Emily Walter + Michael Beal – Dallas Arboretum Wedding
I really don’t know where to start about how I feel about this wedding. I first met Michael 8 years ago at his oldest sister’s wedding in Midland Texas. He was the youngest of four kids and the only boy and so I almost immediately felt a little sorry for him. I imagined that might be a tough way to grow up, but through the course of that wedding I realized that his parents were some of the most sweet, warm and loving people I’d ever met in through my work with families. It turns out that those sisters were pretty amazing too. All three of Michael’s sisters have wound up hiring me for their weddings (the middle daughter’s has been caught up in Covid postponement but we are going to get there one day Cynthia!) I’ve photographed a second sister’s wedding with the family in Colorado, done a maternity, bridal session, engagement shoots, and followed their lives through facebook and instagram with a fondness that felt more like friend than client.
in 2019, I was lucky enough to work with Michael’s family again for his third sister’s wedding at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. I love shooting in my second home of Colorado and it was there that I had the privilege of meeting Emily for the first time. I’ve been in the business of weddings and love long enough to spot the signs of a couple that has magic that it takes to get married, but I don’t think it takes an expert to see the love between Emily and Michael. They are so similar in so many ways and naturally compliment each other in so many others.
I knew I’d be a great fit for their wedding but I almost instantly pushed the idea out of my mind. It’s one thing to shoot more than one wedding for a family when they are all girls, or when the bride meets you at her brother’s wedding first, but it’s so highly unlikely to think that you can shoot three older sisters weddings and that the younger brother’s bride is going to be interested in hiring you. I just figured there was no chance but I was excited for Michael and hoped I’d be able to follow along with their lives through his sister’s feeds.
It was to my surprise and incredible honor I received a call from their planner less than a year later that Emily had said she wanted to use me for her wedding too! I couldn’t believe it and I was over the moon to have another excuse to hang around the Beal family again… and that’s the way I had thought of it, another great Beal family wedding…
Fast forward to my conversations with Emily throughout the planning process, the Bridal portrait where I met her beautiful and generous mother and finally the wedding weekend and rehearsal dinner where I met her three loving, amazing and protective brothers and father. I realized this wasn’t only another amazing Beal family event.. this was also my first incredible Walter family wedding. Emily and her family absolutely blew me away and instantly it felt like I had worked with her side for just as long as the Beals. I left the long hours of shooting that weekend behind not feeling drained or exhausted but instead feeling creative, hopeful and honored. This wedding represents such a long term blessing in my life over the last 8 years and I don’t think I could have asked for a better gift to the start of 2021 then being your photographer. Thank you for having me and I hope you love your images as much as I loved shooting them.
