I feel so blessed! I absolutely LOVE my job, I love my clients and I love the journey that got me to this point. This weekend was an amazing, beautiful and relaxed weekend in the Thousand Islands with Stephanie and Howard. Every single person in attendance was nice and friendly. I feel like I made a few new life long friends! The Bride was amazing. She is so thoughtful and caring and I think I may have gotten more than a thousand kisses and hugs from her! Including one right before she walked down the aisle! These two are obviously so content with each other and are both full of love and energy. It is inspiring!

Friday evening was pretty informal, with dinner consisting of pizza and beer on a deck watching the sunset over the water! Turns out that her Dad plays the banjo too! And apparently he is just as terrible as I am! Saturday was relaxed as well. The ladies and I had breakfast in the local diner, then the Maids of Honor and I got our Tarot Cards read... Stephanie just listened... we wouldn’t let her get hers done. It was fun and informative, but none of us learned anything we didn’t know. It was just like having an honest friend tell us what we didn’t want to hear. Off to the salon, where I met up with my second Photographer, James Bass. He is from Syracuse and I have been wanting to work with him for a few years. We were all so happy that he could come out and spend the day covering Howard’s perspective! I loved working with him and I can’t wait to see his images! Merri, a Maid of Honor, gave everyone massages while they awaited their turn to have their hair done. She offered to give me one, but that might have made me too relaxed!

The ceremony was at the historic Boldt Castle on Heart Island. The weather broke enough so that there was a mighty breeze and a lot less humidity than there had been the last few days. Everything went really smoothly and we were all on the Alexandria Belle tour boat right on time. The reception was equally mellow, with just the formal dances and a cake cutting. I was surprised by how crazy the dancing got. There were quite a lot of people dancing to Thriller, and they knew all the moves! Every time I turned around, Merri was bringing me water! I can’t even get my assistants to do that! I’m in love with her! There was a gorgeous sunset and the night was just perfect!

Once we all left the boat, the partying kept on going on downtown. it turns out that if you wear a white dress out, everyone is really really nice to you! Stephanie is going to wear her dress on random Tuesdays to see how many free drinks she can get at the bars in her own town! There are a lot of stories, that don’t need to be repeated here, but lets just say it was a lot of fun! And again, at one point, I turned around and there was Merri... bringing me pizza! Seriously! The absolute best Bridesmaid!! I was so tired from the day that I didn’t drink much and I bailed a little early. Probably good to “try” to act professional too! We all woke up the next morning and had breakfast on a floating restaurant. Not exactly the ideal scenario for a group who stayed out drinking all night. I wasn’t hung over, but with the swaying, I felt like I was! Yikes! The Bride, Groom, Maids of Honor and I had planned on going back to Boldt Castle on Sunday to Trash the Dresses (and Tux!), but we were all so tired and could barely keep up conversations. I’m bummed we didn’t do it, but I had no energy left. We will have to reschedule and do it soon!!

Stephanie and Howard, thank you so much for hiring me to photograph your wedding! I am honored to have been a part of your special day!!! I love you and wish you all the health and happiness in the world!! Congratulations!!!!