Love and Catfish ...

So I shot my first wedding of 2010. And what a beautiful event it was ... the couple, the location, the atmosphere. I was blessed to be a part of it.
It was an early evening wedding at a wooden lodge by the river. It was lit with candles and little twinkle lights everywhere. A fire roared in a river rock fireplace in the background. Truly a beautiful sight to behold. A little challenging to shoot as far as the lighting from a photography standpoint. But the idea was to capture the feeling of the night, the love, so that's what I set out to do.
I chose to shoot two different ways throughout the evening ... First, was with an ISO of 400 and my flash powered down a stop (at moments 2) in order to to retain the feel the couple wanted yet still capture crisp images. Second, I shot with a higher ISO ( around 1600) and no flash, using only the available light, to capture the emotion in certain moments.

The couple was so sweet and so in love. You could see it in their eyes, hear it in the words, watch it in their actions. They were relaxed and wanted to enjoy every moment and everyone ... from the pre-wedding jitters to the emotional vows to the carefree celebration that followed. And they did. For me, it was just fun to capture all of those moments.

I do love what I do ...
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And today we celebrated my husbands 37th birthday!
To think back to when we met and he was only 19 years old ... WOW!
He was certainly carefree back then and perhaps a bit on the wild side. But over the years I have watched him mature into such a faithful, grounded, loving, wise husband and father, with an attitude and dedication like no other. (and he still can be as carefree and fun as he was at 19!)

We have a tradition that the birthday boy, or girl, gets to pick the menu. Well, he did. And the evenings meal was to be blackened catfish, seafood gumbo, ceasar salad, corn bread, with a rum cake for dessert! (Not what I would have picked ... but ...)

My morning was spent buying fresh fish, vegetables and spices. Then I spent most the day cooking. It was really fun to explore my culinary skills, or perhaps I should say, push the boundaries. I chopped, diced, sauteed and made a roux.

The kiddos decorated .... which simply meant stringing crate paper everywhere ... but they loved it. They covered his chair at the dinner table to make it a throne. They made name tags for dinner ... dads simply said "King." And the three of us were labeled "peasants."

Then we had a feast. Well, most of us did. I don't like seafood ... the taste, the smell ... none of it. Oh well, the birthday boy had his feast and then some good family time. Our evening ended four year old gave her daddy a foot massage!

Happy Birthday my love!!! I'm so happy I get to celebrate you ...