David Higginbotham Photography, The Blog

As I’ve said before it is always an honor to be selected by a bride and groom to photograph their wedding day.  It felt even better when Charles and Cara scheduled their date around my availability.   I know these two families and have a great deal of respect for them so knowing that they thought enough of my work to do that certainly did mean a lot.

I don’t normally post images from the rehearsal dinner but this one of Charles and Cara sharing a moment during the slideshow was a favorite so I thought I’d include it.

Cara chose to have a bridal session before the wedding day…

This next image is one of my favorite bridal portraits.

As you can see from the image above it was a bit of a cloudy day and there was a threat of rain.  Not only did it not rain but we had sunshine exactly when we needed it.  I bet I know why …I’ll come back to that.

There was so much prayer happening to keep the rain off of this ceremony.  I know that was why the weather cooperated!

Like I said earlier I know these families.  Because of this there were times I just knew I should be paying attention.  I was really focusing on Blake (Father of the Bride) as he waited with Cara prior to walking her down the aisle.  As the sunshine came out during one of those key moments he closed his eyes, lifted his head slightly, and took a deep breath.  I almost fell of the hill I was standing on trying to make sure I captured it.

Later I asked what he was doing.  He told me he was saying a prayer….thanking God that He had given them such beautiful weather.  On it’s own the picture is good.  But with the story it turns into much more.

“The bride is coming! The bride is coming!”

My buddy and fellow photographer Jonathan Palmer was my second photographer that day.  He captured this amazing image from the widow’s walk.

Venue:  Westview Farm
Catering:  Curry’s 
The Bride’s Cake:  The Corner Bakery
The Groom’s Cake:  Pastry Art Bake Shoppe
Flowers:  Diana Appleton

Until this past year there was one weather related milestone that my community always referenced. On April 3, 1974 – 315 people lost their lives. It was a Wednesday. Just mentioning that date would spawn long, tornado related conversations. My parents’ home ( as well as my grandparents house) was one of the many casualties of that day. Here is an aerial photo of the damage from that day with my parents’ house circled.

For 37 years that outbreak was the deadliest ever….then dawn broke on April 27th 2011. The outbreak as a whole (spanning 4 days) killed a total of 346 people with 249 of those losing their lives on the 27th.  It happened to be another Wednesday.
My friend and fellow photographer Gary Cosby Jr. is my second shooter at most weddings. His day job is staff photographer at The Decatur Daily. As I did many times during my time at The Daily he chased the storms and documented the damage that day. However his experience was far more significant than any tornado warning I ever chased.

There is no way I can recount his story the way he did so please take a second and go to his blog to read the story about the monster tornado pictured above.

I told you all of that to tell you this. In the midst of the most tragic week in our state’s recent history life continued to roll on. Pooja and Kiran had plans for many days of celebration leading up to their Saturday wedding. The first of which was on Thursday, April 28th. As the rest of Alabama was trying to process what had happened the previous day these two were at the airport trying to squeeze 10 months of planning into one morning of re-planning. There was no power at their wedding venues and cell phone communication was spotty at best. The only place they knew to go that had power and internet was the airport. They called and e-mailed a lot of people and managed to move everything to Nashville, TN.

Cosby jumped directly from the frying pan that is tornado/recovery coverage into the fire of covering an out of town wedding. I greatly appreciate his work and ability to function mentally after the 3 days he had just experienced. You wouldn’t have known that I was appreciative by looking at the accommodations I managed to snag for us.

Turns out that there was quite a bit going on in Nashville that weekend. There weren’t too many choices on rooms although this was a double bed room when I ordered it. Although I tried to give him the bed Mr. Cosby chose to sleep on the floor. This room seriously reminded me of a cruise ship cabin.

Normally there isn’t so much back story on a wedding but I felt that this wedding needed that explanation. If you had walked into either the ceremony or the reception and did not know the full story you would not have known that everything had been moved last minute. Everyone involved did an amazing job and Pooja and Kiran rolled with the changes. It was a truly wonderful experience that I feel fortunate to have been a part of.

Venue: Ganesh Temple, Nashville, TN
Reception: Embassy Suites, Cool Springs, TN
Wedding Planner: Calandra Terry with An Event To Remember
Catering: Sitar Restaurant
DJ: DJ Sahil
Cultural Décor: Mandap World
Videography: Mitchell Videography
Cake: Elegant wedding cakes by Dathern Moon
Second Photographer: Gary Cosby Jr.