Dave/Rachel: Trash The Dress!

Sometimes timing is everything…

Rachel and I had been trying to schedule a time to film their “after wedding video” for about three months now but scheduling conflicts, weather, and life in general seemed to always change our plans. We tried to film it last month and got rained out, but we did at least get to spend time with Dave, Rachel, and Rachel’s sister Bethany and her mom Bonnie, which we always really enjoy. This weekend we not only had absolutely fabulous weather, but we were privileged enough to be able to shoot their Trash the Dress session as well. I wanted to do something like this for a while now, and this really gave me the opportunity to stretch my creative muscles, figuratively, and my leg muscles, quite literally… but walking up steep hills and climbing around wet rocks will tend to do that to you. We drove out to Mt. Mitchell in NC, where Dave proposed, to film some short segments of the video and to take some awesome shots incorporating that breathtaking view. You know, it doesn’t seem like that long of a walk up to the summit from the parking lot until you try it. I was seriously winded by the time we got up there, but I’m still blaming it on the atmosphere and the extra equipment weight on my back, if anyone asks. Once we left the mountain we headed back to Rachel’s parents’ house where her mom and dad were kind enough to provide us with a late lunch, and some absolutely delicious homemade pecan pie. After that we all drove out to Looking Glass Falls to trash Rachel’s dress, where Rachel’s dad Hank was kind enough to help lug our equipment down all those stairs and hold on to it while we splashed around in the river. It was already nearing twilight when we got there, and getting colder every minute. I took a few pictures, but we really didn’t have enough light left to get everything Rachel and I wanted pictures of, so we decided to pack it in and try again the next day. The next morning we wrapped up the video shoot (which we will be posting in the coming weeks…so stay tuned…) and headed back to the falls. The nice weather drew out other people to look at the waterfall, and our impromptu audience got a pretty good show of a bride and groom dunking themselves in freezing water, and David and I walking around with our pants legs rolled up with cameras and bags on our backs. Seriously, people actually brought their picnic lunches down there by the rocks to sit and watch the crazy people play in the water. Rachel and Dave weren’t the only ones who braved the cold though…in order to get some of these shots my backside got submerged a few times too. David was the only one who got off easy in that regard, although I do give him credit for navigating slippery rocks and carrying most of the equipment around for me. It was a busy couple of days but we had a blast spending time with Rachel, Dave, and their family. We are truly grateful that they chose us as their videographers and impromptu photographers, and that they put up with all the crazy ideas we came up with. You guys are the best! We hope you enjoy this sneak peek of your Trash the Dress photos….believe me there are lots more, but these are just a few of our favs. Enjoy!