If you know me well you know I live by several tenets. I won’t go into detail with my list, but several are common to most: live with integrity, be honest, leave it better than you found it, take yourself and those around you to higher ground in all you do and say, etc. etc. etc. I am sure those sounds like codes you all live by as well. My girlfriends also know that I strongly believe in the idea of retail therapy. I REALLY do believe that doing a little shopping and indulging in yourself, just a little bit, can be uplifting. It might be a temporary fix to a problem, and it might also give clarity on how to solve an on going problem: coping with a highly emotional child is much easier in a pair of Jimmy Choos.
I shot a wedding last summer in San Diego: Megan and Brad’s wedding. Like all the weddings I shoot, I walked away from this one saying, “That was my favorite!” They are all my favorites for their own reasons. Megan and Brad’s had many, but I was particularly magnetized to Megan’s choice in jewelry. She too is a total and complete Kate Spade fanatic. I walked in, saw the pink and orange, and green and turquoise boxes, and knew immediately, Megan was one of my people. The necklace she chose as her wedding necklace was the most powerful signature piece a bride could wear: elegant yet noteworthy, delicate yet powerful, stated yet understated. It was just all around magnificent. I knew I had to have it. Not steal it from her, but you know, get my own.
Ashley, my dear friend, and side kick at many of the weddings I photograph, couldn’t stop talking about it all the way home from the wedding. I was on a mission: I would find that necklace and call it my own. I was so obsessed I pictured myself sleeping in it!!
I was so tired after the wedding and the drive home, but I had to look on line to find it, and find it I did, and, then, I tried to find a knock off, something similar but a quarter the cost. It just wasn’t going to happen. Nothing I found could match the really Mackoy!! I had to have it, and I knew, one day I would find it and call it my very own.
Skip ahead to the dawn of Fall.
I found myself in crisp Boston, again, with my good friend Ashley. Boston is her current base, I was there to see her of course, and do a little work as well. I am a HUGE fan of all cities. I loved Boston the second I met it! It’s the most perfect little city: not too big, yet big enough, and SO rich in history and texture AND food!!!! Everything about that trip was so, uplifting. My heart was very happy in Boston. Again, I believe in retail therapy, and Ashley is a shopper herself, so she took me to a great row of shops. We popped in and out, enjoying the brisk when we stepped out, and drinking in the warm when we stepped in. We were almost to the end of the street when we saw it: THE KATE SPADE store!!!!! I turned to Ashley and she new without me even saying anything; we had to step inside, just to see.
I love the Kate Spade style because of the colors and the clean lines. It’s edgy fashinionista meets sophisticated debutant! We strolled around a bit, looking, chatting, and then, like a beacon, we saw it. THE necklace. And next two it? A half off sign. I looked at Ash, and this might sounds silly, but kinda, a little bit, started to get emotional. I took it off the neck frame, claiming it, and walked right to the register, well, I made a stop for a pair of earrings, but clutched the necklace the whole time. It was mine. I was happy. I wore it out of the store, and Ashley and I joked and laughed about our experience in Boston and how the necklace would always be a part of it.
I do love all accessories, not just this particular necklace, and I do feel they, like they are intended, finish an outfit. Roy and Brittany, arrived to their Boston engagement shoot with the only accesories they needed: each other and true love!! Brittany, like most brides, at their engagement shoots, was a bit, hesitant to start shooting. In her own words, “It’s just that these pictures are so important. I want them to be perfect because we will have them forever!!” I was touched. She understood the power of the photograph, and I understood the power of both: the photograph and the accessory!!! I shared with Brit and Roy the story of my necklace, then I opened my jacket and showed it to them!! Then I told Brittany, whose outfit couldn’t have been more fitting, and again she didn’t need ANY accessories, that I wanted her to wear my new Kate Spade for the shoot. I was endeared to her even more by her response, “Really? Wow! That is so generous!!” The truth is what Roy and Brittany shared, what all my couples share, with me is so generous. They all share their hearts and their love stories. Each engagement I shoot, each wedding day I photograph, I take with me a metaphorical charm, and I add it to this great charm bracelet accessory. It, next to the Kate Spade, is my favorite accessory. To Brittany and Roy, and all the couples I have met or have yet to meet, thank you, from my heart, for sharing so much of yourselves with me. Thank you for letting me into your lives to be a part of the memories you will have forever!! I love you all so much and am looking forward to being a sparkling accessory to you both TODAY on your wedding day!!
Here’s to Brittany and Roy, their romance, and the necklace!!
Looking forward to more celebrating with Brittany and Roy, their family, and friend in July at their Santa Barbara wedding!! Much love to you both!! xx KJ