A Very Non Wedding: Whit & Colby

Blush Photography

September 3, 2012

As a girl who’s more than slightly obsessed with weddings and photography, there’s pretty much nothing more thrilling to me than discovering new (to me) wedding photographer that is INCREDIBLE. It doesn’t happen very often, but when it does I feel like I’ve won the wedding-blogging-lottery. And don’t even get me started on what happens when I discover a videographer with as much talent as this. Actual tears people, there were actual tears.

I saw these images and the video on Saturday afternoon. A photographer friend of mine emailed me the link and said, and I quote, “This is possibly the best wedding film and set of images I’ve ever seen… I thought you might like to see! Holy shit it’s all so beautiful.” And you know what dude, I couldn’t agree more.

Just stop what you’re doing for 4 minutes, enlarge the video to full screen view, and completely immerse yourself in this…

I quickly shared the link with a couple of photographer friends of mine and we spent the next hour messaging back and forth about our obsession with the entire thing. Who were these amazingly awesome people? Where did Whit & Colby get off being so damn bad ass, sexy and cool? Who was this photographer? Who was this videographer? How could we subtly insert ourselves into their lives?! Could I pull off an undercut?

I just knew that I had to share it on Rock n Roll Bride so I emailed the photographer, Brooke Davis, to ask if I could. I then crossed all my fingers and toes and hoped and prayed it wasn’t already promised to another wedding blog. Within an hour she emailed me back to say she’d be thrilled for me to feature it and that she thought it was perfect for my blog. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK.

And then came the bombshell. It wasn’t a real wedding. And you know what, I was initially a little disappointed. Whit & Colby are a real couple living together in Utah but this wasn’t their actual wedding day. DAMN IT (PS guys, if you do ever get married pleeeease just do it exactly like this) But then I thought about it, and actually in a way, this is even more amazing because it was a set up shoot.

Photographer Brooke and videographer Chris live and work in Utah where they say they’ve been struggling to book the kinds of clients who are having the style of wedding that they really want to shoot. But instead of just sitting around wondering why the work wasn’t landing in their laps, they called upon some friends, grabbed a second hand wedding dress (which had been Whit’s Mother’s!) and pulled together the non-wedding of their dreams.

I think the thing I adore the most about these images is the people in them. So many wedding blogs (this one included) blog weddings that are so incredibly detail heavy. And I know that to many brides & grooms-to-be it can be overwhelming. It can seem like your wedding won’t compare or match up. It can appear that without all that ‘stuff’ your wedding won’t be ‘blog-worthy’… and oh boy does this shoot show you that thoughts like that are utter nonsense! This has got to be my favourite feature in a really long time, and there isn’t a sniff of a mason jar, a hint of bunting or a single friggin’ cupcake in sight.

I hope this set of images and video will inspire some of my bride & groom readers to think outside the box with their wedding plans and ideas, and to make you realise that it’s not the ‘stuff’ that makes a wedding, but the people. And the love.

But almost more than that, I hope it gives my wedding supplier readers a big kick up the backside to go out there and shoot what they love. Do something different. Be daring. Shoot something crazy, sexy, new, inspiring and cool. Stop taking the easy option by pulling together shoots that we’ve all seen before. Bunting, cupcakes and vintage crockery are great – I love them – but we’ve seen them over and over and over. Let’s showcase something DIFFERENT. Show people what you can really do. Show people what it is that you love and what it is that makes you stand out in this over-saturated market. Be an artist. Love what you shoot. Shoot what you love. It will ooze out of your images and you’ll be a better creative for it.

Thank you Brooke, Chris, Whit & Colby for sharing these with us today. You have a new superfan in me. And Utah-based Rock n Roll Brides – book them, book them now!

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