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Robin’s Wedding
Had a wonderful time at this fabulous wedding, where one of my college roommates and best friend got married. Her new husband Joe is a wonderful guy and they were SO happy. It was just the best to witness and to be a part of their day. And, on top of that, I was maid of honor (*note: not matron of honor, MAID of honor. I know the way it’s supposed to be but matron is completely unacceptable. Matron is a 500 lb, grey haired, mole sporting prison guard. Think I mentioned this before, but it bears repeating). There is an album on the left side "Robin & Joe" with all the pictures I took, but here are some favorites from the day. 
I didn’t get to take as many pictures as I would normally have wanted to. Being in the bridal party makes it really hard, since you have to BE in the pictures. But I did get a few really good shots in there. Plus the fact that I stalked the real photographer Bruce, and his assistant Jim so I even picked up a few tips. They were both SO nice and helpful. And they didn’t seem to mind my serious lens/camera envy and the trail of drool I left on their stuff- and it was all Canon. If I just had a quarter of their stuff, I would be thrilled. All L glass, Mark I cameras (more than one!!). Just awesome. I can’t wait to see those pictures.
I went up to Tarrytown on Thursday night and spent the night with Robin at the hotel. It was totally like college (all we needed was Heathers on cable) and we had a great night. Robin being her very crafty self, was sewing in a new bustle ribbon in her dress, and I was making the notions basket. We didn’t go to bed until around 1am- we were up talking like always. She was amazingly calm. I was fretting over the speech I was informed I had to make at the reception. And we did discuss it but decided against putting our favorite and oft quoted movie line in the speech "I love my dead, gay son!" It really didn’t go with the theme of the day. And we decided that I probably shouldn’t mention the fact that I was her maid of honor at her first wedding either!
Friday morning started early with a yummy room service breakfast and quick showers. We went over to the salon for hair at 10am with some of the other girls in the wedding (Jenn, Lilly-Joe’s mom, Carolyn, Jacqueline). Had an awesome head massage which was a nice added bonus. When hair was done, headed back to the hotel for makeup and hanging out in the bridal suite. Robin’s friend Jen from CA was great and ran out and got a ton of food, champagne and some good trash magazines so we were happy eating, getting pretty, and getting a little drunk. Jenn in the wedding party also brought champagne so we were pretty stocked up. We were running a little late so Robin headed over to the Mansion where the ceremony and reception were being held with some of the girls. Jenn and I finished up makeup, cleaned up the suite, got dressed ourselves and then headed over too. Bummed I didn’t get a chance to take pictures of the dress before Robin put it on, but the real photographer did, so I’ll just check those out.
Once over at the mansion, we all finished our last minute dressing. Kathy brought EVERYTHING you could have possibly needed in a big bag. The double sided tape came in very handy! Robin was still incredibly calm, except for one brief freakout moment with the sash for the dress. Too many people trying to help at once. Once that was settled, we went down for pictures where Joe saw Robin for the first time. Again, would loved to have gotten those shots…We took a zillion pictures in the most picturesque settings and we were watching the storm out in the distance roll in. Roll in it did (preceeded by a ton of wind) and it poured which could have been a big problem because the ceremony was to be held outside. We did our little rehearsal inside and held our collective breath for the rain to stop. After the run-through, the girls all went back up to the bridal suite and the boys stayed at the bar (not so fair). Then it was seven (yes, promptly seven) and time to go down. The ceremony was just beautiful, very neutral and nice. And the weather cleared up beautifully. It was perfect. Then it was time to have fun at the reception. Well, fun after the speech. I was so nervous but winged it and everyone said I did a good job. I was just so glad it was over. And Robin, "i hate you for making me do this". Now it’s on your wedding video and mine too!
One very special touch was the seating cards. Instead of table #s, Robin and Joe gave each table a name (ie marriage, humor, good & evil, etc.) and on the table next to the table name, there was a list of quotes on that tables subject from Mark Twain who once visited the Mansion. So special and artsy. Loved that. My parents (picture above) were also invited and had a great time. It was nice being at a wedding with them- that dosen’t happen much. Lots of crazy, fun, singing, dancing Irish (and I mean full on brogues) folks there. All of Joe’s family is seriously Irish and seriously fun.
Joe & Robin hosted a brunch this morning at a local restaurant which was so nice and now they are off to their two week honeymoon in Tahiti. Nice, huh? They deserve it after all that hard work. Happy Wedding you two! Love you so much and thanks for including us!
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Sunday’s random ramblings
Taking a page from my favorite scrapbooker/teacher/photographer Karen Russell (who will get another mention in a minute) a list of various stuff from today:
1. Templates of Christmas/Holiday cards are up on the blog. To see them all, click on the "Christmas Cards" header on the left under "Pages".
2. I emailed a ton of friends, clients, and family to let everyone
know the Christmas cards were up for viewing. I have NEVER had so many visits to my little blog ever before. So to everyone who visited, thank you so much. Now I just hope you liked the cards and pictures enough to contact me for a session! And to those of you who already did contact me, thank you so much! Looking forward to working with you soon. 3. Tommorrow is picture day at school for the big boys. I have to say as I get further into the photography thing, the less excited about picture day I get. I think I can do better and I hate paying for the picture package before even seeing them. But I have to get them for the class picture.
4. Yesterday we had our cousin Tricia, her son, her sister with 3 of her kids over for lunch. Tricia’s neice is going to a local college and may need someplace to crash on occasion. She is such a sweet girl. A freshman on the softball team and they work her so hard! But we are finding we have a lot in common (girly stuff, scrapbooking, sushi) so I think it will be fun with her staying over every now and then. The boys were happy cause she played baseball with them (although they were a little disgruntled over the softball instead of baseball part) and Timmy loved her right away. Had a great time hanging with Tricia too- I wish we lived closer so we could play more often!
5. Timmy’s sentences are getting better and better. Tonight I heard "No, I not pee-u. I maybe a liiiiiiitle bit wet". No, I not wet, I’m ooooookay". Potty training going so well but no poop in the potty yet.
6. Got a haircut yesterday and it’s okay. Too short but before it was too layery so I had no choice on cutting a bunch off. Still shoulder length, but just. It’ll grow. Just not fast enough to be long for the wedding on Friday. Getting highlights Tuesday. Hair is a lot of maintenence, man.
7. Took the big boys on a 2hr bicycle ride today (and my ass is killing me tonight). We rode over to the nearby State park and rode the bike trail. Hilly and so fun. They did great but I think it’s time for the next size bike. In the spring. The complaining was at a minimum, thank god. But those boys are sooooooo slow. A little pep, please. We saw a teeny snake on the way out over the footbridge. No camera with me, so no picture. Sorry. But it was cool.
8. Saw my cousin Alex on Friday night after the photoshoot down at the beach. I have always been scared of German Shepards and she has one (plus she was babysitting a friends Doberman Pinscher) and it was in the house. With me. Luckily they were both so sweet, but very big. So I guess I am over my fear by immersion. We had a nice visit, even with the dog slobber. And thanks for the PBA card, Alex- you rock! (sorry I missed you Kevin).
9. And the capper to my weekend– The afore mentioned Karen Russell (see her blog here ) who is a famous scrapbooker, scrapbook designer/artist, and amazing photographer sent me a compliment. A big one. I’m signed up to take her photography class in PA in October and she told me after looking at my blog that my photography is so good already that she dosen’t think I need to take her class. How totally freaking HUGE is that!!?? But I’m going anyway. I still have lots of questions and there is always lots of room for improvement. But I am floating for days over this one.
Have a good week everyone.
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The O family
All the families that I have been photographing have been so good looking, and this family was certainly no exception. A really fun family, with REALLY busy boys. It was challenging getting the two of them in any pictures where they were not in constant motion. But since mom & dad were up for the challenge and willing to have fun, I think I got some really cute and really accurate captures of their family interaction. Lots of wrestling and running. The older boy was quite the ham (and quite handsome) and was really working the camera. The younger of the two had a LOT of personality and was so cute with his big, brown eyes. Mom and Dad are in big trouble with these two. Like Ralph Lauren models. Here are a few favorites from yesterdays shoot:
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RENT and a brush with fame
Went into NYC last night and met Nelson to go to see RENT on Broadway. Oh my god- the show was so incredible. On the one hand while I’m so bummed that it took me this long to get to see it, on the other hand the timing couldn’t have been any better. First of all, Adam Pascal (Roger) and Anthony Rapp (Mark) from the original broadway cast and from the movie version were back in the broadway show. Seeing them live was so awesome, I mean those boys can SING.
Unbelievable. The actor who played Angel was great last night (so good that I didn’t miss the actor from the movie/the originator from the original cast), but I definitely prefered the original/film actors for Tom Collins and Maureen. Although the Tom in last night’s show did a great job with I’ll Cover You (reprise). Now that I have seen both the movie and the show, the whole story makes a lot more sense- it’s a lot more rounded out. I think that the movie and show really compliment eachother in that each tells a part of the story that the other is missing. Anyway, the other reason the timing couldn’t have been better was because during intermission, I looked over into the aisle and saw a very familiar face, but I couldn’t place it. After going thru the mental list of who she could be and why I knew her, I realized it was Tracie Thoms! She is the actor who played Joanne in the film version of RENT and she was sitting in the theatre watching the show! Once I realized it was her, I watched her during the second act singing along with the cast and dancing around in her seat and cheering like crazy. It was so fun to watch her sing along with such excitement and enjoyment. At the finale, some of the actors winked or waved at her. A few people asked for her autograph during intermission and she seemed very nice about it. I didn’t want to bother her but on the way out I kinda timed it so we would be exiting together and I told her that I thought she was incredible in the movie and that I loved her singing. And that I have my 8yr old twin boys listening to the RENT movie soundtrack in the car all the time. She seemed to like that and was very friendly and gracious- not to mention young, skinny, and so pretty.
So it was a great, great night. We even walked back to Penn and made it just in time for the train home (which was so packed due to the Jimmy Buffet concert at the Garden so we had to stand all the way home on the local train-yuck). As soon as the show was over, Nelson asked what we were going to see next. Maybe Spring Awakenings? Any suggestions?
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beach photoshoots like crazy!
Had one this past Sunday and have THREE more coming up this weekend alone. The one Sunday was a lot of fun – it was my good friend Marianne and her sweet and good-looking family. Marianne and I became good friends in my scrapbook class and have been scrapping and laughing ever since. A lot of laughing with her. She’s definitely one of the good ones. (shoes and cleavers and all, right Mare?)
The big kids were very cooperative, the little one (who is a friend of Timmy’s and the same age- so I was so not surprised) was not really in the mood, but I ended up with a few keepers of her anyway. Guess I caught her in a good moment every now and then! I don’t think her husband was very happy about being there and missing his Sunday football games though. One of my favorites from the day. The rest are in an album on the left side if you are interested.
Timmy had school today where he stayed for 2hrs this week and we left the building. Came home and scrapped with Sharon. It was waaaay too quiet in the house! I missed him a lot but neither of us cried. And he told me he had a great time.
Big boys resumed drum lessons today and it seemed to go well. Working on Jack being a bit more responsible when it comes to keeping organized and bringing home/back the proper study materials. He is so John like that, while Patrick is so obsessive/compulsive like me.
Off to the city again tonight (well, aren’t I just the city girl? No, not really- just having a good run of shows) to see Rent with Nelson.