The day before Lindsay and Rob’s Folsom wedding, I scoped out some locations for wedding photos at Lake Natoma Inn, the site of their ceremony and reception. There were lots of good locations, but some of them required walking on dirt paths or down rough wooden stairways. I needed to ask the couple what they were willing to do.

So my question was, on a scale of 1 to 10, how adventurous would they want to be to get photos after the ceremony, if 1 is not wanting to leave the reception and 10 is willing to climb a mountain?

“Ten!” Lindsay said immediately.

So it shouldn’t have been at all surprising to me that after their beautiful wedding ceremony, we found ourselves on a bridge with an amazing sunset burning in the background, Lindsay and Rob asked me if they could climb onto the barrier that divided traffic from the sidewalk, then proceed to hang off a light pole to make the picture you see at the top of this blog post.

I love couples like this. The adventurousness continued at the reception, where they had one of the most active dance floors I’ve seen at any wedding I’ve photographed. There was breakdancing, handstands and shirtless shenanigans.

Lindsay & Rob’s ceremony reminded me of why I love shooting weddings. The hours leading up to the ceremony were punctuated by the small challenges that always seem to appear at weddings: someone running a few minutes behind, another not being in the right place, little things like that. Little things that can add up to some stress for the person trying to sort it all out.

But when it was all settled and the wedding party walked out and the officiant started speaking and the bride and groom pledged their love to each other in a series of touching vows that left everybody choked up, all the little episodes and stresses melted away, serving as a potent reminder of what I often tell couples who are feeling stress on their wedding day: All that really matters is that you end the day married.

At the end of the reception, the DJ invited Lindsay & Rob onto the dance floor and asked everyone to surround them as he played the song “I Had the Time of my Life.” I’m going to be honest here, I’m not a big fan of that song. But with everyone singing along, surrounding the happy newlyweds, it was the perfect sentiment to end a perfect day.

To see photos, check out the gallery below: