In nine short days…I am moving.  We’ll be moving out of the house we’ve been living in for seven years and moving into a new home…in a new neighborhood…to start some new adventures.

We’ve been watching our new home be built for months now and the anticipation is nearly palpable.  But it’s also pulling at my heart strings…because it also means that we’re leaving behind the home that we’ve built together…the home that has sheltered us for so many years.

And I’m just not good with goodbyes.

The same can be said for the end of my wedding season.

It’s always a great mix of emotions when I walk out the door of my last wedding for a year.  With my camera bag over my shoulder, I look back at the party behind me and I feel a bittersweet confusion tossing around; partly thrilled at the accomplishment of an amazing season…and partly saddened that it’s all over.

And yes, new beginnings are a beautiful thing.  In the case of wedding photography…it tends to mean rest…rejuvenation…and a fresh collection of couples to document.  But it means saying goodbye to a group of people that have spent a year letting me live my dreams…a group of people who trusted me…believed in me…and chose me.  A group of people who – like the walls of the home that we’ll be soon leaving – sheltered me from doing anything but what I love most.

So, here I am, enduring the most mixed of emotions.  Looking ahead and looking back.  Feeling excited and feeling a bit sad.  Revving up for things to come and quieting down in the moment that is.

Ladies and gentlemen, please say hello to my final wedding of the season…