Our wedding

It’s been almost four months since my own wedding and I still have trouble describing the experience properly. But I want to try. For me that day, or I should say that week, was everything I wanted it to be. We had friends and family from all around the world come and join us in the place where I used to spend my childhood summers, the small village of Burs on the island of Gotland in the middle of the Baltic Sea. The place itself is magical to both Jacqui and I. I have so many amazing memories from my summers there and Jacqui fell in love with it the first time I took her there.

Still it was no easy decision.

We’re talking about a small village 50km from the closest city on an island four hours from the mainland of Sweden. Getting there is difficult enough if you live in Stockholm, getting there from Australia takes some serious commitment. And yet people came. Planning the whole thing was the next problem. We had to rely heavily on my family and I could write a whole blog post to celebrate everyone who helped out in the end. Because everyone did help out. Someone sorted accommodation, another table decorations, my cousin’s husband cooked and so on. Jac and I couldn’t be there to help out, so we decided to not worry too much about the details. We didn’t want to come in and micro manage the last week when most of the work had already been done. The result was a patchwork of ideas, a mix of ingredients that in the end made the whole thing perfect. It wasn’t just our idea of what the wedding should be, it was everyone’s.

I really didn’t know what to expect, but when people started showing up, something magical happened. The wedding became greater than all its parts. I mean, I’ve always loved that place and the people there, but seeing all my friends and family mix with Jacqui’s was amazing. What happens when you introduce everyone you love to each other? Well, it becomes a love fest like nothing else. And this is where it becomes a story I can’t describe, an experience so different, it would take seriously talented storytellers to capture the essence of what happened.

And that’s where The Parsons come in.

I’ve been a storyteller for a very long time, my short career as a wedding photographer is only the tip of the iceberg. Stories run in everything I’ve ever done, everything I do and how I live my life. I tell wedding stories and I’m living my own story to the best of my capacity.

I contacted The Parsons months before I proposed. At first they thought I was lying, that I wasn’t Jonas Peterson, but a friend of theirs playing them a cruel prank. It took some convincing to get them to understand that I was indeed who I am and that I wanted them to shoot my wedding. Jeremy and Ashley are extremely talented storytellers, always telling tales with big heart and love. I’ve always found them extremely underrated, maybe because they’re based in Kansas City, far away from the world’s larger wedding markets.

But the stories they tell.

Filled with heart and soul they show the world their vision of what weddings – and life – should be, focusing on the people, not the things, the emotion, not the hoopla. I was going to post a bunch of their images here, but I’ve decided not to. The story they told deserves to be seen the way they saw it, told the way they want it to be told. So head over to their blog and check out the images from our wedding day through the eyes of Jeremy and Ashley. I love them, and our images, dearly.

And that’s why it makes me extra giddy that they’re coming here, to my home, to teach a workshop early next year. In my view The Parsons are up there with the most talented storytellers in the wedding industry, so having them come here to teach a workshop is an opportunity I wouldn’t miss. I had considered flying to Colorado where they normally hold their “Don’t Give Up” workshop, but now they’re coming here instead. I’ll let them tell you all about it, but if you’re in the business of telling wedding stories, I would sign up straight away. I’ll be there to guest speak and I can promise you it will be an experience like nothing else.

Lets create a greater story.

jacqui and jonas wedding day from WE ARE THE PARSONS on Vimeo.