Denis Reggie Moments

A final dress fitting in New York before Erin heads down South for her hometown wedding. © Denis Reggie 2010

We were just 15 years old when chance brought us together for what would become an unexpected lifelong friendship. Waiting a few chairs apart at an airport gate for the same flight to Boston, we somehow figured out that both of us were en route to Andover – Phillips Academy to be precise – to attend prep school. Being excited and a bit nervous to leave the comfort of my close knit, small town family, I was thrilled and relieved to make the acquaintance of a fellow Southerner as I headed to a place far away from my roots. Smiling Bob Morrison hailed from Vicksburg, Mississippi, with his charming accent and perfect Southern manners to prove it. We became fast friends and suddenly it didn’t matter that so few preppies were from my – make that our – neck of the woods.

It was actually while at Andover that I first picked up a camera and took an interest in photography. I will never forget the moment I first witnessed (in amazement) a submerged 8 by 10 sheet of paper magically being transformed into a photograph right before my wide open eyes. Though I didn’t know it at the time, that rush and revelation under the orange glow of a darkroom safelight set my future in motion. Actually, the entire experience there was enlightening on many fronts and has served me so well in the real world. (Years later, both of my children headed off to prep school summers at Exeter and Choate and had their own life altering experiences.)

Bob and my Andover days are forever linked and always with special and fond memories. As fate – and perhaps a bit of Irish luck – would have it, I would have the unexpected pleasure of encountering Bob again over the years…

Corin and Bob head to church for their daughter's wedding ceremony in Vicksburg. © Denis Reggie 2010

Fast forward 15 years to Lafayette, Louisiana, where I was now well along with photography pursuits just 25 miles from my childhood home. As it turned out, Bob had arrived in the very same town along with his lovely wife Corin and newborn Erin on a mission to look after and expand the family’s chain of convenience stores.

But it was in a phone call from Corin – searching for a studio to create portraits of their baby beauty – that things got very interesting. Credit Bob’s razor sharp wife with somehow connecting that I was that same friend from prep school days once mentioned by husband Bob.

What a happy coincidence, and, though baby portraits were not on my menu, I gladly photographed their adorable 2 year old (and future bride). Happily, I had the chance to get reacquainted with Bob and confirm what a special lady he had married. We had some fun times together in Lafayette, but my future was to be in Atlanta. We lost touch once again in the mid-80′s when I moved away.

Another fast forward, this time by a dozen years and my first appearance on Oprah to discuss the essence of wedding photojournalism. It was such an honor to be interviewed by the television icon herself but an added and delightful surprise awaited me days later when I received a message from my old friends. How sweet of Corin to take time to track me down and write her sweet note recalling our baby portrait session years ago with her daughter who was now of high school age. She pondered whether I might someday even photograph Erin’s wedding. I assured her that it would be a genuine pleasure indeed to personally document her wedding and have the chance to reconnect with her and Bob.

That someday came another dozen years later in a call from my Vicksburg friends relating the happy news of Erin’s 2010 wedding. Yes, 40 years after that chance airport meeting, I would proudly take on the assignment of documenting Bob as father-of-the-bride and their wedding weekend events in the festive traditions of the Deep South. Erin, as it turned out, had grown from that photogenic baby into a brilliant and gorgeous young lady now living in New York.

The Morrisons welcomed me into their home and treated me as a member of their own family, even insisting that I sit side-by-side with them at the rehearsal dinner. What warm and dear friends! An added thrill was seeing Mike Kitsis, another buddy from our Andover days, as a wedding guest along with his lovely fiancée. Every aspect of the weekend was clearly enjoyed by all of us, especially the couple. It made for a perfect memory and I was so touched to capture it all through my lens along with my talented team photographer Clara. It was a wedding assignment of the highest order: true beauty, joyous celebration, heartfelt love, and delightfully fine folks.

Here’s the story as it appeared in the New York Times announcement… and a selection of photographs from Erin and (her very lucky husband) Patrick’s lovely Vicksburg wedding.