Straight from the Heart | Award winning wedding photographer Kendra Coupland on Love

It’s become so apparent to me over the years that love comes in all sorts of shapes and forms. It takes place all over the world and in places that we could never expect.

The God honest truth of why I love shooting weddings? Simple.

Love.

I didn’t start off being an award winning wedding photographer, but every day that I go to work I am reminded that despite the fact this world is underfed and over polluted , despite my aching feet, despite the fact I didn’t sleep last night cause my kid had a cold, despite the fact that wars happen and hatred is so obvious and painful, despite the fact I sometimes look up at the universe and feel tiny and insignificant I am surrounded by love. It’s this thing I can’t touch or smell or taste or explain, but yet it is so plain to see. It draws two souls together from two random places in this crazy world and joins them, strengthens them and helps them find their place. It brings smiling babies into the world, it makes friends comfort each other in times of sorrow and need, it makes a girl huck oranges from the 25th balcony of a tiny apartment complex to impress a guy, like I did when I was trying to impress Brad with my awesome throwing arm. Love often brings about weddings.

Weddings are incredible. For centuries people have been gathering together, in places of worship, in places of beauty, in places of tranquility, in places that feel like home to celebrate. They celebrate with food and drink and music. They celebrate by eating delicious feasts, and home cooked meals, and delicate canapés and decadent cakes and cupcakes and sweets. They drink drinks that match their wedding colours, and wines that were imported from France and beers that remind them of good times in the past.  They celebrate with fancy clothes, or plain clothes, or beach clothes. They celebrate with games, and photobooths, and polaroid cameras on the tables. They celebrate with toasts and cheering, with tears and laughter, with hugs and kisses. They come from all over the world to one place to celebrate. All because two people fell in love. …and that’s really something to celebrate isn’t it?

And lucky be it, that I get to capture all of that on a tiny little machine that makes pictures for them, so that they can remember how joyful that love was for the rest of their lives.

Honest to God it makes me so happy I could cry.

I’ve been really blessed with all the love I’ve seen over the years. It has opened my heart so much. It has helped me through rocky times in my own marriage. It has brought me new friends, and extended my family.

I know this is a bit of a stretch from my regular posts, but I had to get it off my chest.

I love my work.

Here are my favourite moments from wedding season 2012 that truly touched my heart, they are from a variety of weddings I shot and second shot this year.  They may not be the  best portraits, or the greatest compositions or the perfect picture by any means but holy crow they mean a lot to me. They moved me as a photographer and as a person.

-Kendra