Trudy is my aunt, and she met an amazing man named Dan. They had a wedding planned for August that we were all anticipating on attending and beyond excited for.
She messaged me before the Canada Day long weekend asking if I was busy. My family is big on camping and I said that's what we'd be doing, but asked what she needed. They had a family event on Saturday she'd love for me to photograph, last minute. I'm pretty easy about making my schedule work, but keep in mind, she lives five hours away from me. My camping weekend would be cut short for a night, but I was definitely willing to make the trip for them since they really wanted me to be able to come and document this event. In hindsight, she was very vague about what was planned. Dan's parents had just had a wedding anniversary and my assumption was this backyard bbq party was in their honour.
I packed up all my gear and headed out on a five hour road trip, with zero Starbucks locations between me and them. Loud music keeping me company on a kid-free drive. When I arrived at their farm, my first thought was there weren't many vehicles here yet (I was showing up literally just before she said the event was going to start). Still, I wasn't questioning anything about this last minute, urgent 'event' I came out for.
Trudy came out of the house to greet me. I think her words were, so this is actually a zero anniversary party - expecting me to know what on earth that meant. I probably blinked and asked what exactly is a zero anniversary. "We're getting married. Right now." If my jaw could have hit the gravel it would have! I probably turned white, looked like a deer in the headlights, and couldn't get over how floored I was by this surprise news.
Her and Dan had decided to change their wedding plans. Instead of having a big event on their farm in a few months, they now wanted a small gathering of all their children in an intimate, backyard ceremony. Their kids were about to be as surprised as me because they also had no idea this was coming! It all went smoothly and beautifully, and I'm thrilled I was in attendance for their union.
