WEDDING IN WHITE

I needed a couple of days worth of material and, as happens often, I didn't have an idea in my head. Just for something different, I got out my camera that has the sensor modified for infrared and headed to Forest Park.

It was a Saturday afternoon and, as usual in good weather, there were wedding parties out for photographs at the scenic spots. This is the end of what's called the Grand Basin. For a good backdrop, the art museum is up a hill at the other end. Infrared images turn green foliage nearly white. It fits the occasion. 

The image inventory will fill up quickly this week. The St. Lou Fringe,  https://www.stlfringe.org/, starts tomorrow night and, like every year, I'll be there snapping away.            

FAMILY HISTORY

 

A view through one of the gates of Tower Grove Park. The church across Grand Boulevard is where Mrs. C and I were married plus or minus 49 years ago. We put it on ourselves and didn't ask our parents for help so it was small. My brother and I wore absurd yellow and black tuxes that made us look like bumblebees. She shared a bit of her Valium prescription, for which I was grateful. I found a keyboard transcription of the first movement of Bach's Third Brandenburg Concerto that I wanted to use as a recessional. The organist butchered it. But after that things worked out pretty well.           

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS

Kelly and Marcellus take a victory lap, so to speak, after making it official. They have known one another since seventh grade and were high school sweethearts. They stuck together while work took him to Boston for two years and she remained in New York. Their wedding was postponed by Covid. Looks to me like it was worth the wait. 

We got back from Boston today. Two days in STL and then drive to Kansas City for another niece's wedding. Makes me feel like the country music truck driver's song, Six Days On The Road And I'm Gonna Make It Home Tonight.        

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - MY, SHE'S BEAUTIFUL

My niece, Kelly, reading the wedding vows she wrote. That's the thing these days. After this scene, her husband, Marcellus, read his.

I do not do weddings but I got a seat on the center aisle and the light was a gift - 5 PM, cloudless, as the sun was getting lower behind the audience. Maybe I should develop a side hustle.           

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - SMOOCH

My niece Kelly's wedding, Chatham Bars Inn, Cape Cod.          

YOUR DREAM WEDDING

Mrs. C and I were pretty broke when we got married and we didn't want to impose on our parents. Some friends of ours lived in a housing development next to St. Louis University and got us the community center for free. Other friends made a mountain of turkey dollar roll sandwiches, salads and assorted munchies. There was a keg of beer. A wedding cake was out of the question but there is a wonderful photograph of us feeding one another a McDonald's cheeseburger with the plastic bride and groom figures stuck in it. Forty five years later it is still a lovely memory..

Yet the wedding industrial complex rolls on. We shake our heads.           

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - MADELEINE AND AUDREY MONDAY

A rare post with both of my granddaughters. The lodge where the wedding took place provided leisurely pontoon boat rides on Sebago Lake. Both Ellie and her cousin Audrey Crowe of Clare, Michigan, got to drive, sort of. Big thrill. They are almost exactly two years apart. Several people at the wedding took them for sisters.

Really good phone cam shot by daughter Emily.                  

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - MAY THEY LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER

Late post today. Out late last night, fairly long drive today.

On Saturday night we attended the wedding of my niece Lauren and her new husband Zach on the shore of a gorgeous lake in Maine. They have known one another since high school, ten years now, and kept the relationship going while attending different colleges. They are the most beautiful couple I could imagine and obviously perfect for one another.

Today we drove a few hours northeast to Mt. Desert Island, which contains Acadia National Park and the tony town of Bar Harbor. More lobsters around here than you can shake a stick at, as they say. Further adventures await.        

 

STL DPB ON THE ROAD - MAINE

Here we are in the most northeasterly state. Our neice's wedding tonight is at a splendid resort on the shore of Sebago Lake. It's pretty good sized. My whole family is here.

There was a lobster bake last night. I don't do lobster. The taste isn't good enough to me to be worth all the work and mess, but that is a minority opinion. 

American states all have a slogan. Missouri is the Show Me State, a phrase whose origins are a bit murky. Maine's is Vacationland. I've been here a number of times before, mostly to photography school, and I've always thought the motto should be More Than Enough Trees.         

Not A Monsoon Wedding

I mentioned that son-in-law Brian had to work Sunday. He was supervising the food service for an Indian wedding at the swanky hotel where he is banquet chef. I got this shot of the bride and groom as I was walking through the lobby. They were just outside for photos. The colored surface behind them is the pool cover but, hey, it goes well with her dress.

My knowledge of Indian wedding customs is nearly zero, although I hear the parties are a blast. What little I have comes from seeing Monsoon Wedding on a long airplane ride. That's good enough, isn't it?

A Saint Louis Wedding

This is a Saint Louis photo blog, although you wouldn't know it at a glance these last couple of weeks. On Saturday, after a tour of the Palace of Versailles with the rest of the human zoo, our friend and colleague Versailles de Quimper (be sure to check her post today) took us on a tour of parts of the royal city that tourists don't see, followed by a terrific dinner with her and Olivier of Evry Daily Photo. I don't think you can dine poorly in France as long as you stay away from McDonald's. 

But, back to the point. One of the major districts of Versailles is Saint Louis. We visited the cathedral as a wedding party pulled up, with the bride and groom in an ancient Citroën deux chevaux. It was a small group but the bride was lovely and tourists like me hung around taking a few snaps.

Long flight home on Monday. May get more pictures edited, although I actually have a fair bit of work to do. Heavy week ahead.                          

Happy Happy Joy Joy

You don't have to be on your feet to do the happy happy joy joy dance. It can be done in any posture you please.

A few shots from the wedding reception at Blue Star in Wicker Park. Highly recommended. Anyway, there wasn't a sour puss in the place. The feelings were infectious. By the way, the hand gestures in the fourth picture below count out 2733, the couple's street address. And that's Madeleine, my daughter Emily and son-in-law Brian in the following shot.

That's all for the wedding. I've got a lot of family pictures still to edit, not really of general interest. They will gradually turn up on the wedding Flickr album if you're desperate. Next we will turn to the St. Louis Fringe Festival, which Carolyn and I attended this weekend. Wacky.                           

Public Transit Party

One of the best things about Andy And Claire's wedding is that everybody took the CTA Blue Line from the ceremony in Logan Square to the reception in Wicker Park. No bourgeois limousines for this couple. The other riders were dumbfounded. I love the juxtaposition in the top pic of the two ad signs, the sign the woman is holding and the very puzzled boy in the lower right.

All of this was going out live on a web video stream from Andy's iPhone mounted on a tripod. The young man does have a masters in computer science.

I think A and C get to Paris today, staying somewhere in the 10eme near the Gare De L'Est. Ah, to be young, in love and in Paris.                     

I Now Pronounce You

Some shots of the wedding ceremony itself, out on the lawn in Logan Square. The second picture is Emily's.

Andy and Claire called me yesterday from Amsterdam via Skype. Hanging out in Vondelpark, cycling along canals outside of town. It sounds idyllic.

I'll spare you the family shots after the wedding, then perhaps end with pictures from the reception.             

Getting Ready - The Bride, Part 2

The bride has to look good, right? It's fortunate that there are no digital pictures of Carolyn and my wedding and the snapshots (we couldn't come close to affording a photographer) are buried in a box in the basement. Carolyn looked great but I looked like a complete dork - overweight, long scraggly hair and wearing an absurd yellow tuxedo jacket. Sort of a hippie bumblebee. 

My son and daughter-in-law both looked gorgeous. In the last picture they are all put together, standing on their front porch about to walk a couple of blocks to the ceremony in Logan Square.

The first and last pictures are Emily's. The middle two are mine.                 

Getting Ready - The Bride, Part 1

These photos were all taken by my daughter, Emily, who was the other photographer at the wedding. Excellent work. This is Part 1 of the bride's preparation because it's all I had time to edit yesterday. Emily and Madeleine came over to dinner last night so you can imagine where my attention was.

Claire has the most beautiful eyes. She can levitate the entire world. And she takes makeup direction well.

By the time this post goes up they will be about to land in Amsterdam.                         

                                

Getting Ready - The Groom

Emily and I took the traditional bride and groom getting dressed shots. They didn't have attendants so it was uncomplicated. They considered recruiting a Worst Man and Maid of Dishonor at the Friday night party but no one followed through.

Andy and I drove down to the swanky W Hotel in The Loop where the couple spent Saturday night. He assiduously pressed his tie (I have never ironed a tie in my life). Tie straightened. Hair in place. He put a small plastic bag on the pillow with two Rice Krispie bars and a tiny flower, then wrote a little note to place on it.

The last picture says something about the transition from batchelor to married man.

I am sorry I have not left any comments on my friends' blogs lately. It was a busy weekend, of course, and now I am both back to work and deep into editing the more than thousand pictures Emily and I took. Back ASAP. 

Party On

Saturday weddings are most common in the US. There is usually a rehearsal for the ceremony on Friday with the wedding party, followed by a rehearsal dinner sponsored by the groom's parents. Andy and Claire weren't having any of this. There wasn't much to rehearse. The party was Popeye's Fried Chicken, salads and beer in the couple's back yard.

Above, Carolyn's brother Mel, one of the all-around nicest people I know. Down the page:

- Claire and her brother Lou, who I think bears an uncanny resemblance to the young David Byrne. Claire's father, Mike, is behind.

- my brother, John, his daughter Stephanie and my brother-in-law Mel Mark.

- Claire with her cousin Carrie on the left and her mother Ramona on the right. I do not know the woman on the far right. I'm just the photographer.

- second cousins Olivia Kruse and Madeleine face off in baby wrestling. Madeleine, having the weight advantage, goes for the rip-yer-bib-off hold.

This could go on for a while.