Madison and Clay met when they were art students at Shawnee State University in Ohio. After graduation, they moved down to Columbia, South Carolina, near Clay’s family. One night, Clay and Madison were sitting on the couch, and Clay asked Madison if one of the couch cushions felt weird. Madison felt it and pulled out a ring box.
Clay has been a lifelong Star Wars fan. He builds and sells custom replicas of different characters’ light sabers, complete with different colors and sound effects when they hit things. I was so excited when Madison told me they wanted to include them in their engagement photos! Clay explained to me how each Jedi builds their own, so the hilt of every light saber is different. He plans to build a special one just for Madison to have for their wedding day.
Setting up a ring shot with a light saber had the COOLEST sound effects of any ring shot! Madison and Clay coordinated their outfits so Clay would wear a Millennium Falcon shirt and Madison would have Millennium Falcon earrings. They didn’t plan for the light sabers to coordinate with their outfits, but they did anyway. Clay asked if we could go over to the spot in Falls Park with the smaller waterfall, where he could stand on “the higher ground” like the standoff at the end of Revenge of the Sith. He also wanted a pose similar to the one Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher did for a promo poster.
We initially planned to have the session in Falls Park when the trees were in full bloom, but the spring of 2020 had other plans for us. When I heard Falls Park was closed, I started thinking of similar locations, and it dawned on me that the pavilion at Cancer Survivors Park could look really cool with the light sabers. Even though we had to postpone the session anyway as things got crazier, we still spent a few minutes at Cancer Survivors Park once it got dark, and it looked just as cool as we thought it would!
Check out some of my favorites from Madison and Clay’s session! You can see more of Clay’s light sabers here.
Update:
Click below for Madison and Clay’s Star Wars wedding photos!
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