Favorite Place, Favorite People--Dardanelle, CA Photographer

On our bucket list it was the last thing we listed, but in reality the first thing we did! In fact, we've already made the trek to Dardanelle *twice!* Just a couple of shots of the kids hanging out Memorial Day weekend. All of these children have had a camera in their faces or nearby attempting "candid-ness" their entire lives, so, photos have become less than natural. I guess I just need a longer lens. Thanks Rinnas/Tituses for the fun and, in my youngest's words, a place to sit around and do "ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!" (A couple of my family members just can't get used to doing absolutely nothing....)

Mera Tittle Marries Zackary West--Thunder, Lightning Ensues!--Modesto, CA Wedding Photographer

So...here are a few of the portraits from the wedding of one of my friends' daughters. I met Mera and her family when Mera was about 5 years old. A beautiful little girl, and even back then a spitfire...
Mera and Zack wanted a themed wedding and chose to do a 20's guest participation dress up. Everything turned out beautifully, but there were countless, and I mean, seriously, I can't count how many, bumps in the road on their wedding day. The wedding planner came late, and didn't start to set up until shortly before ceremony time, so family and guests started setting up when the bride and groom started to panic. RAIN was a concern. The sky was bright and sunny except for this one gigantic ominous black cloud that was just hanging around throughout the day...The wedding music hit a hiccup when the DJ told the couple that he couldn't play dinner music for them, so while the bride put finishing touches on her makeup, she burned a play list for her walk down the aisle and dinner. A guest tripped over one of the big, sweet, old dogs who was sunning himself in the middle of the ceremony seating. Bloody nose, but not broken! (Still awful!) Just as Mera started down the aisle, the big black cloud broke open and POURED down on us! HUGE raindrops! It was hysterical! Her officiant rattled through the vows lickety split! He was not about to let one word go unspoken! The rain poured down on what was supposed to be an outdoor wedding...and then almost as suddenly as it started, it was over!
Anyway, there were plenty of other flubs throughout the day, but all of them were handled, and the guests had a fabulous time! I told her when I talked to her a couple of days later I had two songs stuck in my head the day after her wedding: Knock On Wood (the thunder and lightning part) and Riding the Storm Out. Their wedding day was kind of like what marriage is like. Sometimes it's stormy, but you hold on, ride out the storm, and when it's bright and sunny again, you can reflect on how great it is to have gotten through that and you look forward to more crazy times!

Summer Bucket List

Only 1 and a half more days and SCHOOL IS OUT! I hate how fast the school year goes by...because as fast as it goes by, the summer goes by even faster! I have determined that SUMMERS will be filled with tons of memorable moments, period! So today, in order to make sure that I'm not just making plans for me, at lunch our conversation was all Summer Bucket List, and this is what my kids came up with. I'm printing it and putting it up on the fridge for all to see...maybe we'll even do hash marks when we do re-do's because I'm sure we will have more than one water gun fight, more than one peach (maybe even a nectarine), and do most things on here multiple times. Who can do a backyard campout just once?

Birthday Tea Party-Oakdale Portrait Photographer

A sweet and ridiculously easy birthday party for my Sweet Caroline. Easy, I suppose because I already had collected most of the decorations for something like this, and because I didn't really want to go over the top...also because I have lots of helpers (my dad was A#1 AGAIN, for this!). All of the little floral arrangements (save one for the top of my piano) were given as favors, and a couple of the tea cups. All of the linens are from my Grandma's collection, and the serving platters were all wedding gifts of my mom's. It just so happened that the high school was presenting Alice in Wonderland at the time, so I called the two leads and gave them some pocket change to play their parts for the party!