This is a tough blog post for me to write but it is a very important and special one to me. I met Meg and Dan a few years ago for their engagement session and also met their sweet dog, June, that day. We had tons of fun photographing the three of them playing in the snow. Meg and Dan were married later that summer(which was one of my all time favorite weddings ever!). Sometime after their wedding they added Nell, another beautiful Golden Retriever, to their family. I always loved seeing their pictures on Facebook and pined for Meg’s recipes on her blog Peaches and Cake.
This summer Meg and Dan found out that June had lymphoma. June had a large mass next to her heart, making it difficult for her to breathe. This was a devastating blow for them and one me and Jonathan are all too familiar with. In July 2011 we lost our dog, Bill, to intestinal cancer. It was during the busiest part of wedding season and was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever been through. I remember a wedding I shot shortly after that Meg and Dan attended as guests. They came up to me and said how sorry they felt about Bill’s passing along with other kind and thoughtful words. It was actually one of the nicest things that anyone had said to me around that time and I won’t forget it.
So when Jonathan and I found out about June, we decided we wanted to give something back to Meg and Dan. They have been nothing but incredible, nice, thoughtful people ever since we first met them. It goes without saying that photos and video become the most precious things after someone you love is gone, so we wanted to give them just that.
We could have not picked a more perfect day in Elkhart Lake. We went into it thinking that we just want to document what Meg and Dan love to do with their dogs. They played Frisbee, did tricks, splashed in the water, got treats and lots of kisses.
In late October, Meg and Dan decided to let June go. We hope that their pictures and video can bring them comfort and peace. One of the questions I asked myself when Bill passed was “Did I give him a good life even though it was a short one?”. I hope that Meg and Dan know that they did give June a happy life. It is so obvious in the pictures and video that she was a happy dog and a lucky one to have them as humans.
I could have posted all the photos I took but here are a few of the many favorites. And PLEASE watch the video by Jonathan of Don’t Shout Films. You can see his blog post here.
For June from Jonathan Wheeler on Vimeo.
