Hallie and Atticus | Presidio Social Club Wedding

Hallie’s mom finished buttoning up the dress and took a step forward to look at her daughter, fully dressed. Her hands immediately went up to her mouth. I inched closer, shooting what appeared to be that moment of joy and emotion when a mother sees her daughter in a wedding dress. Except there wasn’t a smile, and her hands stayed longer than usual. It was a look of horror. Hallie had a cut on her finger that started bleeding again, and where she had pressed her hand against her stomach while getting buttoned up, there was a bright red smear on her dress. 

At first, everything froze for a couple seconds. Then there was a flurry of activity. Instructions to stay calm. It was going to be alright. Hallie sighed with a look of defeat and stared straight ahead. iPhones whipped out to look up the best way to remove a blood stain. They looked up the exact materials from the dress website. Calls were made for peroxide, dish soap, club soda maybe? 

The room felt seriously small. Sometimes in sensitive situations I step out for a moment to give people space, but I decided to stay inside. My role was to show what happened that day, and I was going to stick to it. In that moment I was extremely grateful for my camera’s quiet shutter. I think one of the only things I said during all of this was “It’s not going to be in the photos” with a gentle smile. I was prepared to edit out the smear in every single photograph. Hallie got out of her dress, and everyone took turns carefully blotting. Somewhere in the flurry of it all Hallie’s mom started crying and Hallie sat beside her in quiet calm. 

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When I designed their album, I asked Hallie what parts of the day or specific images she wanted to include.

“My mom loves the pic of the two of us sitting in the chair looking distraught during the blood-on-the-dress debacle, ha!”

I loved it too. Getting ready isn’t just all hairspray spritzes and sipping champagne. If you let it, it’s an honest account of what went on before the ceremony. It becomes the story you tell your kids (and one of my go-to “I once had a bride who…” stories when folks ask me if I have any interesting wedding stories). 

By the way, plain water blotted with a small towel did the trick. Miraculously there was no trace of it by the time the women in the room worked their magic. Hallie stepped outside to meet Atticus for their first look shortly after.