested in leaving quietly.
I respect it.
Jordan and Cameron, I don’t think you knew how much I needed your wedding.
I walked into The Preserve that morning wondering how I was going to photograph mothers and daughters and families and all of these tiny pieces of a wedding day that suddenly felt different to me.
And then your people loved me really well.
Your moms loved me really well.
You two trusted me enough to forget about me when it mattered.
And somewhere between your mom kneeling at your feet, Jordan, your families lighting those candles, the two of you disappearing into your private vows, and a dance floor that nearly resulted in a work related injury, I remembered exactly why I love doing this.
My mom would have loved your dress.
She was right about you.
Thank you for letting me have proof of all of it.
If you’re planning a wedding at The Preserve at Canyon Lake, or anywhere in Canyon Lake, San Antonio or the Texas Hill Country, and you want wedding photos that remember the people as much as the pretty things, I would love to be your photographer. I’ll photograph the quiet stuff, get directly into the middle of your dance floor, and apparently risk a shoe to the face when necessary.
Reach out at xoxochelsea.com and let’s talk about your day.
You can also see Sharlene and Chip’s winter wedding at The Preserve at Canyon Lake.
VENDOR CREDITS
Venue: The Preserve at Canyon Lake
Wedding Planner: Angela McClendon Johnson
Florist: Peggy Carrell
Bakery: Castaway Creations by Heather Crawford
Dress: Impression Bridal
Makeup: Nik Lactson, EnElle Makeup
DJ: DJ D Krisp
Second Photographer: Diego
Photography: Love, Chelsea Photography
Photo Booth: RMD Photo Booths
Open The Comments