Meghan + Jordan | The Barn at Paradise Wedding

Well our start to 2022 was pretty interesting! Just like most everyone else, we celebrated Christmas with our families. Christmas Eve is always spent with My Brother in law and Sister in law where we wear matching pajamas and eat their famous award winning chili! We get to reveal who our secret Santa is and exchange a few gifts. It’s always a wonderful time! Christmas day is usually spend at our house where I make chicken and beef enchiladas for my side of the family. We usually play a card or board games and maybe a few outdoor games if the weather permits. Maybe a Christmas movie and dessert by the end of the night. I really enjoy this time with my family! Little did I know that we would have a secret gift given to us on Christmas…

The day after Christmas I noticed a very mild sore throat so I was sure to lay low and get lots of rest. And taking some Vitamin C is always a good thing! By Tuesday I had a full blown sore throat and we found that my sisters husband tested positive for Covid on Wednesday. Rut Row. Luckily, we keep a few at home tests on hand for obvious reasons so I took a test and low and behold, I tested positive as well. I told Philip he needed to come home from work and sure enough, my daughter tested positive that afternoon. Philip tested negative but by the end of the day, he was running fever so we knew he had it too. Over at my sister’s house, her husband, herself and my nephew all tested positive by Friday. So we were all in this together! What a mess.

Luckily our symptoms were mild but we were still clearly sick. I was praying (like praying HARD) for a miracle that I would test negative in the next couple of days since our symptoms were so mild. Do you want to know what’s worse than being sick??? Knowing that we had a wedding on the 1st and I may not get to shoot it! I was in KNOTS! I knew it was time to start contacting our back up photographers to ensure we had everything in place for our wonderful couple. I tested again and the little red line was even more red before! There was no way I was going to test negative by that Saturday. It was time to call our couple.

First off, you have to know that in all my years photographing weddings, since 2012, I have never had to make a phone call like this! I face timed Meghan and Jordan to let them know what was going on with us and let them know that we were willing to do whatever they wanted us to do. We would mask up and be there for them 100% (but maybe a little slower haha!) Or we can send one of our trusted backup photographers. I can not tell you how sad this makes us. We absolutely LOVE Meghan and Jordan and can not believe that we were not going to see them on their wedding day!

Luckily, our friend and fellow photographer Chua Lee and second shooter Nicole Gillihan came to the rescue and were able to capture Meghan + Jordan’s wedding day! We gave them our timeline and pointers to how we usually run a wedding day and of course I was sure to keep my phone very close incase we were needed for anything! Chua + Nicole were able to capture some great shots for us and we got to put our final touches on the images!

Because we were sick things have been running a few days behind but we are finally back to 110%. I just want to say how much I dislike you COVID! I am so very thankful that we are all well again but so sad that we had to miss such an important day. I did mention to Meghan that if she and Jordan would like to get all dressed up, we can have a full session at the venue and they can have even more beautiful photos with me behind the camera! Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to blog and share even more photos from them! You will also see her bridal session soon as well!

A huge thank you to Chua and Nicole for stepping in when we couldn’t be there. Here are a few images our their wonderful New Years wedding day!