Benj Haisch Photography | Seattle Tacoma Wedding & Portrait Photographer. » benj haisch photography blog.

Sometimes we all go to weddings and it’s just routine, the bride and groom don’t even seem interested in each other and you just can’t wait for the ceremony end early and the cake cutting to happen soon after dinner so you can make your goodbyes and get out of there. Derek and Jamie’s wedding couldn’t have been further from that. These two helped me remember what weddings are really about, seeing how they looked at each other with SUCH a genuine joy and love was simply amazing. Congrats, you two! Enjoy your honeymoon as I already know you will.

Oh man, where to even begin with this wedding?! First of all, my good friend Jay Eads was actually contracted to shoot this wedding and called me up to be his second shooter. Jay and I are good friends, chat often and I wasn’t booked, so I was glad to work with him and even offered to have him stay with us on his trip up from Eugene, Oregon.

On the way to Seattle that morning, Jay started having some major pains in his stomach and after a few calls and chats with emergency medical personnel, we rushed him to Harborview Medical Center thinking his appendix had burst. He was in a great deal of pain, but still incredibly concerned about his clients. When I dropped him off at the ER and I watched him literally run through the doors in pain, I took a deep breath, said a prayer for him and drove his SUV down to Safeco Field to take photos of Jeff and his guys. No pressure, right? On the bright side, I know Jeff and Alise pretty well and they were totally fine with having me be there to capture their wedding. Jeff is a local photographer as well, so there is already pressure to perform with a little extra bit of awesomeness, but now their primary photographer is in the hospital and his hired second is shooting the entire thing. Good thing this wasn’t my first wedding and it’s a good thing that Jeff and Alise had insisted on 2 photographers in the first place! Jay ended up actually coming back after a few hours after my wife Maddie came and picked him up. Turns out that Jay had a really intense kidney stone and was able to pass it after a few hours. Despite the morphine and obvious pain earlier, Jay was able to make it back just in time for the family portraits before the ceremony. The guy is a trooper!

When I arrived at Safeco Field to meet the guys and then at the Arctic Club Hotel to meet up with the girls, everyone was amazing and totally more concerned with Jay’s well-being than the fact that he couldn’t be there to take the photos. That is just the kind of people Jeff and Alise are. Thanks for having us!

Here are a few of my shots from the day.

My good friends in the band Roman Holiday jammed during cocktail hour. So fun to have them there!

And of course, I had to grab a quick portrait of the guys as well.Jeff, Alise, and everyone involved, thanks again for be so patient and treating me so well when you found out Jay was probably going to be gone all day.

Jay, thanks for having me shoot with you. So glad you made it out ok, man!

I don’t usually shoot family sessions, but I did this past weekend for an amazing family from Kansas. Chad and Shaina were up in Seattle for Chad’s graduation from Re:Train in Seattle. Chad recently planted a church in downtown Wichita and just officially finished his schooling, which is what brought their family up to Seattle. Shaina is an amazing photographer as well and contacted me about shooting their family photos while they were up here. These guys are legit and I was incredibly honored just to hang out with such an awesome family. Towards the end of the shoot I took Chad and Shaina away for a bit to grab some portraits of the two of them. You don’t have to be engaged or newly married to get portraits of love!