In December of 2018, Mike wanted to propose to Mysti, but not in an ordinary way - he wanted to do something REALLY special for her! At the time I was searching for one guy that was about to pop the question so I could document it for them through photographs. Mike reached out to me and we set the plan in motion.
Fast forward a couple of months when the wedding plans are beginning to take shape…
Mysti contacted me asking if I would photograph their wedding. Of course I said I would love to! During 2019 the plan took off in many directions as they explored all the awesome venues - one was even an old caboose! At one point they decided on an elopement on a cruise trip, but Mike’s family would not be thrilled about missing their big day. As their plans changed so did their family’s plans. One of the daughter’s was going to join the navy after graduation and they definitely wanted her to be in the bridal party so they made plans for a backyard wedding in Mexia, Texas before she left for the military. But then the completely unexpected happen…COVID - 19!
Texas was suddenly under a shelter in place order and no one knew how long that would last. The days turned into weeks. The weeks turned into months. How much longer could this possibly go on?? Slowly the state began to reopen, but there were still restrictions in place. One such restriction was the amount of people in one gathering. That definitely put a damper on wedding plans!
One day Mysti messaged me and said she was so over all the planning and waiting on restrictions to lift that her and Mike decided to have a simple family wedding before her daughter left to the navy so instead of the typical wedding photograph she wanted to trash her dress. And that is exactly what we planned - complete with a cake fight (after sanitizing hands) and lots of toilet paper!
Spending this time with this family was so refreshing and carefree, especially during a time of quarantine. It was amazing to see the entire family having so much fun with each other creating crazy memories their cherish forever!
“Because when you stop and look around, this life is pretty amazing.”