It’s 5:21am at JFK and I’m surrounded by emotional support luggage, wide yawns, and wrought anticipation. Dawn is allegedly approaching, which feels rather poetic considering the past week was spent watching the dawn of something new creep over the New York City skyline. Brand building is both taxing and rewarding. It’s sleeplessness and sore bones, claps on the back and the exploration, confrontation, and surprise of what you’re capable of. It’s like working on a puzzle where half the pieces are octo-pronged and the other half are missing but no matter the final picture, it was a hell of a lot of fun figuring it all out. This project has gone through the wash a couple times over but much like the sun, it’s on its way up. @ophsides coming soon.
I am often overwhelmed by my love for you, overcome and bursting at the seams with it. I spent much of my life thinking myself devoid of love only to discover vast stores of it squirreled away in oil drums waiting patiently to be opened. I hadn’t thought it possible, the complicity of our near-criminal companionship to exist and yet each and every day you prove me wrong. You are my great love, the one who summons Nessun Dorma in my head when you walk into a room and gives the world taste and color. You are all the fineries and gritty details, the fun and laughter in my life, the songs and dancing and air in the world. It is all and always thanks to you. I love you immeasurably, monstrously, overwhelmingly and I am so grateful to be your wife. Happy anniversary, Mr. Bub, here’s to many more.
An unbelievable wedding day for @kayaday & @gclluch as they and many of their friends and family headed over from Los Angeles to get married in North Yorkshire.
Why, well obviously apart from the weather 😆 North Yorkshire is where Kaya’s father Phil originally hails from, who as a side note, is a 2 x Emmy winning director! Kaya has also worked on some of the biggest movies and TV shows too, yeah, just added a little pressure to the edit!
Words can’t really do justice to how good this day was, the friendliest people made me super welcome and the day was phenomenal from prep to fireworks at a simply stunning venue. Every vow, reading and speech was worthy of Hollywood. Us Brits really do need to up our vow/speech game cause the Americans are on another level, I mean, just listen to Gabriel’s vows!!!
Anyway, I’ll leave it to Kaya and Gabriel to say the rest…
“James, these are SO stunning thank you so very much. We’re so happy with them and had such a lovely time revisiting the day! We really appreciate all of your hard work and for the beautiful edit. Was such a blessing to have you there with us on the day.”
From a genuine Hollywood couple, I’ll take that 😊
Soundtrack: skjonnet (reprise) by @thejudahearl licenced through @musicbed
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It often feels like we’ve swung so far into capitalistic individualism that we’ve rid ourselves of the village; like the one-two punch of our digital age and profiteering has laid waste to community. The world grows more frightening and isolated, largely by design, as the alleged boogeyman waits around every corner and our rug of rights gets ripped out from under us.
Getting married amidst a chaotic climate inevitably makes you grapple with guilt, selfishness, and triviality. There’s a level of handwringing that accompanies the joy. But despite the mixed bag of big emotions, the most beautiful phenomenon that endured through all of it was the hardworking counterbalance of kinship. Because while I gained an incredible new family through my husband, I was constantly overwhelmed by the deep love of a pre-existing one.
I am so inexplicably grateful for the influx of surrounding love that came to celebrate love. These are the friends who carried us to the altar, the ones who held our hands to stop them wringing, who worked hardest, showed up throughout the journey, and cheered loudest even in our quietest moments. They are some of the best people you will ever meet and we couldn’t have done it without them. They were the ones who made the village feel alive and well through it all and we are so very honored to be a part of it.
The morning 🌸
Thank you to these ones who keep me going. Thank you to those who made the trek out to the English countryside to celebrate with us. Thank you to @weddingsbydan and @k.glendinning.weddings for all these glorious photos, it was hard to choose which ones to post. Thank you to @theblondeandtheblooms for the gorgeous florals, design, and support through the whole process. Thank you to @janicefan_makeup for getting me through the day and for being the fastest, most incredible hair and makeup team. And thank you to @carlton_towers for letting a bunch of noisy Americans stay in your beautiful estate for the whole weekend 💗
Europe has been a breath of fresh air with you. Not because it was relaxing. In fact it has felt chaotic, all-consuming, exhausting, and relentless. The Venn diagram of plans we concocted, riddled with obligations and appointments, with swaths of friends and family members and seeing the great big, historic things that demand your attention and the smaller ones that grab it inadvertently, was wholly ambitious. And yet despite the rigor and sleep deprivation, the weary bones and objecting feet, I feel revived, like I’ve been coddled by a new sense of motivation rather than drained entirely. And I realize it’s thanks to you.
At first I thought you as my rock but have come to learn you are water. Instead of being unmoving you move flexibly into and through whichever place you need go. And whether you happen to crash upon the shore or still in the sunlight for a moment, you are forever flowing through life, carrying me with you. It’s been a rich, educational, hilarious, joyful experience to watch. It also fills me with this colossal new confidence about the life we’re setting out to create together. This trip was special for many reasons, for all the wild and wonderful memories injected within it, but most of all because it highlighted how grateful I am that you’re my eternity 💗 @gclluch
💒 six months to go
📸 by the indomitable @weddingsbydan
