We had to say goodbye to a dear friend today. Even typing that seems surreal. Our friend left this world so abruptly & without warning. Because of her generous spirit, her loving heart, her bubbly personality, her bright smile, her ability to befriend anyone, her talent for making everyone she came into contact with feel incredibly special, and the way that she loved her husband & two daughters with everything she had, her memory will live on in this world for a long, long time.
Josh & I would like to share a few of our favorite memories from our time with our friend Kristy Taaffe. We feel that it helps with the grieving & healing process to share fond memories & to talk about fun times that were had while we were blessed with our friend here on earth. She was a beautiful wife, a devoted mother, a loving daughter, and a fun sister. We knew her, though, because she was a wedding photographer.
We first met Kristy in 2011. We had recently started our wedding photography business & our friend told us about a bridal show that was happening to benefit breast cancer research. The entry fee was only $50.00 (compared to thousands to rent a booth in other bridal shows) & all of the proceeds went to The Susan G. Komen Foundation so it was definitely a no brainer for us to be part of it. We were both still working our full-time jobs then in addition to the photography business & we had to rush to make it to the show on time after work on a Friday night. Neither of us felt like we belonged there. There were many doubts when we were first starting out in our business. Our bridal show display was minimal & paled in comparison to the others around us. But we were doing our best to follow our dream of owning a successful business.
We were kind of nervous to meet other photographers in the area. What would they think of us? Would they be friendly? Would it feel competitive? Would they roll their eyes and think, “Ugh, more photographers to saturate the market.”? But we also thought, “Maybe, just maybe, some of them will be nice & possibly even our friends?”
Kristy & her husband Jimmy have owned Limelight Images since 2007. They had been in business years before us, photographed tons of weddings, and were very well known in the area. When we saw their bridal show display, we were very impressed. They had a flat screen tv with lots of beautiful images scrolling as a slideshow, as well as other beautiful decorations & candy. Beyond that, though, they were both so happy to be there. I don’t quite remember if we said hi to Kristy first or if she said hi to us, but if I were to guess I’d confidently say that she made the first move because that was just her personality. She was friendly, outgoing, fun-loving, and kind. She took a genuine interest in us & our business & had nothing but kind & encouraging words to say. She truly meant it when she said she would be happy to help us with anything we needed. We went home from the bridal show exhausted but uplifted. We had a couple of new friends in the business.
After that day, we knew we wanted to spend more time with Kristy & Jimmy so we invited them to dinner a couple of times. Hanging out with them was always a great time because they understood the struggles unique to an entrepreneurial lifestyle & they always had great advice for us. Kristy was adamant that her most important calling in life was being a mom. In 2014, we photographed 41 weddings, but it was words from Kristy (along with other circumstances in our life & our priorities) that put it into perspective why we wanted to scale back the number of weddings we shot each year. Kristy said her photography work was really important to her & that she was passionate about it, but that she knew she’d never get the time with her kids back & that being a mom was so much more important. She didn’t want to miss out on their recitals & their games & their childhood. She was an amazing mother. And she inspired us. We’ll always remember her words & allow them to keep us on track in our mission to live more & work less.
In 2015, we welcomed our baby girl into our lives. A couple of months prior to that we realized that the wedding we were scheduled to photograph a few weeks after my estimated due date was one that I shouldn’t work. We decided to hire Kristy to shoot with Josh that day in my place & we couldn’t have been happier with that decision. Kristy did a beautiful job with photos of the bridal prep & second shooting for Josh, as we knew she would. But one of Josh’s favorite memories from that day doesn’t have anything to do with photography, but with how much fun Kristy always had. The bridal party was having a smoke break & time was starting to run a bit short before they had to be back to the venue to get introduced to the reception. Josh said he was feeling a bit impatient, but was trying not to show it. Music was playing from a speaker nearby & Kenny Chesney’s “Pirate Flag” came on. Kristy started jamming out & doing a funny dance & Josh’s impatient feelings subsided completely as he started to laugh & just enjoy himself. All of us wedding photographers should take a lesson from that on wedding days when the bridal party starts to get a bit annoying; just have fun & be laid back. Enjoy. Being impatient doesn’t help the situation anyway.
And one of my favorite memories of Kristy happened just after our daughter Tenley was born. It was our first official family outing other than the doctor’s office. Josh, Tenley, & I went to the mall. As soon as we got there, Tenley needed changed & was hungry. Josh was shopping for clothes in Macy’s & I knew their restroom was big & had a couch so I went there to change & feed Tenley. I was in there for over an hour because she just didn’t want to stop nursing. I must’ve looked like a crazed, hormonal first time mom totally out of her league with diapers and diaper bag contents scattered all over the couch as I tried my best to keep Tenley happy. Kristy had stopped by to meet Josh to talk about the upcoming wedding they would be photographing together while I was on maternity leave & found out that Tenley & I were in the bathroom so she came up to meet her & chat. She completely & totally put me at ease that day. She smiled & said how beautiful Tenley was, how great I looked, and how amazing of a job I was doing. I remember her words so well for some reason. They’ve just stuck with me. She said, “I remember so well how the newborn months feel. I never really felt like I had the situation under control at all to leave the house until my girls were around 4 months old. But it goes so quickly.” With those statements, she made me feel like I was doing okay. Like all moms struggle the first time they take their baby out. Like I was succeeding & doing my best & that was more than enough. She was such an encouragement to me that day.
I truly hope that Kristy knew how much she meant to us & how much she encouraged us in our business when we were first starting out. We’ll miss her. And we won’t forget her. Please pray for peace & comfort in this unimaginably difficult time for Kristy’s family, especially her husband Jimmy & two precious daughters, Micky and Gigi.
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