Congratulations

to Jess and Jonathan. They got married!! And you know what, it was a wonderful wedding and a great chance for Eric and I to get away together for the evening. When we first got the invitation and saw the reception was adult's only I panicked a bit. Abriella had never been put to bed by anyone but me before (well, Eric has put her to bed by himself twice but still). Even better, it went well, she got a bit upset with her Grandma but then passed out. So thanks Grandma (and Grandpa) we had a great visit...

it started with a bath before the rehearsal dinner...

yummy shampoo, there was the best natural light in this bathroom, I loved it...


she decided to let the kitty smell her clean toes...


unfortunately I didn't get the shots of Abriella at the rehearsal dinner watching her Elmo dvd because she couldn't behave... lol Although one of the guys we were sitting with at dinner did, he had the Canon version of the camera that I drool over. Of course he couldn't resist snapping shots of her in the Elmo zone.

when we left for the wedding she was occupied going on a buggy ride...
(this buggy is 60 years old, and so much more entertaining for her than the ones we have, hehe)

we made it to the wedding...



my favorite part of weddings ~ everyone likes watching the bride come down the aisle, I love watching the grooms expression...


Eric had the camera to try and take a picture of her coming down the aisle, so needless to say, this is all I have (but what a pretty dress)


Jess is one of Eric's good friends since high school. She did a reading at our wedding so he did one at hers.


yay...



receptions are fun places to take pictures... but I have a hate for my on camera flash and refuse to use it, so I decided to try out my new camera's low light abilities, it performed better than I did, lol

this was the table we got to sit at, they are both High School science teachers so I guess it's fitting to have all the tables labeled this way (and ironically they both teach at the high school both my parents went to)






he looked a bit scared, but they were unfortunately nice to each other :)




their father/daughter dance song was the one I danced with my Dad to, it was a sweet reminder of our wonderful day



dancing machines...




I hope they had a wonderful day and have a long, happy life together...

Worthwhile

Out of the more than 100 shots that were taken the other day I did manage to get some of the little miss that made all the torture worthwhile.





of course I can't decide... black and white


or color?







so close...


and last but certainly not least (actually the moment I snapped this one I knew no matter what else I got, this one made up for it all)

How To Take A Family Self Portrait

First, start with some cooperative subjects...


then get into an awkward position, wearing the wrong outfits...
"No kissing"



"I said no kissing"


"There that will stop you"


"I'm the only one who may do the kissing"



and after about 100 clicks of this you might realize that a family portrait just might not happen, so.....


you may ask your daughter to see her pretty eyes...


or give her her dolly to make her feel better that you took the rocks away...


oh ok, maybe she'll like the dolly for a bit...

all better!!

At Play

I've pretty much given up. Abriella officially hates the camera unless she is the one "taking" the pictures. She wants to be behind the camera to see what shows up on the screen. I tried to tell her that I have to take her picture first for there to be something on the screen for her to look at. She didn't get it.

So I decided to not try to "pose" her. I would just put up my little "studio" set-up and set some toys out and just shoot pics of her being her.

Well that didn't go very well either. I got a few in and then she realized what I was doing. She saw the camera and picked up her toys and quietly moved them off of my set-up and continued to play. *I quit*

Here are a few I did get...







I did somehow con her into riding on the pony for a few seconds to snap a couple shots... then it was over



and that one in color too, just because I realize not everyone likes black and white as much as I do...


I'd say it was worth it though. The two black and whites of her on the horsie are some of my new faves :) I think I'm running out of ideas though!!

and here she was almost 6 months ago on her pony :( too big too fast