YOU GUYS. Seriously. THIS is how to rock a beach wedding in the middle of the craziest surprise storm of the year. This wedding goes in the books as one of the most amazing, wonderful, insane weddings ever in the history of EVER.

We arrived at Breanna’s house on Saturday, where all their family and friends have been spending months -an entire year- prepping the property for this one all-important day. Her dad had built (freehand with a chainsaw, are you kidding me??) the four-posted arbor from a tree on their property, they built the tiki bar, they built the “boardwalk” on either side of the arbor, they trucked in sand for the ceremony site, they built the dance floor, they cooked the food, they created the giant net-covered beach wall that greeted guests on the way in… are you seeing a theme here? Anyway, when we arrived, the bride was not there; she’d left halfway through her hair & makeup prep because the power had blown out and she still needed to curl her hair. So the girls trekked 30 minutes away into Lynden seeking power while everyone else just tried to keep things on the ground -literally- in the midst of the monsoon. The running commentary of the morning was, “Really??! Well, what can you do… here, have another drink!”

As the roof to the tiki bar blew away little by little and the top of the tent covering the reception area tore off, we tied table cloths to table legs and filled flower vases with sand trying to keep them upright (which didn’t work). A tree came down on the other side of the driveway and eight guys quickly broke out a chainsaw and lugged it off the lawn. The live band rigged up their sound equipment with a borrowed generator. Family cleared out space in the garage so that the food could be served under cover. People dipped their hands in the pool to wash because without power there was also no running water. We squeezed two and a half hours of portrait time into 30 minutes. But everyone was laughing! Laughing and drinking and makeshifting (and re-makeshifting) and not letting this insane weather in AUGUST for this meticulously planned BEACH WEDDING ruin the true purpose of this day. Daniel and Breanna were in love and getting married, and their family & friends were here to love and celebrate them. And dang it, that was going to happen no matter what!!

Breanna had a genuine smile on her face the entire day, laughing off the weather and embracing the rain in her bare feet and tied-up wedding dress. I think that all said and done these two had a day that, while the details didn’t end up exactly how they’d planned, really reflected them: fun loving, genuine, flexible, strong, in love and surrounded by love. It was truly incredible to watch.