It’s not uncommon that we get a phone call from a bride who’s wedding we’ve recently photographed. Typically the conversation starts with “This is Mary Jane, you shot my wedding a few weeks ago at so and so, Joe Smith is my husband” as if we’re not going to remember them! My memory isn’t perfect, but I’m definitely not that bad! Once it’s established that I absolutely remember who they are and their wedding, usually I get to hear all sorts of nice things about how great it was to work with us and how everyone loved the experience. Please know we never get tired of hearing that stuff! Anyway, we then get to “We can wait to see the pictures, how are they coming along?” All completely natural, we know it’s soooo hard to wait to see your photos as we work on them!! Well, yesterday we received one of these calls from a wonderful bride named Kelly who’s wedding we recently photographed in Delaware. Except, after the normal “This is Kelly, you shot my wedding at…..” she went off script and caught me completely off guard, she said ” I don’t know if you’ve been watching the news, but did you hear about the suicide bombing in Uganda this past weekend? One of my best friends, Nate Henn, was killed in it and the last time that he and all of our friends were together was at our wedding.” I fumbled some words as I tried to figure out something helpful, or comforting to say, and ultimately “I’m sorry” was all I could come up with. She then asked about a few specific pictures that she remembered taking with him and their who group of friends and she wanted to know if we could send them over to her. Of course we sent them to her right aways so that she as well as the rest of his friends and family could enjoy them during this hard time.
After getting home from the studio I spent much of the night reading up on Nate and the details of what occurred. It’s truly a tragic and sad story. I found it somewhat comforting to know that Nate was following his dreams and doing what he loved, helping people. He was so happy to be in Uganda visiting friends that he had made while working with Invisible Children, and a non-profit organization who’s purpose is to raise awareness about the use of child soldiers in Northern Uganda as well as raise money to build schools and provide education to war-affected children. You can read more about Nate Henn as well as Invisible Children and their mission by clicking the embedded links.
In situations like this I feel it’s important to identify the good that can come out of it, and in this case it seems to me that Nate would want people to become more aware the situation in Uganda and to further Invisible Children’s mission to help the children caught among the chaos there. We’re currently working on setting up a promotion with proceeds to be donated to Invisible Children. We will post it on our blog as soon as it’s ready.
In the meantime, here are a few pictures from the wedding. Nate is the black jacket holding up the bride in these two photos.
Our hearts go out to Nate’s friends and family during this difficult time.
Megan and Brent’s wedding was one of those exceptional events that makes you think, “Wow, that is just way to cool!” The ceremony had all the traditional elegance that every couple dreams of, and a reception full of friends, family, and a some interesting guests with really sharp teeth! Yes, those sharks are REAL!
They also came up with a really special way to showcase their favorites from their engagement portraits!
Megan and Brent's Engagement Portraits on display during their wedding incorporated into the Guestbook, Gift Box, and Guest Index of Seating arragements.
Okay, so this is unprecedented in Pictures by Todd history, but this is our second blog posting in one day! But this is important stuff. We just found out that our website’s contact form hasn’t been working for the last few weeks! YIKES!!! So if you’ve tried to contact us through our website and haven’t heard back…that would be the reason. Please try again, it’s now working properly!
This post-it note art came from one of our future brides and it made my day! Thank YOU Summer. We’re excited to work with you as well!!! Send us your fabulous doodles anytime!
SVI is focused on helping business’ achieve social prosperity, environmental stewardship, and profitability (known as the Triple Bottom Line) and the event took place at the environmentally friendly HUB meeting space at the Cira Centre in Philadelphia.
The agenda and the venue were both profoundly inspiring, and I left the conference determined to bring even more “green” initiatives and sustainability to Pictures by Todd.
An immediate first step is our switch to paperless contracts starting this month.
I also hope for a green future in the special events we photograph: events that create less waste; use more local ingredients; produce lower carbon emissions; and use as much recycled and post consumer materials as possible.
At Pictures by Todd we plan to do our part by finding ways to reduce energy use, paper waste, and unnecessary travel and shipping. We are determined to reduce what we can and will continue to implement changes to help us become more sustainable. Stay tuned…..
We also look forward to shooting more social events at the HUB.
We had the pleasure of photographing some awesome kids celebrating one of the most memorable times of their lives.
Here’s a taste of some fantastic Mitzvah’s from last year! Congrats you guys! Way to go! -The Team at Pictures by Todd
Adam and I had the pleasure of photographing Elyse and Clayton at Pen Ryn mansion for their big day! Of course, the day was extra special due to the rain, but that didn’t hold us back! We were still able to capture some moments outside while keeping Elyse’s gorgeous dress nice and dry. We had a blast with portraits around the mansion, taking full advantage of the great balcony in the vestibule and formals in the fully preserved Victorian library. Congratulations you two, we wish you the very best!
Todd and I joined Kate and Justin for their big day. They held a very charming ceremony at St. Clement’s Church, then let loose at the beautiful Stotesbury Mansion downtown which has one of the coolest billiards rooms ever! On the way we stopped off at the Art Museum with the bridal party to take in the gorgeous Philadelphia skyline; we got some really great shots before it started to rain, forcing us to do the famous ‘Rocky Run’ down the steps. Luckily, there was a short reprieve, and the four of us stopped for some portraits on Broad Street with City Hall as our backdrop.
