The wedding. Again.

So... the wedding is behind us. It was beautiful. Katrina and John managed to put together a very sophisticated-without-being-showy party and I think everyone had a good time (in fact, I overheard a couple of conversations commenting on how much they enjoyed the idea of an afternoon reception as opposed to the typical dinner & dance format). To answer a few questions... yes, Liam was there. :) But I just couldn't cram any more photos into that slideshow, and you see him here everyday, and he was not all that willing to have his picture taken on Saturday, anyway. I tried to get him to pose with Mallory for me once, and he said forget it.

I still have many, many photos to edit - these were among my favourites, but there are more. I was not the 'official' photographer for the day so my picture set is not really complete. I have lots of Katrina and only a few of John. I didn't use my flash in the church so it wouldn't interfere with the photographer's flash, or move into the aisle to get any shots so my head wouldn't be in his photos, so those are lacking a bit. And I didn't take any photos while he was, so I missed things like the wedding party. But I'm still extremely happy with what I did get. Of course, it helps to have photogenic subjects, and Katrina must be the world's most photogenic person. She looks so natural in all of the pictures I have. All of my wedding pictures look like I am smiling through clenched teeth. She really nailed it.

Much lurve and appreciation to Chad for handling the kids on his own through most of the day to allow me to chase after Katrina.

A few more shots: this one is in the slideshow, but bears repeating here. Aside from some stunning images of Katrina and John in their finery, this is my favourite shot of the day: Mallory showing some sass with the ladies. I love how this one turned from a formal into a candid. So, how did Mallory do as a flower girl? Well... she was up until 10:30 the night before the wedding. Sleeping in hotels is not her forte, remember? We rented a suite that night, and it was massive - it was like a small apartment, really. So we were split up from each other and she was nowhere near Liam, which was by design - we thought this would give us the best odds of her getting to sleep at a decent time. Nope. She was up talking for more than an hour after we put her to bed. Then, she was up bright and early the next morning. We went to get hair done (got hers done too - they squeezed her in after finishing with me), had some lunch, then put on the dress and took a few photos before going to the church. The wedding was at 1:30 p.m. which is her usual naptime, and you guessed it - she fell asleep in the car on the way to the church. We had to wake her up to go inside, and she was NOT happy. Still, she made it down the aisle in one piece. The night before, at the rehearsal, there were a lot of NO!s and running, so I asked Steph to escort Mallory down, and I made sure she knew there was a colouring book waiting in the pew with me. That seemed to do the trick and we got through the service with only minimal (??) talking and only two dropped markers (that seemed to drop like bombs in the echoy confines of a church. Sorry, Katrina!)She fell asleep again on the five-minute drive from the church to the reception, and this time, she didn't wake up. Chad spent the first hour+ of the reception with a sleeping child on his shoulder. My dad and I took turns with her, too.She got her second wind after that, though, and all was well again. This was at the end of the day, when formals were being shot outside as the guests were leaving. Mallory found a stick and announced to everyone that it was her fishing rod. She would march up to someone, complete strangers even, and say, "Do you want a fish?" And they would be taken aback and not sure that they had heard her correctly: "Pardon?" And she would say, "Do you want me to catch you a fish?" They would nod and play along, and she would clarify, "A big one or a little one?" They would state their preference and then she would scurry off, poke her stick into these daylilies, and come back: "Here's your fish for you!"

More photos to come this week, I'm sure...