I had been simultaneously looking forward to and dreading today. I had the morning to prepare and enjoy a little bit of down time before heading down to the Port-O-Call Hotel in Ocean City to meet the bridal party for pre-wedding photos. I had the girls and family pose on the deck, inside, and next to the boardwalk. After exhausting all the shots I could think of I did some other solo shots of the bride and then moved on to meet the guys on the beach.
Guys are just inherently easier to work with and much more fun for me. I did some standard shots then we went out on the beach for some walking shots before I had them climb up on the rocks. These are some of my favorite shots I've done with groomsmen and in general. They did some other fun things on the beach before we headed back to the ceremony spot such as having the groom punch the ground and everyone exploding out around him. It was great.
The ceremony awkwardly began about an hour later, with the bridal party staggering slowly down the boardwalk ramp that led to the beach. It didn't seem as if anyone was perfectly sure what was happening. Once they all got up front everything smoothed over. I must say it was an absolutely perfect day for shooting on the beach: no wind, sunny with clouds, and 70 degrees. This made shooting much more pleasant. The ceremony went off without a hitch.... wait, just one hitch. The marriage, that is. They did a nice sand blending thing that I liked and there were no seats, just free-form standing for the guests.
After the ceremony we did family and full wedding party shots on the beach and we got the girls up on the rocks too! The bride wanted to stop by her grandfather's house on the way out to take some photos with him because he was too ill to make it to the wedding. After that we headed to the reception at Sandi Pointe restaurant. The place had a giant lobster on the roof. Seems to be a trend in shore towns. I set up and took some shots of tables while we waited for everyone to be ready for introductions. It took a little longer than expected because Kate got turned around on her way to the reception.
The reception went basically the way they all go. People danced, people gave speeches, people cried, people drank, danced some more, ate food, cut cake, took pictures, ate cake, drank more, and slowly filtered out. I know it's a big day for the guests of honor, but really almost all receptions are identical with different heads on dancing bodies. Sometimes the DJ is good. This was not one of those times. Regardless, the reception went pretty well and we were out of there pretty early.
After a quick stop at Passion Vines for a growler fill, we headed back to Kate's to have some beer. It was a nice bit of relaxation after standing up with my camera all day. After having a few I headed home to really relax and lie in bed watching Party Down until I fell asleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment