Sarah's Bridal Session

Summer vacation for my kids means beach days, driving mom and dad crazy, getting in lots of lego time, and road trips.

Summer vacation for teachers means that they become the most relaxed, congenial and happy people you've ever met, or at least that's true for Sarah, a music teacher near Tampa. Setting up hair, make up, schedule and location with Sarah for her bridal session was literally one of the easiest interactions with another human being I've ever had.

It's summer, she's getting married, she has time, and the world is her oyster.

Her mother came out to assist, so I put her to work right away, carrying bags and setting up lights. Kidding, I'm kidding. But she was a ton of help to Sarah, and a really pleasant person to pass the time with while we waited for Sarah to get all prettied up.

Sarah and Chad's wedding is this weekend in Sarasota, at the *what what* Powell Crosley Estate, can't wait!

 

 

Jamie and Eddie

You know a movie is epically bad when it’s used as a hyperbole during wedding vows.  “I remember watching Indiana Jones & the Crystal Skull, sitting next to you when we were dating”, said Jamie to Eddie under the overwhelmingly blue sky on a private stretch of beach at Manasota Key, “thinking to myself ‘this is such a bad movie’, but I would watch it every day if it meant I could sit next to you”.

Jamie & Eddie’s vows were like that.  They wrote them themselves and they were funny and touching and personal all at the same time.  Those were the hallmarks of their whole wedding, like the rows and rows of flip-flops made available for the guests walking over the hot sand, all different sizes, clipped up and hanging like fresh laundry on a sunny day.

Even the very place the ceremony was held at was deeply personal, her grandmother’s (when I introduced myself to her, she told me to call her ‘Baba’, like the rest of her grandchildren) house on the water.  It has been a place for the family to gather at for thirty years and it was full of memories, some recent, vivid and cracklingly crisp, others from early childhood, faded and worn around the edges. 

Their family partied like few I’ve seen, all the way to the end of the night.  Beaming, Jamie came over to me and asked me why I hadn’t danced yet.  Half joking, I replied “they haven’t played outkast yet”.  She laughed as she turned and walked to the dj.  Yup you guessed it, hey ya was the next song. 

Reception hosted by Nikki Swanson at Pelican Pointe of Venice

Floral by Elegant Designs Floral Art Studio

Hair and Makeup by Natalie's Salon

DJ Black Tie DJ's

Jamie was having a hard time bustling her dress, so the guys thought they'd bustle Eddie, to sympathize

guess which artist Katie (in the blue bridesmaid's dress) is dancing to, haha

us in Asheville

It was time for a vacation, the family voted. Jude's suggestion was Georgia, New York, Wisconsin and Alaska. Violet's vote was for raspberry fields, strawberry fields, and apple fields in California.

After weighing the options, we settled on Asheville, NC, it being the more practical idea than the crazy people suggestions we got from Jude and Violet. We loaded up the Prius and took off.

This ended up being the foodie-est trip we've taken in awhile, Asheville has endless, amazing local places to eat. I drank this 'what now?' glass of port beer, espresso, real milk chocolate, and ice cream called a mudwrestler at the french broad chocolate lounge. The flavors and textures were like a really intense married couple, fighting and passionately kissing one right after the other.

We stayed with family, Casey's sister Abby and her husband Nate, and this howler monkey that lives with them, Zeke.

We hiked, we mountain biked, we checked out the Biltmore, we tasted wine, we danced to mountain bands, picked strawberries (violet got part of her wish), hung out with my once 2nd shooter/sister-from-another-mother Lex, watched 'river monsters' with Nate, and I got to take pictures, get this, for myself.

 My favorite pic of Jude so far:

 

Jude insisted on challenging her to a staring contest