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I’m still waiting for the Ge103 exam to be released (so much for the “Sunday afternoon or Monday morning” release — grr), so I’ve had some time to edit a few more pictures and reflect on shooting my first wedding.

Pitfalls first. I do not recommend that you try to purchase a house while trying to photograph a wedding. We move in eight days. Our Nederland house closing happened to be scheduled for Thursday — the day of our flight to Raleigh. The title company/bank/etc screwed up the paperwork and we found ourselves sitting with a notary for two hours in the hotel conference on the morning of the wedding signing documents to be next-day-aired to Colorado. It worked out alright, but it wasn’t the optimal thing to be doing hours before the ceremony.

We had some other surprises, such as the “Wedding Coordinator in Training” who accounced, 10 minutes AFTER the ceremony, that she would be coordinating the photography. ??? It worked out fine; she proved a useful dress-fluffer. In the rush to get from the church to the reception hall, I dismantled my Alien Bee softbox a little too fast and one of the rods popped out, hit me in the face, and gave me a bloody lip. And my faithful assistant Benjamin left our laptop at the church, so he had to borrow the father of the bride’s keys (he’s a pastor at the church) and leave the reception to retreive it.

Despite the difficulties, however, the experience was fantastic. I think the pictures come out really well, and I like the feeling that I’m providing a service that will freeze the day and allow them to enjoy it for years to come. Here are a couple more images …

We arrived exhausted but happy from the weekend’s festivities this afternoon. Carl and Melissa’s wedding was *beautiful*. Elegant and charming, but simple and heartfelt. Neither one was nervous; just excited. Melissa’s dress was gorgeous; the food was fantastic (delectible roast beef sandwiches, homemade chocolate cake with chocolate-covered strawberries); the dance floor was hoppin’ but the music wasn’t deafening; and everybody I met was incredibly friendly. Moreover, Carl and Melissa looked incredibly happy. It was a privilege to be part of it.

I am going to force myself NOT edit any more pictures until I finish the Ge103 review (I’m taking the final tomorrow, and I need to pass to get my degree). I couldn’t resist playing with a few of them, though; here’s a preview …

After more mortgage finalging this morning (we still haven’t closed), we spent the day at the reception, church, and rehearsal dinner taking picturas.

Some cute kids at the dinner:

The bride-to-be trying to explain her kindergarten “marriage”, which her brother officiated on the bus:

Ben took this shot of me and the bride- and groom-to-be at the pig pickin’ dinner:

The restaurants are smokey. The tea is sweet. Instead of “BJS JAG” the custom license plates boast messages like “PUT GOD1″.

It’s been a long trip. Yesterday my laptop started to die. I revived it by wiping the disk and reinstalling the OS. Ben left his camera in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport and remembered it after we’d taken our seats — fortunately, just in the nick of time. Then, he left his wallet on the Hertz counter, which we did NOT catch in time. We got lost three times en route to the hotel. We were supposed to close on our house today, but there has been a series of problems with the paperwork. To extend the deal, we had to sign documents that our realtor emailed to us, but the hotel’s internet connection was broken. The rest of the docs are supposed to arrive at 8am via FedEx overnight; we arranged a notary to meet us in the hotel mid-morning. Then we’ll drive around, find a FedEx place, and send ‘em back. Ben’s folks are supposed to arrive mid-morning and we’ll spend about two hours together before I head off to the reception hall and rehearsal to meet with coordinators, scout out scenic locations, and set up lighting. Except I can’t legally drive the rental car, so I’ll be borrowing the Brantley’s car. I did something to my back — I think an eight-hour spurt of writing by hand — and my shoulders are really sore. It’s three am and I can’t sleep.

Argh.

Guess what … I got a new camera today!!! Until now, Ben’s had a 1dMk11 and the D60 has technically been mine. However, I fell in love with the 1dMkII … it’s 8.2 megapixels, 1.3 multiplier, 8.5 fps, battery life, the feel of its sturdy body … and so poor Ben hasn’t seen much of his camera lately. In the midst of two house closings, the end of the term, teaching, tutoring, and managing a painter and an AC repairman, Ben drove to Westwood today to buy a second, used 1dMkII so we could each have one. He also procured two 4GB CF cards on short notice, all in time for Carl and Melissa’s wedding this weekend. Drool :)

Some pictures to justify why I “need” all this equipment …

A smiling picture for Mom B:

And a fun dancing picture that I think would make a cool CD cover:

Also, Chaco turned 4 today! We celebrated with a steak dinner. He once again walked into a freshly-painted wall, so he was even decorated for the celebration.

In deference to Jen’s comment … a more abstract take.

Just finished a ninety minute phone conversation. Whew! It’s also still pretty hot here, especially upstairs with all the computers.

Another of Alexis. This is the favorite of the folks on the Fred Miranda forums.