So the elephant in the room first: it’s been way too long since I wrote a blog post. There, I said it. And by way too long I mean, whoa. Way. Too. Long.
Ok, now that that’s taken care of, on with it. So much has happened personally and professionally since I last posted that it’s officially reached the point where I haven’t a clue where to start. And for me, I’ve learned, this means – just start. So here we are. I’m sitting in McCarran International Airport in scenic (ok, not that scenic but really really hot) Las Vegas, NV. And I’m waiting for my flight back from a brief, exhausting, and phenomenal weekend throwing my brother’s bachelor party. And while some of you might want to hear about that, you’ll have to settle for a story about a wedding instead. Afterall, Vegas and sworn-secrecy go hand-in-hand…
So I’m flying out to Vegas on Friday and I’m waiting to board my flight. Finally it’s time to board and they do the usual boarding order for flights which seems comical to me every time. Anyone who’s really old? Anyone disabled? First class. Platinum customers. Then Platinum Reserve customers. The Platinum Elite. Then Platinum Elite Reserve. Then Select Reserve. Then Select Elite Reserve. And don’t forget Select Elite Reserve Plus. This goes on for 20 minutes naming every ridiculous group of customers imaginable. I think there are more special boarding groups than actual seats on the airplane. Eventually they get warmed up and consider starting to board the “Mere Paupers” group (you know, everyone on the plane except for First Class section and like one old guy with oxygen). And right before they do, they offered boarding to any military personnel in uniform. I’m no frequent flyer, but I’ve been on a few planes before. This is the first time I’ve ever heard this boarding group. Kinda cool. At least there is no question who is in that group. In my experience, however, any uniformed military personnel boarding a plane would rather wait in line and courteously allow the women, children, old ladies, platinum customers, and basically everyone else board before them anyway. But I like the gesture.
What does this have to do with my blog post? Not much. But it did help me decide which wedding I wanted to share with you. So we’re going with the military, afterall, they got to board before I did. Ok, there were no uniformed military on my flights, but theoretically, they could have.
Katie and Bill got married at the beautiful St. Patrick Catholic Church in DC. The church itself is fit for a photo shoot, but these two really made it look stellar. I do love a formal military wedding in an historic church like St. Patrick. Originally the church was founded in the late 1700s. Yeah, pretty awesome.
Like many of the interesting and historical churches in DC, I was not allowed a ton of time to hang out taking photos in the church after the ceremony concluded. But this is not news at this point and I still had time to make some images that mattered before we got the boot. There is something special about a couple in uniform walking out of a big, beautiful church with a crowd gathered. Something timeless, emotional, and perfect.
I love this image of this kid in the bus on the way to take some outdoor “couple photos” after the ceremony. A lot of times photographers should pass off the image selection process to someone less emotionally involved in the photos or someone more removed so that they can get images that are really stunning images online rather than ones that they have an emotional connection to. This image is probably one of those images to which I’m attached emotionally – regardless of whether it’s actually got any artistic merit whatsoever.
Then we were off to take some classic DC photos after the ceremony. The couple wanted to go somewhere that was classic DC with the whole bridal party and they mostly left the selection of location up to me. And this location is one of my favorites.
And then we moved on to the lovely (and also “classic DC”) reception venue at the Ronald Regan Building in NW DC. Katie & Bill’s reception was both beautiful and fun. Not sure if I’d say in equal measure, but certainly both present. Check out some of the reception.
Ok, so I broke the ice, now I’ll start posting regularly again. Promise.
