Two Dave's...and Two Andy's...

We are shooting 7 weddings this year and we're shooting two Dave's and two Andy's!! That's 4 out of the 7 weddings have guys with names that match. It's a little odd - especially two Andy's - I think they're the only two Andy's I know right now, and we shot them within less than a month of each other!!

That's a...shooting with cameras of course...

Such Fun...

Shooting weddings is a lot of fun and yesterday was wonderful. Andy & Cheryl were a great couple, and it's just fun to shoot people who both love getting their pictures taken, and know how to be goofy and serious, beautiful & serene and joyful and insane. It's great to be a part of things the way we get to be when we're taking pictures, to be able to help out during the day, and not just attend. I enjoy being able to be "back stage" and see all the behind the scenes stuff that goes on (perhaps that why I enjoy directing more than acting as well). The unseen work comes AFTER the wedding, just like in plays. The toughest jobs are the clean-up jobs, because everyone else thinks the play is over, and you KNOW there's still a lot of work to do, but the motivation to do it diminishes significantly. So - here's to the motivation needed to put ALL these weddings to rest!!

Why are we getting Married?

Sometimes it's easy to lose perspective in the midst of the insanity of trying to pull together a wedding. It's easy to get mad at the people you love the most in the world because a THING isn't working. I re-read my wedding vows today, they're cool. They're also all about the WHY of a wedding - love, devotion, having someone to walk through life with hand in hand - whatever that life brings. THAT is why people get married. Here's hoping the couple we're shooting tomorrow keep that perspective - I know they've talked about wanting to keep it - I hope they've surrounded themselves with people with whom they can.

Should be fun - they're a beautiful and fun couple (and they read this blog - which makes them cool and fun).
Adios

Three Down-ish...

We're in the middle of wedding season, Brad and I. This is how things look as of right now:
Step ONE - Completed Weddings:
Tiff & Brynn
Dad & MaryAnna
Beth & Andy
Mark & Renee
Upcoming Weddings:
Cheryl & Andy (in two days)
Sherrie
Paulette *is it bad we don't remember the guys' names??)

Step TWO - Giving the couple a CD of their stuff:
We've given CD's to:
Tiff
MaryAnna
and Renee
We owe one to Beth and very soon to Cheryl & Andy

Step THREE - editing their chosen pictures and getting them printed:
We're still waiting for pic's to be edited from Tiff & Renee, and just got Dad & MaryAnna's pictures this week.

Step FOUR - Printing the pictures, putting together books & FINALLY being "done" with the weddings.
NONE!!!

Digital weddings take a lot longer, and have a lot more steps than other weddings. Fortunately, the procrastination isn't only on our end, once we get the CD's out, the proverbial ball ends up in the other people's proverbial court, and we get to wait for a while before the ball gets hit back at us again. MY concern...that all the balls from all the wedding will be hit back in our direction at the same time (if the picture requests get turned in mid-September when we've got two other weddings to do, and the booklets all need to get made). THAT would not make for a pretty "Back to School" for me.

Sigh - good weddings though. And Brad & I do take wonderful pictures, when it comes down to it.

G'night all.

My wedding pictures...

This is the THIRD post I've started today. That's one thing about doing a post every day. I keep wanting to say things, and then think maybe I shouldn't and then I go to say something else, and realize that too, wouldn't be great. So, here were go. My wedding pictures. We were just taking about how happy we were to get our pictures done by a good friend, and I figured that since I did a post recently about how much we enjoyed our day, that I'd include a couple of pictures so you can get a sense of the feel of the day, the fun of the day and how incredibly colourful our wedding party was (which we both LOVE telling people about later - yes, the groom wore a red suit...and it ROCKED!)

So, here goes.
This is one of my favourites of the two of us...

And this one just gives you a TASTE of what the day included....(we just asked this guy off the street if we could use his car - pretty sweet, eh?)

As you can see - fun people, fun day. Just what we wanted!

Have a fun day yourselves.

My New Committment...

I have decided that from now on I'm going to post on this blog every day. In doing so, I hope to get over the fact that my posts must be momentous things of gigantic importance. If I post only a sentence - that's OK if it's every day. I figure I need to do something with my time beyond watching TV, so this is it!

On that note: Here we go. Weddings. We've been to a LOT of them this last few weeks, and we're not finished yet! It's funny going to so many weddings, because it becomes very obvious what people are like by what kind of wedding they want to put on. You see what they value and what's important to them by they way they want things done, and where the money gets spent, and how you, as a guest, feel when you're there (and we've been "backstage" for a number, so we get to see all the nitty gritty stuff). It's been interesting and cool. At some weddings we felt like we were a very valuable part of things by being invited to be there. When you go to an intimate affair, it feels different than one with 200 people attending. It's fun to be able to enjoy each for what it is. Some have been very laid back, which means more mistakes happen, but people don't care about them as much, others have been meticulously planned, which means they're beautiful, and well run, but everyone's expectations are a little higher for those. Some couples are very close together and focused on each other all day, others are out to spend time with all the cool people in their wedding party. Some feel rushed for pictures, others feel a little TOO laid back (is that possible?). Some had LONG speeches, some had none and as always, some of those speeches were GREAT (even if they were long) and others could have been WAY shorter, or skipped completely.

Each of these wedding brought something different to the table. Each was a celebration, but in some ways, it was like they were celebrating different things. A challenge to my unmarried friends: when you plan a wedding, what parts of YOU (both as an individual and a couple) do you want to bring to the table and show as valuable for your wedding? Let your plans coincide with what's valuable to you as people, otherwise there's incongruencies, and it feels weird. For those of you who ARE married: Do you truly feel like your wedding reflected your values and tastes, or do you feel like you were part of a cookie cutter wedding? If you're a cookie cutter wedding person, think about the next party you're throwing. What can you do at THAT party to make sure it honours the people involved and invited, and reflects who you are as well?

In the end, looking back (and still forward) at all these weddings, we know that each Bride and Groom wouldn't have changed anything (nor should they have). We're both privileged to have been a part of each couple's day, and at the same time it's made my hubby and I very grateful that we had the wedding that we did, that it reflected who we were (and are), and fit into a budget that we could manage at that time. No regrets for our wedding, which I'm forever thankful for.


A SIDE note: as you may have noticed, I haven't mentioned any specific weddings - there's a reason for that. Please, take nothing personally and feel free NOT to try and guess which wedding was which. Know that I remember each day in a unique way, and that every wedding has moments of wonder (and moments of frustration, come on, be honest...you know it's true), and that in the end, we were blessed & honoured to be a part of each of them.

Finally, you can relax

Or at least that's what people keep saying to me. That's the way to begin a conversation with a school teacher in July. Well, just for all of you to know, in general, just because it's July, doesn't mean that we relax, after all, if you're taking courses, beginning of July is when that happens, if not, there's still the chaos of June to recover from (which means you could clean your house for a week straight and still not be done). Of course, for me, there's just a FEW other things on my plate over the next few weeks.

So, here's what things look like for me. Today is July 4th.
July 4 - dentist, birthday party, get flowers, buy plane tickets
July 5 - work at the church, got to BBQ in the evening
July 6 - More flowers, breakfast w/ family, set up, rehearsal & dinner
July 7 WEDDING DAY #1 - doing hair, pictures and am in the party!!
July 8 WEDDING DAY #2 - on the Island - need to get there & back
July 9 Fly to Ottawa - somehow we need to have clean clothes and be packed by the 9th!! AUGHHH!!!


So for all of those who are curious - yes, it's just SO relaxing to be finished school. Now there's NOTHING else on my plate for the REST of the summer!!

FINALLY I CAN RELAX!!!!!!!