Happy Monday, friends!

This blog post is going up a little bit late because, let’s be honest, after two double-headers in a row, sleeping in with the cats, indulging in Starbucks’ new toasted graham lattes, and taking a walk in the first seventy-degree day we’ve seen since maybe April sounded like more fun! However, we do have something super fun to share with you today!

Just about a week ago, our little sister got married, and we pulled double-duty: photographers and bridal party members. We’ve photographed weddings before where one of us was in the bridal party and other wasn’t — most recently when Jordan was a groomsman in Will and Dani’s wedding this spring — but we’ve never tackled one where we were both in the wedding!

If you haven’t seen the real blog post from the wedding yet, you can catch up here first!

The  question we’ve been getting ever since… “So, how’d you do it?!”  The answer? With a lot of help and planning! Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at each major part of the day and a quick explanation of what’s happening and how we did it. If you’re a photographer and have a family member or friend getting married soon, hopefully it’ll help you prep for your double-duty assignment! If not, hopefully it’s a fun peek at something you don’t normally get to see! Either way, here’s how to shoot a wedding and be in it! Enjoy, friends!

Amy arrived first for hair and makeup at 8:00 a.m. so that she could be done, in her robe, grab breakfast, and start shooting details with plenty of time so she wouldn’t feel rushed, like she couldn’t be present for other moments, too.

Like group bridesmaids photos like these!
On the lower left, Jordan is grabbing the shot you see above. Quick tip: if you slightly close the doors and use it to frame the people on the other side, it gives the appearance that you’re peeking in on a moment. Also, how’d we get the behind-the-scenes shot of Jordan shooting if Amy’s with the bridesmaids on the bed? Good question! We brought along past AJ Workshop attendee, friend and fellow photographer Karlee, who spent ALL DAY with us helping with fun photos like this, shots we couldn’t get (like family photos we were in), the ceremony and some open dancing, too!  We’re SO thankful for her!This photo of Caelen’s makeup artist is extra special to us (which you’ll understand after you scroll down a few more photos!)The talented Erin Fink (left) did hair for all the girls and did an AMAZING job! Doing eight different hairstyles in just a few hours is NO small task! Amy’s hair stayed all day, too. She liked it so much that she even kept it for the wedding we shot the next day!So… fun fact: Arielle actually did Amy’s makeup at OUR wedding over six years ago! She serves A TON of  AJ Brides and rocks most of our styled shoots with us, too! She’s the sweetest thing in the whole wide world and an uber-talanted makeup artist. She’ll never tell you this, but we like bragging on her: she ran one of the most successful Bobbi Brown counters in America and even apprenticed under one of Bobbi’s top people. Wowza! Yep. She’s pretty much the bomb! And we love her. It was so fun to see her doing Caelen’s wedding day makeup six years after Amy’s (see pic below!) 
Blast from the past!!Jordan almost didn’t know what to do with himself during the guys’ getting ready photos because he’s always the one directing traffic from behind the camera, so Amy had to force him to help the other guys get ready! Here’s a shot of him helping his dad with his tie with his two younger brothers (and Amy!) in the background.We couldn’t keep our lens off our nephew, Luke — the cutest little ring bearer ever!  Here he is with his dad, Nick, Jordan’s older brother. Look at that sweet face! He’s a lady killer already!Jordan rockin’ Austin’s groom portraits. We’re happy to have him in the family… mostly for height!
We love you, Arielle and Erin! Thank you so much for making everyone look and feel beautiful! You guys are the best!
Had to throw Amy in for a few getting ready photos with Caelen!Austin and Jordan on the left and Caelen and Amy on the right!
For all the group photos, like bridesmaids, groomsman, and families, we shot them except for the ones we both had to be in. That’s where Karlee stepped in! Pictured below is Caelen with her four brothers. From left to right: Musa, Jordan, Nick, and Stefan. Nick is the oldest, Jordan is second, Stefan is third, and Musa is fourth. He joined the Demos family a few years ago and gets his official name change this year!On the left, Jordan is preparing his dad for his first look with Caelen. If you look through the gate on the far right, you can actually see her white dress. On the right, Amy’s taking care of the groomsman shots!
The bridesmaids! Can you spot Amy? You’d never know she just arranged this photo and then snuck right in!Arranging family photos is a lot like herding cats. Especially when they’re your own!Our whole family together! Here’s the breakdown: (Front) Anna, Nick, and their two kids, Olivia and Luke; Stefan and his wife, Ashley; (Back) Jordan and Amy, Caelen, Fran and Harry, and Musa.Thanks for grabbing a few of us together, Karlee!Gotta do the look and giggle!
We can’t say ENOUGH about the amazing team at Outstanding Occasions led by Rachel and her teammates Danielle (pictured below fluffing the veil!) and Caitlin for planning our sister’s wedding. We couldn’t have EVER — not in a million years — done this without you. Thank you for being at our side (and everyone’s side!) the entire day and making sure the day went off without a hitch. We love you all!And Sarah Watts from Sarah’s Garden! Giiirl… you get flowers and they get you! You should do this for a living or something 😉 Your designs are always so stunning but when we walked in and saw what you created for our sister, we felt so, so, so thankful that you were there!Okay, Zach Morris “time-out” time. Why? Cuz we need to love on these two ladies!

You all know the person on the right. If you don’t, you need to! Melissa Jill is one of our BEST friends in the entire world and the (just slightly) older sister that we both always wanted but never had. She’s been a mentor to us, a confidant, and spiritual strengthener, and most importantly a lifelong friend. We make late-night donut runs together when we’ve got a sugar craving, she takes us to new, cool, trendy restaurants in town (because we’re none of those things), and we don’t know what we’d do without her. She’s even the one who found William Wallace and Mr. Carson for us! So she’s technically their aunt!

Oh yeah, she’s also one of the best photographers around! She shot the ceremony for us, grabbed behind-the-scenes photos during sunset portraits, did the big family group shots at the end, and covered some of the open dancing for us, too! Melissa, we LOVE YOU and are SO grateful for your friendship and everything you did for our sister!

Karlee (left) like we said before, made it possible for us to not only have tons of behind-the-scenes shots to show you and keep for our memories, but she helped us with family photos, the ceremony, and shooting open dancing so we could just enjoy it! Karlee, we’re SO grateful to have met you at the AJ Workshop this year, and have loved watching your business explode ever since! Congrats on going full-time, girl!It was weird not shooting the ceremony, but because we had so much confidence in the two ladies covering it for us, we got to enjoy and embrace the moment.Soaking in all the emotion. We love this image of Amy wiping away a tear! So sweet!The gentlemen!Haha! We had some fun during the recessional!Gotta hug the bride!And then we were like, Time to go! We’re losing light! That form though…People ask us all the time about family and close friends’ weddings, “Wouldn’t you rather just go as a guest and enjoy it?” The truth is, as the photographers, we get to spend more time with the bride and groom than anyone, and you can’t put a price on being the ones who get to push the button that saves their memories forever.Sometimes you can’t get the angle you want. Or the groom is really tall. Austin is, by far, the tallest family member we have.We had rain on the forecast all week leading up to the wedding, but it didn’t sprinkle a drop and that golden Arizona light showed up!Amy grabbed reception details right before the ceremony started!In between all the chaos of the reception, we managed to snag a few photos with the amazing team who made this day possible! First up, the ladies of Outstanding Occasions! Left to right: Rachel, Danielle, and Caitlin. Thank you again, ladies!Lindsey!!! Where do we even begin?! Thank you SO much to you and your ENTIRE team at El Chorro for being the most incredible hosts the whole day! We love you and your staff and we couldn’t have imagined spending our sister’s big day anywhere else. Also, William Wallace says hello. You know he loves you!The photography team! Who gets FOUR photographers, right?! A photographer’s sister! That’s who!We had to be creative during different parts of the day, with grand entrances being one of them. Instead of going in order, we went first, so Melissa and Karlee could shoot us walking in. Then, they tossed us the cameras so we could photograph everyone else coming in, including the bride and groom!After first dances, toasts, and cake-cutting, we tossed the cameras to Karlee and danced the night away!Jordan’s faces are always this expressive. Always.Mom and Dad have been married over 30 years and are still so in love! Also, can you believe that Fran is Jordan’s mom? Nobody ever pictures a blonde haired, light eyed lady when they picture her because Jordan looks so different! When he was a little boy, she actually nicknamed him Mowgli the Man Cub because he got so dark in the summer that he didn’t look like her son!

And how cute are Amy and Musa on the right?! Can you see the family resemblance? 😉 These two are total buds. It was so fun getting to dance the night away with family and friends!

So that’s it!  A little peek into how it all happened! One more HUGE shout out to all the vendors who helped make all of our sister’s wedding dreams come true!

the WEDDING TEAM…

Event Designer: Outstanding Occasions

DJ: Push Play Entertainment
Bride’s Dress: Melissa Sweet at David’s Bridal
Bride’s Rings: Vera Wang
Bride’s Shoes: Betsey Johnson Blues
Bridesmaids Dresses: David’s Bridal
Catering: El Chorro
Ceremony Location: El Chorro
Dessert: Twelve Cakes Bakery
Floral Design: Sarah’s Garden
Groomsmen Suits: Kenneth Cole
Groom’s Suit: Kenneth Cole
Hair Stylist: Erin Fink
Invitations: Champagne Press
Linens: La Tavola Fine Linens
Macarons: Ruze Cake House
Makeup Artist: Arielle Rondeau
Officiant: Dustin Tappan
Photographers: Amy & Jordan
Ceremony Photographers: Melissa Jill & Karlee K
Reception Location: El Chorro