Jason + Megan || Better Late than Never
April 2, 2022
Craggy Gardens - Asheville, NC
I already knew a tiny bit of Jason and Megan’s story before our session together, but no specific details. When Megan initially reached out to me, she mentioned that they were unable to take the wedding photos they had always dreamed about, and wanted to know if I could recreate some for them. I already felt honored they would ask to begin with, but as we ventured up to Craggy Gardens together, they shared more with me about why they had decided to do this session. I cannot begin to image what they went through in 2016, but I feel incredibly honored to capture and recreate a moment they were unable to have captured during that time. As soon as we arrived, Jason helped Megan get into her dress - making sure she stayed warm on that cool April evening. He then gave her a gift before we made our way up the trail. That set the tone for the entire shoot that was pure sweetness…
Here is their story:
“The summer of 2016 was an exciting time, Jason and I had welcomed a baby boy just a few months prior and were planning a dream wedding for the fall. In July things came to a shattering halt. Jason had some persistent pain in his mouth and after seeing multiple specialists and having some outpatient procedures done we found ourselves with the best ENT doctor in Charlotte scheduling to have a tumor removed from Jason's tongue the very next week. Cancer is a scary word but we had full faith in the team of specialists and doctors and entrusted the plan they created for Jason. We decided it best to cancel our fall wedding. So, before his surgery we went to the courthouse and got married (we have one single picture from that day). The combination of a very sick groom and the medical bills were far too much to add a wedding on top of. Jason had a lengthy surgery to remove the tumor followed by a 11 day stay in the critical care unit. After he healed from the surgery he went on to receive chemotherapy and radiation. It wasn't until after Christmas that he was able to really return to eating, working, and living life again. We never looked back and don't regret canceling the wedding to focus on getting Jason through that time. We are forever grateful for a positive outcome from such a dark time. My family has told me for the last 6 years to put on my dress and take some wedding photos, that one day we will wish we had them to look back on. Well that day finally came, after putting it off for nearly six years we finally decided to have Erin take some wedding pictures for us. It was a COLD April afternoon that we made the trek up the mountain for Erin to capture sunset photos. We are in love with the outcome, of both the photos and our life now. We will treasure these pictures for the rest of our lives and are so glad we have them to pass on to our kids. We couldn't have asked for a better photographer.”
-Megan Gould
