are You kidding me?!?!

Favorite. Bridal. Photo. Ever.

Thank you, Lillian & Leonard (again).

This manages to encompass beauty, love, style, expediency, tenderness, light (...of spirit, and of physicality). In short, it is everything I would want to shoot if I were an artist. Wow.

b-town

This weekend [I swear, every weekend lately it's one thing or another!] we're off to Boston to finally meet The Godchild. It feels as though he's been on this earth for nothing shy of a century and we are only now able to hold him and see him and touch him... The anticipation is nothing short of agony.

Tune in next week, for *hopefully* some beautiful shots of the most-missed-nephew on the planet. I've been studying my photography for just. this. moment. I cannot wait to try to imitate one of my favorite photographers [who incidentally will be shooting our wedding...] and capture shots like the ones she recently took of sweet baby Mia:

You know what They say: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

[untitled]

Every bride has their "Thing" - that element that is so important to them and their vision of their wedding day that they will sacrifice other wants in pursuit of this one "need" on their day. Mine? Photography. It is the single most important [material, tangible, non-human] Thing to me on our wedding day. Why? Because it is the one Thing, after the champagne stops flowing, we get to keep.

The venue? Not ours.

The band? Will play for someone else the next week.

The church? Will celebrate other momentous occasions that have no bearing on our lives together.

The dress? Will never be worn again.

The flowers? No one will remember.

The invitations? Will be quickly and haphazardly discarded.

But the pictures? Are the one Thing we will have to show our children of the afternoon we thought about our future with them before they ever arrived, the one Thing that we can pull out to remind ourselves about what it felt like to be in each and every little moment as it unfolded.

That's why, in all the wedding porn I scan on an all-too-frequent basis, the stuff that really makes my throat close, my eyes smart, and my stomach clench, aren't flowers or dresses or pretty centerpieces [though I will continue to pour over them, all the same...]. They are photographs like this one, of a wedding in Scotland, where I don't even see what the bride is wearing or the flowers she's holding. I just see the way she's smiling. And the way the priest is grasping her groom's hand, with the light invading the space behind him. And there's the realization that in this photo, You can see the first moment of a marriage.

source: http://www.lillianandleonard.com/ (A breathtakingly beautiful site...)

i am many things; graceful biker is not one of them

Dear Fiancé:

Could you imagine the two of us having a pic like this...? I didn't think so, considering the first time we went biking, I promptly went face-first over the handlebars after hitting [rather than jumping] the curb. And you laughed. (I did too, so it's ok).

Lots more beautiful photos from this bicycle wedding over here.

source: Quintessential Images in the UK

photo envy

Endless love
Originally uploaded by millzero.com

...while I like [not love] the city where we'll be married [let's just say it's nickname is "Naptown..."] , given that it is hundreds of miles from an ocean [or a hill] I regret that we won't have pictures like this...

the beginning

in the beginning, You do things like this with a person chasing You around with a camera and saying, "Act natural!"...









(source: Turtle Pond Photography...more of that later...)







...because of course it is 0h-so-natural to sit in some random door (of a home You don't own), make out in broad daylight (ok, well maybe when You weren't 30 this seemed ok...), and simultaneoulsy pet Your lhasa apso.

Why do You do this? Because You are ENGAGED! Congratulations, You!

Soon thereafter, the not-so-fun (public making out be damned!) tasks creep up... and You and Your betrothed spend Your Saturday afternoon at Crate & Barrell (Old School flashbacks ensue...) and find Yourself having email conversations like this:


----- Original Message ----
From: Bailee's Bride
To: The Fiancé
Sent: Tuesday, September 9, 2008 12:52:39 PM
Subject: FW: Have fun with your Gift Registry

So, I may have gotten sidetracked while eating my lunch and added to our registry... There is SOO much more online than in the store...

To: Bailee's Bride
From: The Fiancé
Sent: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 12:02:45 -0700
Subject: Re: Have fun with your Gift Registry

uhmmm. When WE left the story, WE had 31 items . . . there are now 64 items . . . "MAY have gotten sidetracked!!!???"
love you.

From: Bailee's Bride
To: The Fiancé
Sent: Tuesday, September 9, 2008 2:52:19 PM
Subject: RE: Have fun with your Gift Registry

Dude, but did you SEE the Carlos Margarita glasses I added for you?!?! Love you!

To: Bailee's Bride
From: The Fiancé
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 13:56:06 -0700
Subject: Re: Have fun with your Gift Registry

Dude? Dude? We're going to MARRIAGE prep tonight and you're calling me DUDE!!!???

***

After which, You attend said Marriage Prepation Course at an Unnamed Catholic Church, and then it truly hits You: YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED [...to this amazing person you've started calling "Dude" for no discernable reason...].

You thus decide it is time ... Time to join the ranks of those other style-obsessed, internet-searching, unable-to-work-with-so-many-blogs-to-read brides out there... and You do this: You decide to use Your English degree and start Your own blog. So slam a Bailey's with me (seriously, it's a suuuuuper easy shot... in fact, I am obsessed with the idea of doing Mini Guinness shots at our wedding instead of champage... it's Kalua & Bailey's...mmmm.... but I digress.... That's another post) and Enjoy. Because if You are reading this blog, You're probably a lot like me.