Are photographers supposed to be more stressed than the bride?

Rachel wearing her grandmother's wedding dress

I have always been terrified of shooting weddings, mainly because of a few urban legends of photographers forgetting to load film into the camera or metal detectors rendering CF cards blank, therefore loosing all the precious irreplaceable memories of someone's big day (and in turn getting sued for gillions of dollars). I, myself, have less than good (okay pretty horrible) wedding pictures, which makes me worry that some bride down the road would be wondering to herself why she hired that flake of a photographer, Mamma Goose. But, its amazing what you'll do for a friend! I met red headed Rachel (aka Rachel Smith, aka Smitty, aka Pookie) during my tenure at Pier 1 in Murfreesboro. Our friendship mainly consists of giggling constantly when we are together and making up 2 of the 3 wheels in our girls day posse. I was honored to listen (or giggle along with) the news of meeting a cute guy at her work Christmas party, how he asked her out, their first trip together, and eventually, the proposal. So when she asked me to photograph her and Dane'ssmall wedding at the beach, I was more than honored, albeit scared to death of messing up royally! Overall, I loved it. It was amazing to have that "all access" pass into this important moment. Then, to sit in front of my computer and watch the pictures I had taken stream one by one, retelling the story, it was pretty cool. I think I would definately do it again, just maybe with one heck of a waiver of responsibility!

Congrats, Mr. and Mrs. Peachee!

Vaca.

We have been living it up on the Gulf Coast since Saturday. The kids love the beach (even though Knox would prefer to eat sand rather than play in it). We love not being home, although getting sleep has dropped off the kids inteneraries since arriving, so mamma and daddy have been seeing the sun come up every morning. Now, what you will notice about the current pics is that none of them are actually on the beach. I am still so protective of my new camera that I am quite frankly scared to carry it down there. At some point I figure I can take it down to the water's edge, snap some pics then promptly return it to the condo. Another down side of the camera is its bulk. Once you've loaded up 2 kids, a diaper bag that weighs 2o pounds, a stroller, a husband, and an assortment of the day's favorite toys, there is just not an easy way to lug the cannon, too. We solved this issue by taking an afternoon trip down to Seaside since its been a few years since we had been there last. It gave me the opportunity to follow the kids around and take pictures without worrying about sand and sunscreen and the ill effects on a camera lens.

Okay, there is a little sand in the background.

The Lucy and Knox Show performed on the Seaside stage.

Pretending they like me.


The Rojo Bar

We then drove to Grayton for dinner at the Red Bar. I like bringing my kids here because there has been in the past 10 years or so many a disscussion regarding life plans over plates of fish and shrimp and crawfish pasta that often included the intent of bringing little ones into the world. I ate there pregnant with both kids (twice with Knox), Lucy managed to sleep through her first visit at 4 months old as well as Knox did, too, 2 years later. Needless to say, this is our favorite resturant. This week Lucy has been on a kick of learning her colors in Spanish, so this time it was the Rojo Bar.

My skinny hubby.

I don't normally take the time and effort to photograph my food, but believe me, this meal deserves to be framed and hung on the wall!

Trail

So apparently Lucy is working on a series."Nest" was all the rage in the last post, but for a 3 year old, that was so last week. Now we have evolved into "Trail". This one started at about 8 oclock at night. I think she is learning that if she does something of interest at bedtime, mommy will whip out the camera and stall bedtime a little longer (it totally works, too!).
Since taking these pictures, she's made several more trails, one of water droplets on her grandparents patio. I decided that one was more of a performance piece :-).

A little OCD in her madness with everything lined up just so. That's my cell phone behind the geisha girl...I was looking for that.

Little artist in contemplative pose. "Hmmm..what else can I do to avoid bedtime?"

As I post this today, its not even 7 am, and I have been up for 2 hours, which wouldn't be so horrible, if I hadn't been up 3 hours before that, and then 3 hours before that. It was a rough night. Both kids are sick-a first in our house. They have some virus that causes painful blisters on their throat. Its pretty hard to explain to a baby why he is hurting, so rocking and bottles are about the only things that stop the crying. Luckily, Lucy is just now old enough to understand an explanation of why she is sick, and she takes what the doctor says very seriously. Its nice when they can tell you whats wrong and when they need medicine!

To top it off, Dan is out of town, so I have been battling this one solo. I wouldn't recommend it. Hopefully, he will be home sometime today and I will promptly be hitting the sack.

Tomorrow we leave for a week and a half at the beach, which will include my friend Rachel's wedding. Not only is it exciting to watch her get hitched, I will be shooting my very first wedding. So, stay tuned! And in the mean time, wash your hands-this virus going around is not one to be reckoned with!