January had just begun. Christmas wreaths were still out. And in Old Town Alexandria, all the colorful, historic doors still had festive props. So it was a great time to walk around Sam’s childhood neighborhood. I told him I had shot at this garden before but couldn’t remember where it was. Soon enough, we had found it thanks to his knowledge of the area. And he showed me a few places I had never been- with old flame lamps blazing above us even. We visited all the places Robin and Sam went to on their first date. So I would say, that’s a success!

And p.s. Thank you Robin and Sam for not running away screaming like a scene from Birds when I asked if you could ‘slow down when you walk even if the birds are everywhere’. One of my best friends is terrified of birds. I just kept imagining her having a seizure and collapsing if she saw all those birds.

So in September of 2008, Natalie and I had our formal wedding or what I call our “big Jewish, illegal wedding”. Despite the fact that on that day, we were not legally being married in the eyes of the state or federal government, we were being married in the eyes of our faith and our community. We loved our wedding venue, Woodend Sanctuary in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

So when I saw that gay marriage was legalized in Maryland last night, I felt a bit like this:

Image Courtesy of Michael Bonfigili

I wanted to go around and high-five everyone! The state where I got married is finally going to allow same-sex couples to legally get married. It has some more hoops to go through and I’ll be watching closely, but I want to somehow honor this moment in history. I want to go back to Woodend and say a prayer. Or just do a few fist pumps. So I’m suddenly emailing my Rabbi. “Hey, so…this probably isn’t a common request but what’s the best prayer for honoring the place you got not-legally married, but are legally married now in CT, but want to mark this down in your brain because this stuff is BIG. This is history. This is stuff I’ll tell our kids.”

So virtual high-fives to everyone today.

I kept joking with Kara and Chris I would have to shoot their wedding in 4-5 inch heels because even at 5’7 (and a half mind you) I kinda had to do a mini jump if I wanted a certain shot of them. Kara is like that girl who’s not afraid to laugh out loud, get excited, and all around be funny. But wrap that into a woman who’s just jaw dropping lovely and you wish you could grab her, take her to the model agencies and scream ‘HELLO! This is what America would like to see!! Someone badass inside and out!’.

And she found her partner in crime, Chis, who is also tall (this was mentioned in the vows people), and just as wonderfully goofy as she is. Between the engagement shoot and the wedding, my whole lower face hurt after seeing them. They seem to always be trying to make one another smile or snort or just bend over laughing. It must run in the family though. During the reception, everyone had given their toast except Chris’s brother. A big projector screen went up. Music started playing. And Chris’s brother promptly led us through some of Chris’s awkward moments as a child and teenager. I have seen lots of toasts. Usually? A bit boring or too long or too ‘inside joke’ where the person toasting might be laughing but the rest of the room is dead quiet. And uncomfy. But that toast has won ‘Best Toast of 2011′ in my mind. I think the entire room was trying not to choke on their dinner they were laughing so hard. I was slightly afraid it was going to send Kara into respiratory distress.