The Day the Preacher's Head Exploded

Alright, so the title is misleading... At no point in my life have I witnessed a preacher's head exploding... scratch that... At no point in my life have I witnessed a head exploding.

But... I did drive a preacher to go off on my husband... and so the story unfolds...

Justin and I were in Dallas, TX shooting the beautiful Christine's wedding (pay attention to that... its important later). Upon arriving at the church, Justin and I ask the wedding coordinator what the rules are regarding photography during the ceremony. She says, "You can have one person on the stage that is stationary. No flash during the ceremony. That's about it."

The way this church is set up, the fact that one of us could be on stage was good news. It was a beautiful church, but not set up to get close shots while staying out of the way. So I sat... SAT... in a pew on the stage where I was not visible to about 90% of the audience.

I got some amazing shots. I was excited while shooting because the angle I had and the lighting was amazing. After the ceremony, I went to switch cameras with Justin so I could take some shots outside of the wedding party while they were waiting for the church to clear. I came back in to give Justin his camera back and he leans down and whispers, "Stay away from the preacher. He's cranky."

Well that's all I need to know. If you know me well you know that there are some days where I'm the most patient person ever. Then there are days where I have no patience and am difficult to censor. This was a day of the latter. So I stayed away from him.

Here's the story of what happened...

The preacher came up to Justin after the ceremony and said, "Who was that woman taking pictures on the stage?"

Justin: "That was my wife."

Preacher: "Well I didn't appreciate how loud the camera was. The mic was picking up the sound."

Justin: "Well I'm sorry sir. We spoke with the wedding coordinator before the wedding and she said it was okay for us to be up there."

Preacher: "Well normally it is. But you know you can turn the sound off on those digital cameras."

(PAUSE) No you cannot. That is ridiculous. We aren't shooting with a point and shoot here sir.

Justin: "Actually, sir, you can't. That is a mechanical function of the camera."

Preacher: "Well if you are going to be using an old mechanical camera then she doesn't need to take pictures every two seconds."

At this point, the wonderful Christine interrupts and Justin no longer speaks to preacher.

Here's the best part and the good reason I was not near when this happened...

During the ceremony, my camera may have been loud. Maybe. But what I am certain was picked up on the microphone was the preacher calling the bride "Allison" three times during the ceremony. Her name is Christine.

For the rest of the day I referred to him as "Preacher Poopy Pants".