Welcome Home!

Where to even begin! I first met Lacey back in January of last year. She was a referral from a friend of mine, and when she booked with us it was, at the time, the farthest out date we had ever booked. I just realized that when we first met, Shannon and I were not even engaged yet. Wow…that REALLY makes it seem like a long time ago! She was getting a good jump on the planning because he and her fiance Tab were soon to be moving out to Arizona for a job he had been offered. Since they are from Saint Louis, though, they obviously wanted to have the wedding back here. So, we had a long time from the first meeting until the wedding. When have this long of a time, it sometimes means that you have the chance to get to know someone better than you do some other clients. This was definitely the case with Lacey. Granted, by the time the wedding day came around we had only actually ever seen each other 2 time before that day, but it did not feel that way. It is amazing how much of a look into someone’s life that Facebook provides, and Lacey and I regularly were commenting back and forth on things ranging from other photo work to Shannon’s and my forthcoming marriage and Lacey’s attempts to get used to life in Arizona. It was a lot of fun…her dry wit and sarcasm has been a constant entertainment since the first day we met.

So, yes…it is safe to say that we were all looking forward to this for quite a while.

The week of was gearing up, and we all were getting a bit nervous because rain was in the forecast (which has been pretty common in the StL this year). It kept going back and forth throughout the week, and once the morning of the wedding came…rain. And lot’s of it. Right after we got to the beautiful St. Ambrose church in the Hill neighborhood, the heavens opened up to a typical very heavy midwest rain storm. It was still a while before the ceremony was set to begin, and it appeared based on radar that the storm would pass in time. Lacey was so calm and cool with it all, and that is always a good sign. If a bride is in good spirits early in the day when something goes less than perfect, it almost always means that everyone is going to have a great time. Not too much longer later, the rain totally broke and was never to be seen again that day. Wonderful news! We are always capable of working in any situation to get photos for our people, but 995 of the time, we prefer to do it without everyone getting soaked (especially the cameras and lenses!)

The wedding went off without a hitch, and it was very nice. I will say, the priest that married the two of them was a great guy. His name was Father Bommarito, and he reminded me of an Italian priest from NYC that all of us have seen in various movies. He was very personable and fun, and he was just the kind of person you know that you would love to meet. After the ceremony, we all packed into the limo and headed around town to some of the more popular St. Louis destinations to do our photos. We started our at the Gateway Arch and then headed to Kiener Plaza. Lacey and Tab are big St. Louis Cardinals fans, so we definitely had to stop by Busch Stadium to get some shots there. One of my favorite parts of the day was when two people from one of the local radio stations (Z1077) stopped us so they could video tape the entire bridal party singing take me out to the ballgame. You can check out the video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDJMvzabmsk. We were hiding behind the camera…although I did sign along 🙂 After a quick stop at Forest Park we headed off to Ted Drewes for some frozen custard. What an awesome way to finish out our pictures. They were awesome enough to give us our custard for free since we were a bridal party. I did spill some hot fudge on my camera at one point, but thankfully it was not on any of the sensitive bits.

We just had a great time with the Tab and Lacey and everyone else. We love our job, and every time we get to have such fun with great people it makes it all the better. At the end of the evening it was hard to believe that it was really over after such a long time waiting and gearing up for it, but it was such a great day…I know it blew away even our expectations for the day, and I am pretty sure it did for Lacey and Tab.

Congrats to you both…so honored that we could be a part of your day, and we so appreciate how supportive and encouraging you have been for us in all the time leading up and since. You’re a gem, Lacey!

Joel