I love when I receive an invitation for a wedding I am shooting. I mean, they already know that I'm coming, so it makes me feel extra special to find that calligraphied envelope in my mailbox. My hands tremble with excitement as I open the envelope and take my my first glimpse into what is an incredibly special day for the couple. I see the beginning pieces of what they have been planning and organizing and designing. I see their personality shine through the design. Will it be a formal black-tie event? Or a casual backyard picnic? I can see it all instantly. And my creative side starts to salivate with anticipation on the big day! I all becomes real.

When I received the big blue envelope from Laura and Andy, I thought to myself, "This looks like a wedding invitation! Who do I know who is engaged?" And then I giggled to myself. Only like a couple dozen couples! I crack myself up sometimes. It's true. Nobody thinks I'm as funny as I do. Me and myself and good friends. Anywho... back to the invitation. As soon as I opened it, I knew that it was going to be a north-woods style wedding with blue and yellow as major colors. I love the way that the invitation doubles as a tourist-like informational brochure to Hayward, WI. If I saw this amongst a rack of brochures for other cities, this would catch my eye and I would absolutely end up traveling to Hayward, WI. After perusing the invitation a bit, I grabbed my camera, the invitation, and the spring flowers from my kitchen table and headed to our back stoop for an invitation photo shoot!

Because this was a "destination wedding" away from the cities, the invitation included a map of attractions around the small town. My favorites included West's Hayward Dairy and Tremblay's Sweet Shop. Both of which were fantastic when it came to shooting photos in their shops on the snowy wedding day.

So, moral of the story. I love receiving invitations. After all is said and done, sometimes couples forget to set aside an invitation for a keepsake. This way, I can photograph it. And photographs are forever.