That One Time When I Fell Over At A Wedding

We were all really hot. And really sweaty. Houston in late June? Not a recipe for hours of happy happy family photos. I needed to get this ish done quick.

So I’m trying to get the entire group (read: family, friends, er’body) and the temple in the shot. Problem: There are bushes, dirt, rosebushes, and a fountain right where I need to stand. How dare they. But it was one of those manicured, super-stiff bushes, so I thought: “I can maybe just sit on this a little bit, I only need like 5mm more to get everyone in the shot…”

And then,

I fell.

Backwards. I’m pretty sure in slow motion.

Over/through the bush, into the dirt and also, not-so-conveniently, the rosebushes. Sans roses.

Lucky for you, in my frantic falling state, I snapped a photo:

Not really sure what was going through my mind at that point–maybe something like, “I’m goin down, omg, I might die down here! Oh, my, if I die, nobody will be here to take photos so I need to get this shot, and they will still like me even though I died in the middle of their wedding…”

The strap of my dress (long, thankfully!) got sliced by a thorn, there was a lot of dirt down there, and it was a whole lot harder than it looked to get up (the bush was still.in.my.way) –I was a hot mess. Thankfully everyone was incredibly nice about my hilarious mishap, although I did hear more than a few “Man, I wish I had a camera!”s.

Why do I share this ridiculousness with you? Because despite all my efforts to be professional and keep it together, I just might fall over at your wedding while trying to get the perfect shot. But that makes me a human, and my humanness is also what allows me to create moving art. I’m not attempting to create a flawless persona online, showing only perfectly coiffed images along with the most annoyingly manicured descriptions of my oh-so-perfect life. Nope, I’m keepin’ it real  along with the art I create.

Hopefully I made up for The Fall Fail with images like this:

Much more of this gorgeous wedding to come.

Brooke Schultz is a slightly klutzy Utah-based wedding and lifestyle photographer crazy about raw, beautiful imagery. She’s recently learned such important lessons as: don’t try to sit on bushes and falling down is done best with at least 100 pairs of eyes watching. Brooke is available for travel worldwide–faceplanting at a wedding near you.