Jenny And Dustin’s Save The Date Session // Houston, TX
I found Jenny on Aug. 29th, 2017 on Facebook, after I read this article on CNN. I mean, canceling your wedding three whole times? I knew I had to reach out and see how we could help this couple have the wedding experience they so deserved.
The message I sent to Jenny upon hearing of their thrice-derailed wedding plans.
The message I sent to Jenny upon hearing of their thrice-derailed wedding plans.
She was obviously too overwhelmed with dealing with a disastrous hurricane to even think about planning a 4th wedding. On Sept 17th she wrote back and said if we were still interested, they would love to have us photograph a Save the Date/Engagement session in all the wreckage.
We moved our schedule around, looked at flights and of course only Southwest had the only nonstop from Oakland at a reasonable price. We won’t mention other airlines by name, but needless to say, we were astonished at what they were trying to get away with charging everyone to get to Houston. It was ridiculous!!
Our Instagram account has a lot of the story information. I packed up for a 23-hour journey to Houston on Sept 24th and made this post:
“We want to tell you about a special story that is unfolding about a lovely couple near Houston who had to postpone their wedding not 1, not 2 but THREE times due to hurricanes. Our hearts went out to them and reached out and offered to photograph their rescheduled wedding if they lost their photographers.
They got in touch last week and want a Save the Date in all the hurricane cleanup… Southwest is helping us out, and Michaela is en route for some quick overnight southern hospitality.
We called our friends at Richard Photo Lab and Kodak Alaris and they are donating their services and film to this sweet couple. Keep watching our IG stories for updates! And let us know if you want to be involved!! ♡”
After returning to CA we posted:
“You have no idea what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes until you put them on… I think your grandma has been telling you this your whole life right? Sometimes you really forget how true this is. Our world is full of troubles and turbulent times right now and we, like everyone else, are trying our best to deal with it.
If you have been following us, then you know that my (Michaela) recent spur of the moment trip to Texas is the beginning of a “couple’s 3 canceled weddings by flooding” story. A story about helping our brand new friends who are hurting from a natural disaster. Staying in their home taught me about their inherent kindness and the beautiful community they live in.
The first days after hurricane Harvey most everyone was rescued by each other (federal aid could not get in) and if your house was destroyed, no biggie, how can I help you? Bring my boat, truck, canceled wedding food, gloves, hammer, wine, take you to the pop-up shelter to find your cat? Jenny and Dustin even rescued a wild pig from near death that now lives on their property, happy as can be. The stories are endless.
And it did not stop there; their hospitality with me was like I had known them longer than an hour. It seemed like life was just starting back the day I blew through… when traveling to our Save the Date photo locations there were a lot of people in action, hauling trash mostly. But still FEMA trucks and Red Cross aid and still people without safe drinking water. During our photo shoot, there were probably 20 trucks who stopped and asked if we needed anything. Everyone was truly kind to each other. It was such a breath of fresh air in all the disaster.
Human kindness is a thing. Let’s keep it a thing. I encourage you. It feels better than anything. I promise.”
After a brief journey to capture their Save the Date, we were inspired to continue helping this sweet couple in any way we could. We drafted an outreach message to rally support from all across the board and were astounded by how many entities were ready and able to assist us in making Jenny and Dustin’s wedding day truly special.
And on March 12th, 2018, Jenny and Dustin successfully tied the knot on a beautiful, sunny day in Las Vegas.
