Natalie and I were driving down to Le Chateau in the early morning, with the orange leaves just starting to really turn on the trees. We were literally the 1st ones there at the venue. I set up the details to shoot in a room that was clearly not meant to be open with tables turned upside down, but I liked the worn texture of all the beat up furniture. I was kind of struck by the cufflinks-mini hammers and scissors? But I got a full explanation during the ceremony. Matthew had written Jeffrey a poem titled the Tailor and the Carpenter. This was not a regular kind of hokey poem. Oh no! This was a freaking amazing feat that had even Matthew crying. Can I mention yet again how much I love hand written vowels or poems or what ever? Or even picking a very personal  book or poem makes all the difference. Whether it’s people bend over laughing or crying, I’m a sucker for a well thought out and very personal ceremony.

Beep Beep! I’m slightly scooter ignorant apparently. I didn’t know there are all kinds of scooters. Including the amazing Buddy that Brigid and Ximena rode in on. Brigid for real gets around New Haven on this thing. I, for one, am insanely jealous. It sounds like they get to have many an adventure all over town with the Buddy scooter.

Edgerton Park is a park in New Haven that’s kinda set away. Lots of dogs and their owners prance around. But mostly, it was us goofing off. They both played croquet in college, where they met. So it was a must to include in our park engagement fun. But you can’t play croquet, or at least they can’t play croquet, without amazingly retro outfits. I mean, lord! Did we stumble out of a 50′s movie?

And I’m going to be very serious for a moment people. Dead serious. Brigid is a very very mean dinosaur (see the last pictures). She has a killer roar. What I forgot to tell her because I was laughing too hard was I’m a dinosaur too. But a very interesting breed, you see. I’m a traptor. Yup. A t-rex and raptor hybrid. My wife came up with this nickname after one too many dinosaur movies and me walking around and roaring. So watch out.

I feel so unable to say anything interesting after the intense and meaningful post that Becca has already, herself, posted. You should read it all. Soak it in.

“There’s no way to describe how relief and joy mingle when you arrive at your venue and find ten friends and family members already on site at 9am, with coffee, ready to string papel picado from the rafters and set up chairs on the field. Or how it feels to watch the soul of a wedding unfold as your community gathers around to make your wedding happen and come to life, with friendship-love and family-love and romantic-love layering upon each other in the most perfect expression of joy you’ve ever experienced.”

Exactly.

Katherine and Dan met in school on the Academic Team. I’ve seen the nerdy pictures to prove it. I always watched those kids in high school on TV and was like, “How do they know that crap?!” But as their involvement in the Academic Team continued, Katherine sort of got her flirt on. So this wedding was a long time in the making.

If you need someone to organize your life, you should honestly call Katherine: excel spreadsheets, detailed timelines, but all with a giant laugh and a laid-back attitude. Can we clone her? One of the things I absolutely loved was watching them interact during the engagement shoot. We actually ended up doing one engagement shoot and one mini-shoot so that they could loosen up in front of the camera a little bit more. Katherine has an amazing way of getting Dan to come out of his shell and do quirky, stupid things that I asked them to do. It was worth it to make myself look like an idiot because I finally got genuine smiles from Dan.

There aren’t many people who take on the entire task of making their own wedding dress. But, oh, Katherine did. And with Dan’s multiple sisters accompanying her, there was a lot of oohing and ahhing at this amazing feat. She even sewed pockets into her dress…don’t we all want pockets? Luxe Events, their Day of Coordinating Team, did a great job bringing all of Katherine’s DIY projects together. And they set the perfect backdrop for them to get married under a giant tree on a warm sunny day.Katherine and Dan were clearly surrounded by friends who had been with them for a very long time because the toasts were chock full of hilarious stories that had everyone in tears laughing. There were references to the “Tiger Mom,” purposely missed high-fives, and the antics of the whole Academic Team. And ice cream. There should be more ice cream at weddings.