the harkness in connecticut was outrageously awesome. basically it’s a big giant mansion with land that extends to the water, crazy gardens, stone columns for an outdoor overhang, and a grand feeling interior.

erica and jimmy got married in st. mary’s, star of the sea – a huge church with giantly high ceilings. it was so massive feeling. i tried my best to capture the feel of the place using my widest lens and getting as far back as i could. i’d say i did it about eighty percent justice, but you really have to see the place to get the full effect.

erica’s dress was super cool (and huge, which was part of its coolness). let’s just say she almost had an issue fitting in the elevator. she actually had two wedding dresses, the second which she changed into after dinner and before all the dancing. i know some brides have a party dress that they change into for dancing, but this was a full blown wedding dress, just smaller than the first one.

i don’t like using the word elegant but that’s what everything was at this wedding. great makeup was done by a very talented sara faella who i’d love to get together with to do a shoot in the future. sara are you reading?

the sky was grey all day and night and light rain was falling for most of the evening. the bridal party was an awesome and fun group of people and they were willing to go out in the rain to take pictures. i love when i can joke around with the bridal party and have some fun, and these guys were perfect for that. usually bright blue skies are ideal, but in this case i think the dreary grey gave the outdoor photos a crazy dramatic feel that worked perfectly with the elegance (there’s that word again) of the wedding. in retrospect i’m actually glad the weather was what it was.

ok so picture this: everything’s nice nice like i’ve been talking about. we’re outside taking some of the last bridal party shots and we end up in one of the gardens. i wanted to get the shot right from the center but there happened to be a little pool for a fountain in the way. the fountain was off but there was a few inches of water in the basin. the sidewalls were angled down and made of little rocks. i purposefully wear black sneakers (i call them my ‘dress sneakers’) to weddings because it’s not unusual for me to climb something or get into some weird place where it’d be impossible with dress shoes. so here i am straddling this little basin with water in it, having full confidence in the tread of my dress sneaker on the slippery and wet rocks, snapping away pictures. i get the shots and go to step out of the danger zone and my foot slides down the wall and next thing i know i’m falling to the ground on the horizontal. one of my few brain neurons fired off and told my arm holding the camera to put it high in the air. a split second later i was swimming in the fountain pool. awesome. real professional. mud on my white shirt (which i sported the rest of the night), mud on my lens and camera, soaking wet dress sneakers, wet pants, complete loss of dignity. to everyone there i will forever be known as ‘the photographer who fell in the fountain water’. hey, at least i give it my all.

i would have to say that out of all bridal parties to do that in front of, i think i picked the best one. it was very kind of them to still take me semi-seriously for the remainder of the night.

i had a great time and loved the wedding. i had a bruise on the bone right near my knee for weeks afterwards, but i knew photography was a dangerous profession when i got into it. erica and jimmy – the best to you both. thanks so much…

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