a queer backyard wedding 

models: eris and anamae fong-bances

creative directed and shot by maia feruzi

saturday may 10th 2025 1:30-4:30pm

📍Chicago, il

shot on canon eos rebel t3i 18-24mm, 70-300mm

concept

When Eris reached out to me on Facebook looking for a wedding photographer, the imposter syndrome set in almost instantly. I wasn’t really proud of the work that I’d done for my cousin’s wedding and I had already started making half hearted promises to myself that I’d never do another wedding. However, for lack of a better phrase, the vibes I got from Eris as we discussed wedding plans were pretty immaculate. For one, I could tell they were ridiculously excited to get married and that energy made me want to be apart of their special day in any capacity. The kinds of questions they asked prior to booking with me(disclaimers about potentially homophobic relatives, specifics about payment plans and photo timelines), let me know that they were good people and I felt infinitely more comfortable with the idea of shooting their wedding the longer we talked. What really cinched the deal for me was that it was a backyard wedding in the comfort of their own home! The most intimidating part of weddings for me are the enormity of the affair; the multiple locations, hundreds of moving parts(quite literally as the bride and groom and their parties have to travel all over), the changes in lighting and unpredictability of weather. This is not an occasion you get a second chance at shooting. A backyard wedding seemed so much more manageable than another huge affair and a lot less intimidating. I took a chance on myself and what I could do with this wedding, and frankly I could not be happier with the results.

The upside of arriving extremely early is that I got a chance to have an in depth conversation with the bride Anamae. The caring soul that they are, they immediately got some food and some tea in me which my growling stomach was very thankful for. They also had three cats in their house. THREE!! I love animals especially cats and being near them will instantly calm me down because I’m too busy swooning over how cute they are to be nervous about anything. While I ate and watched Anamae get ready I got to know them. Once we realized we were both Chinese Jamaican, the energy between us just linked up and from that moment on I knew I’d made a new friend. The conversation flowed between us like honey; sweet and slow with a pleasant aftertaste on the tongue. I liked them more and more the longer I talked with them. It was like seeing my soul in a different font and it amazed me how kindred our spirits were. I’d only met them a couple hours ago but I felt like I knew them for my whole life, that’s how seen I felt during our entire conversation, and each laugh we shared caused the tension to dissipate from my body. At one point I started snapping photos of them and my work technically began, but at no point during this day did I feel like I was working. All I felt was gratitude to be in the same space as these lovely people, and honor that I was chosen to capture a love that looked like it could transcend time. I’ve never seen two people that fit together quite like they do. It was beautiful to see.

On this day I actually had a morning 5k to shoot from 7-10am and then this wedding from 1:30-4:30pm. Ever the anxious girly I decided to head to the area of the wedding right after the 5k and relax in a nearby cafe until go time. That is not what happened. There were no cafe’s in the area that was immensely more residential than I realized. What wound up happening is I arrived at their house almost 2 hours early, with an awkward smile and nervous energy I was immediately welcomed and swept into a house bursting with love and joy. Before I knew it, I was relaxed and laughing along with their relatives, feeling more like a part of the ceremony than an employee.

Something that really amazed me looking back at these photos is that if you lined each photo I took in order and flipped through them fast enough it would almost make a perfect movie. That’s how much I shot in real time. Every few shots when viewed together look like perfect little triptych stories. The moment before and after a hug. The swing of a dance twirl into waiting arms. The laugh before the cry. It’s stunning. That’s why for my layout this time rather than mix up the order of the photos which I often do, I displayed them in as close to the order I took them as I could get, so as you view these photos you are watching the day unfold the same way I did. In this way, the feelings of excitement and heightened emotions are easier to tap into as a viewer.

When editing these photos, I really focused on how the image wanted to be edited. Yes that sounds silly and yes I’m serious. This whole day was magical and so I felt like tapping into that magic when editing as well. Anamae is a real life bruja(witch) and as someone with Cherokee origins and a highly spiritual grandmother, I consider myself something of a witch as well and thus am no stranger to magic. As I discussed with anamae, magic may not look like how Disney has portrayed it but that doesn’t at all mean it’s not real. Particularly the beginning photos when they were getting ready in the comfort of their room, I felt like I captured their aura in each photo and so I wanted my edits to reflect how I viewed them. Soft, loving, sexy, raw, and real. I chose more highly contrasted coloring, darker and grungier black and white, and even greens and grains to give a film look on some. I reserved the simple crisp edit style for the ceremony itself as the most important aspect of those photos is just capturing folks clearly and well lit. It was an overcast and extremely windy day that wound up giving me the perfect light and some lovely movement in their outfits and hair as the wind blowed through. It felt like a ceremony blessed by nature, which in other words, is magical ;).