The Wedding

Over the weekend, I was excited to spend some time with Krista Noorman and her assistant Heidi from A Picture's Worth. Krista let me tag along with herself and Heidi to a wedding up in Clarkston, MI.

First, we met at a salon in Waterford. The bridal party was there getting their hair and makeup done. Everyone in the party was happy with their hair styles except for one bridesmaid. Both the bridesmaid and the stylist were getting frustrated. The bridesmaid brought in a photo of what she wanted her hair to look like and it was no where near the picture. Everyone convinced her to do her hair differently and she did. The final result I thought looked nice, but the bridesmaid wasn't too excited with it.

The bridal party left and we waited for the flower girls to come in. The girls came in around 3:30 pm. I took some pictures and Krista took pictures of both girls getting their hair done. Krista, Heidi and I left around 4 pm and headed to Quinzos Subs just a couple of miles away from the wedding location in Clarkston.

Krista informed me a week before the wedding that we the photographers wouldn't be eating at the reception. The bride couldn't get the mansion to budge on our meals and the couple would have been charged for the full price, so that is why we had to eat at Quiznos. We were all ok with that, but later in the evening, I was really getting hungry. The mansion served a buffet style and there was so much extra food! I'm sure we could have walked up to the line and enjoyed a plate without anyone noticing.

When dinner was served Krista and Heidi were standing in the doorway that led to the seating area. I didn't want to stand in the doorway, so I was walking around the library and the hall area. The lady in charge of the food, told Krista and Heidi to leave the dining area because there wasn't enough room. Krista said to Heidi and me that was the first time she was ever kicked out of a wedding. So we walked out to our cars and had some water and Krista and Heidi had a snack.

While everyone was eating, we walked around to keep ourselves busy. We all missed photos of people singing to the couple because we were not allowed in the dining room during dinner. After a while, we all went back into the dining room to get photos of the couple cutting the cake. They cut their cake and everyone else had a smaller cake on their table. I thought it was a good idea when we first walked into the dining area when we first got to the mansion. After seeing how much cake was not eaten, then I thought it wasn't a good idea. At some of the tables, only 1 to 2 slices was taken from a cake. I really wanted to walk over to a table and start helping myself because there was practically a whole cake sitting at an empty table. Someone beat me to that, the food lady that kicked us out of the dining room. Heidi said she took half of the cake back to the kitchen area.

Finally around 9 pm the first dance started. Then there was the daddy-daughter dance. The bride was crying during the dance. Watching them made me think of what I missed at my own wedding. My dad passed away 3 years before I got married and he didn't get to walk me down the aisle or have that dance with me. I bet it would have made my day just a bit nicer. After all of the required dances were done, then everyone started to dance. I took pictures of people on the dance floor with slow shutter speeds, some turned out really good.

After 10 pm it was finally time for the bouquet toss. We were all so happy because our day was almost over and my feet were killing me. The bride tossed her bouquet, the groom took off the garter and it was time to go. I put my equipment away, thanked Krista and we both left the reception.

I thought it would be easy getting home because it was easy getting there. That didn't happen. I took the roads that led us there. Somewhere I missed a turn and was driving down some backroad. I thought if it leads me nowhere I'll turn around. It lead to a city and I thought I would see Dixie Road somewhere. I never saw it. I kept driving. I had directions for 75 if I couldn't find my other way home. I passed a sign that said Auburn Hills. I knew I went too far, I hopped on 75. I got out my 75 directions and there was about 20 different ways I supposed to take. I wasn't too thrilled about that, then I saw a sign for M-59. I decided to take that.

M-59 was a slow drive. Most of it was in a city limit so the speed limit was 35 or 40. About 20 to 30 minutes on 59, my turnoff of 23 was near. At this point I was really starting to get tired. My contacts had been in since 7 am and it was now 11:30 pm or even close to midnight. About 20 miles outside of Ann Arbor my right contact was blurring on me. It is so nice to drive on 23 with one good contact. I could have pulled over and put eye drops in, but that would delay me getting home. When I was back in Adrian, I was really tired. Near the movie theater, I thought a mailbox was a deer.

I decided to fill up my car before going home. Gas was cheaper then it was Saturday morning and the trip took 1/2 a tank. I filled up and got ready to pull out of the lot. I ran over a curb that come out of nowhere. I swear I didn't see it. I pulled into my driveway around 12:45 am. It was a long day. I slept until 9:45 am Sunday morning.

I want to thank Krista again for letting me shoot with her. The pictures will go to good use.