I’ll never forget the first time I met her. I don’t remember how old we were but it was somewhere between the age of 4-6 years old. She had on a purple striped sweater and she bounced into the small classroom at church where we were in the church version of Girl Scouts together that evening. She came over and, with a big smile, said “can I sit here?”. I’m not sure why I remember that first meeting because much of the rest of our childhood friendship is a blur but I do remember growing up together. Seeing each other every Sunday and Wednesday. Talking about boys and cats and dreams. Me being homeschooled, and a little insecure about it at the time, I would always ask what kind of stuff she was doing in school to make sure I was “caught up”. It’s probably the most boring topic any 11 year old would ever want to discuss but as I poked and prodded about what exactly she was learning in Science, Math and English, she always smiled and answered my questions. Because that’s the kind of girl she always was. Sweet, charming, and always with a huge beautiful smile.

When Elvira contacted me last year to tell me she was engaged and wanted to hire us, I was so excited. We didn’t stay in touch much through high school and afterward but there is always something special about life coming full circle. And there’s especially something special about shooting the wedding of a friend to whom I can say “Hey I knew you before we both had boobs”.

Elvira and Mike are getting married next weekend on Block Island and Rachel and I are super excited to be there!

Meet Elvira + Mike.