We booked a wedding up in Atascadero, CA about 8 months ago and shortly after booking that wedding we booked a wedding in Memphis, TN for the day before. I agreed to it with the understanding that my 2nd shooter would need to shoot the entire reception so that I could get back to SB and prepare for the next day. Through much planning they got it all sorted out and I was to leave TN at 7:20 and fly through Vegas and then on to LA arriving at 1:00am. No problem.
So I arrived in TN the day before and shot an absolutely amazing rehearsal dinner at the Gibson Guitar Factory...
...and then shot the preparation and the wedding the next day. I buzzed off to the airport at about 6:30 and caught my 7:20 flight without a problem and the good Lord blessed me with a First Class seat so the day was turning out very nicely! I landed in Vegas and had a short layover and e-chatted with a few of you while I was enjoying my Cinnabon in sin city. I then went and boarded my plane to LA…or so I thought it was my plane to LA! Don’t worry… I didn’t take the wrong flight… I am an idiot but not that big of one! For some reason they had brought another plane to our gate at the same time that our flight was supposed to be boarding and it was madness and nobody knew what was going on. Everyone from our flight was just standing around waiting to board until they finally announced that our flight would be an hour late. No big deal…an hour later the plane arrives and they let us board. We taxi out…and then sit…and sit…and sit…and then we taxi back in. They announce that there’s a problem with the plane and they are doing their best to fix it and they’ll let us know when it’s done…2 hours later at 3:30am they announced that the flight crew has reached their 14 hour time limit set by the FAA and our flight would be cancelled. They also regrettably informed us that they didn’t have any other flights out until mid afternoon the next day and because Las Vegas had some special event that weekend there were no hotel rooms for anyone.
I didn’t really care about the hotel rooms or the lack of other flights b/c I needed to get 400 miles across the desert and start shooting in 7 hours. I jammed off the plane and after picking up my little “we’re sorry” card I headed outside the terminal and as I did an AVIS bus pulled up…I assumed if their bus is running then they must be open. I hopped on and pulled out of the Avis lot at 4:15 driving the fastest car they had – A Chevy Impala. This little machine would cruise at 108 on the flat ground and get up to 110 going down hill and believe me I didn’t let off the gas unless I was going to run over somebody.
This drive wasn’t easy. I was scared…and I was tired – very tired, and I knew that the drive was only the beginning.
I prayed and I cried. I really had no idea how I was going to get through the next day. I also realized that there wasn’t going to be any way for me to go through Santa Barbara and pick up my other photographer, my flashes, or my backup camera (we were short a flash in TN so I had to leave my main one there along with a backup camera and then I had planned to bring another set of backups up from SB).
I arrived in Atascadero at 9:40 – 50 minutes before kickoff!
No assistants, No change of clothes, No backup camera, No flash, and No sleep.
I checked into the first hotel I saw and the friendly people at the Best Western were gracious enough to let me use a room that hadn’t even been serviced yet. I took the clothes off my body that I had just shot a wedding and traveled in – ironed them – showered – and put them back on.
As I mentioned earlier…I didn’t have an assistant, clothes, camera, etc…but I did have God on my side! And it was very evident throughout the day! I didn’t fall asleep, I didn’t get pulled over and taken to jail (I wasn’t exaggerating about the 110), The church was built with walls of glass so it was wonderfully lit, and the reception was outdoors with all the main “events” being done before the sun went down! Can you believe that? God is good!
Both weddings turned out beautifully and after a couple nights of sleep and spending some great time with my parents I think I’m ready to get back in the swing of it!
Let's rock!
