The Pavilion on Crystal Lake has a wonderful gazebo area for the ceremony and then an almost barn like reception room, totally lined with wood paneling. And plenty of dancing room! Which is exactly what as needed for Kevin and Kate’s Hora and chicken dance. When Kate filled out the timeline sheet I give all my couples, she mentioned the chicken dance. I was like ‘Wow. Haven’t seen that one yet!’ Apparently it is Kate’s grandma’s favorite dance song, so all the family was on the dance floor for the chicken dance! And Kate went over to her grandma’s table and did the chicken dance with her. It was such a funny but sweet moment.

And with a balcony overlooking the dance floor, a few of Kate’s closest friends gathered to to a candle-lighting and song that they have done at each of their weddings. Having a few moments with you best friends, away from the hubbub, I don’t care if you light candles or not, is always nice to have. There were hugs and a bit of scurrying to get the sparklers ready for Kate and Kevin’s exit. But it all came together and Kate and Kevin got to be cheered on by their family and friends as they walked out with a line of sparklers.

Most weddings have something unexpected pop up. Usually it’s small little details that quickly get smoothed over and are just as quickly forgotten. But the day Kate and Kevin woke up for their wedding, the found out the entire town where their wedding was being held was out of power. As I was driving through the city, I didn’t see any traffic lights working or stores open and was starting to wonder what the heck was going on. When I got to the salon, the power had booted back up only to go off again in the middle of drying Kate’s hair. It was pitch black in the salon as there were no windows- so I felt around for my bag and whipped out my video light to guide us out of the salon, and upstairs to the floor that had windows.

Kate was happy as a clam. She was far too excited about the wedding day to care about stupid things like hair dryers not working or curling irons going cold. Who cares? She was getting married! Eventually, the power did go back on and stayed on. I jumped up and down inside, thanking the electric company for sparring us from a blacked out reception room. And as Kate went down the awesome stairs at the Inn at Middletown to see Kevin for the first time, I could just see Kevin’s face go from kinda stressed (he was just on the cell phone trying to figure some stuff out) to nervous to just pure happiness.

And the fall foliage at the Pavilion on Crystal Lake was just starting to break out. Pumpkins tied up with purple ribbon lined the ceremony aisle and the gazebo looked perfect. The ceremony had a lot of laughing and dorky science things they shared (yay for science dorks!) and then Kevin got serious with his vows, telling Kate just how lucky he was to be marrying her. Kate looked up at the sky, trying to keep from crying. But Kevin was too good with words and Kate finally had to grab a handkerchief to get through the vows. Their wedding ceremony at Pavilion on Crystal Lake was surrounded by the forest and outdoors they both loved so much (remember they actually camped out after their engagement session?). So Sandra, my team awesome second shooter, and I watched them grab each other’s hand and smash the glass. It was official.

February is adopt a rabbit month! And as a mom to 3 rabbits of my own and having been a foster mom for bunnies for 4 years, this month always reminds me of how little people know about rabbits. I blogged last year all about how I fell in love with rabbits but this year, I wanted to talk a bit about how they are involved in my life.

I wake up each morning to snoring. Very very loud snoring. This is not from Natalie- nope. It’s my 5 pound, mini rex rabbit sitting at the foot of our bed under the covers. Abraham lives in our bedroom and his favorite activity is to snuggle with me in the bed and give me kisses. And snore. I get up a bit before Natalie and just snuggle with him, pet him and give him kisses for 15 minutes first thing in the AM. It’s a really wonderful way to start my day. He then proceeds to watch us get ready and tries to attack the cats as they sneak into the bedroom. Abraham was found on the streets of DC and was in really bad shape. He has been extremely aggressive his whole life, with one exception- he loves me. I fostered him for 2 years and he was adopted and returned twice. I would go over to the adopters house twice a week, showing them how to care and calm Abraham down. Each time they said ‘You don’t understand! He’s completely different when you walk in the room!”. So eventually the rescue asked me to take Abraham as he would be impossible to adopt out (he literally destroyed the other people’s houses). He’s too aggressive to have a bunny friend, so he stays in our bedroom away from the other two rabbits. He hates strangers. He hates change. He’s kinda of a bunny douchebag. But he loves to shower me in kisses.

When it’s time to work, I have two official co-workers in my office. Toby and Fern. They have a cage that’s their ‘home base’ but have free range of the room. Most people don’t realize rabbits can be litterbox trained, so my office stays clean except for the tumble weeds of fur when it’s molting season. Toby lost his mate, Guinevere, back in August and literally fell apart. When bunny’s actually bond, they are very very tightly bonded and will actually give up and die of a broken heart if they loose their mate. So we found Fern, our newest addition. I open the door to the office and they immediately run towards me, looking for a few treats or some love. They mostly supervise my office by napping together in the sun, running in their tunnel, and being excellent paper shredders. I take a break from the screen for a few minutes every hour to get down on the floor, pet them, and watch them run around. Their presence in my office reminds me that while running a business can be really stressful, there are two furry things watching what I’m up to and always ready and excited to see me.

So if you are thinking of adopting a rabbit, check out this poster on rabbit facts. With Easter approaching, my heart always grows heavy. Many many people buy cute baby bunnies for their children for Easter, only to give them up several weeks later as they grower bigger and their kids move on to other things. I can’t tell you how many rabbits are put down in the months following Easter because of this trend. Or how many people let their rabbits ‘go in the wild’ thinking they will be ok- only domestic rabbits have none of the skills of their wild cousins and quickly die horrible deaths from exposure, predators, cars, and rest. I have been a mom to 2 rabbits who were released into the forest and saved by amazing people who realized that they bunny running in the woods was not a wild bunny, but a terrified bunny in need of saving.

So this Easter, don’t buy a baby bunny, buy a chocolate bunny. Post a flyer about rabbits being living creatures, not toys, at your local pet store or coffee shop. Or, if you know of a park or forest nearby where you suspect people may dump their unwanted bunnies, post a flyer about not being free but making your rabbit food.

The leaves had finally changed and I was in wedding season craziness. Fall is always nutso. But I had really been wanting to take a fall drive around CT like I did the first year we moved up here. So Caitlin and Dan really wanted fall engagement pictures, so I suggested a car drive around to find some fun spots and to enjoy the fall weather.

And I think Caitlin deserves some major props for getting on top of a haybale in a cocktail dress. In heels.