Tied in a Bow November 2014 | Page 27

sentimentality that only the old cabin or wood frame farm house can provide.

You may be saying “Why would I want to have a wedding at someone else’s home or property, how would this be meaningful to me?” and that is a valid question. When I was asked to capture Richard Ayler and Elizabeth Wassum’s wedding last summer, I offered to shoot their engagement pictures first to see the location and get familiar with the setting and the direction I needed to go with my role on this important day.

I actually was acquainted with the Wassum family because my daughter had attended school with Elizabeth, (another benefit of small towns), but I had never seen the ‘family farm.’ The farmhouse turned out to be an unoccupied beautiful two-story wood frame house, with a gorgeous L-shaped porch. As I walked up the slope of yard towards the house, I was immediately embraced by sentimental memories of my grandparents' way of life. I could see my granny on the porch snapping beans in her flowered apron, holding an old white bowl rimmed with a red stripe between her thighs. Even the screen door creaked, just like granny's, as we walked into the musty hallway. I immediately fell in love with the setting. This was not my home, nor was it the home of my relatives,

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