Wedding detail: recreating a photo

At three years old, my parents brought me to Bidwell Mansion, where my dad worked at the time, to take portraits in Annie Bidwell's historic bedroom. One of my earliest memories is clutching three pink roses in the car on the way to the Mansion, holding them in the sunlight because my mom said they needed to open up a bit more for the photos.

It was those three roses that somehow, in the midst of the chaos, I remembered to add to my floral order during the final consultation with the amazing Flower Allie in the week before my wedding.

One of the images from that childhood portrait session was enlarged and entered into a photography contest. It was then framed and given to my parents, who hung it on their wall for years.

With a similar slatted backdrop in the Farmhouse loft bedroom, I saw a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take a matching portrait as a bride. Seeing myself in a before-and-after state with a gap of 25 years in between was strange and captivating all at once. I framed the images side-by-side and gave them to my parents after the wedding, and they were so grateful and touched.

Another unexpected benefit of having a second bouquet was that it added another dimension to the photo opportunities on wedding day. Although I loved my bridal bouquet, I thought it was nice that I also had photos with a second bouquet - one that was simpler and more traditional than the wild, peony-adorned foliage I held for the rest of the day.