Mary and Phil

October 7, 2006

Wedding: St John the Baptist, Paris Township Wisconsin

Reception: Lynch’s Landing, Burlington Wisconsin

When I first got the call from Mary about her wedding she left me a message about her wedding date. October 7, 2006. Now, everyone has to work on their birthday at some point in their life, it’s a fact of life. But this date happened to be my 40^th, and I had pretty much determined that I was not going to take a wedding for that date. In fact, I probably turned away a good 10 inquiries for that date. But when I called Mary, she said “I’m kind of the anti-bride. I hate being in pictures, but I love good photography. I just want great pictures of my day, of people enjoying themselves and not in stiff poses. I want everyone to party and have fun and I want Phil and I to actually enjoy our wedding day. I’ve seen too many weddings where it seemed like my friends couldn’t even enjoy their day because they were constantly feeling like they HAD to do this and that, and I don’t want that”. And I thought: “This is the bride for me”. I often joke with my clients that if only they could be guests at their own wedding and not the bride and groom, they might get to enjoy it more since it goes by in such a blink after all that planning.

And as far as I could tell, the day went just like that. Everywhere I looked it people were laughing, talking, eating at their leisure at the yummy food stations, dancing and the entire atmosphere was casual elegance. The tent that Mary’s parents had set up on their property was nothing short of amazing, and the decorations and beautiful weather topped everything off. And every time I saw Mary and Phil at the reception, they looked relaxed and happy. Well, except for the one time Mary had to steal a lamb chop off the grill because she had been talking so much she didn’t have a chance to eat.

Congratulations!