and then hell froze over.

um, sort of. ;)

so, we went to that wedding last weekend, right? for my dear friends courtney and derek. I put up a handful of pictures here, but there are quite a few more. I will show you soon! or, if you ask nicely, I will happily share my secret link to the photos I've edited so far. :)

well, the wedding was PRETTY! We'd had a long day--I gardened at my church in the AM and Matt played soccer. Then we went to a graduation party for our AMAZING friend Lisa (way to go!). And then we came home, got ready and went to Chapel Hill.

It rained and sprinkled and rained on Saturday, and her ceremony was outside. But fortunately, an hour and change beforehand it stopped raining, and the ceremony went on as planned. There were a few drops falling from the trees above, but other than that, nothing exciting.

It was a beautiful ceremony, and so pretty, and their expressions were amazing, and anyway, loved it! Here we are during the cocktail hour. Our loverly friend and driver, Gina, took this for us.. She did a great job! Especially since I think she thought my big heavy camera was a little crazy!

So, I could regale you about this or that or the other, but there are two things that were extra fun. :) 1. Their favors. Did you go look at that link? If not, go do it! See the favors? The soda bottles? *I* took the pictures!

And funny, thing...their photographer? SO talented. But kind of an ass. He's one of the top in the area though, according to theknot.com. Well, so when we got inside I went around and took a couple of pictures, and when I walked up to the table of favors, her photographer was there. I said he hoped he didn't mind if I took pictures (this is when he said that he didn't care what I did as long as I wasn't in his way, in a very rude british tone!) and then I noticed that *my* pictures were on the bottles. I didn't mean to tell him that, but when I noticed it I said "holy cow, how cool! I took those!"

He said "you took their engagement photos?" I said yes. He said "yeah, I looked through those. some of those were really quite good." Which, coming from him, was probably as nice as he knows how to be. Made me feel pretty awesome to have an established, well-known, talented photographer compliment my work. :)

So, thing 2: during the reception I *think* hell froze over.

It was time for the lovely tradition that is the bouquet toss. There were literally like six single gals at the wedding. At least four of them said "no way I'm catching it!" And then someone said "let Carrie catch it!" And once they all agreed, before I could say anything, Courtney threw the bouquet and guess what--it fell on the floor. And no one picked it up.

So, she threw it again--right at me. And of course I caught it. To be fair, I would have caught it the first time if I could, but it would have required leaping and reaching, and I wasn't doing that in my tall pink shoes.

Next up came the guys. There were probably just as many. I was commenting to the girls that it was fun that I caught the bouquet, but there was no way in hell Matt would catch the garter. His usual response is: if it rings the bottle of beer in my hand then maybe I'll claim it. maybe. And then, Derek did this. Turned around and pretty much bowled it right at Matt. Apparently they exchanged a little glance when this happened, but you can't see it here. It landed squarely on the tops of Matt's shoes. and he picked it up.

and I think that's when hell froze over. I'm just saying.

this is what I looked like.

So, we did the whole put on the garter thing. And it was cute. And I liked it.

Apparently the higher you put it on the happier the couple will be. Ha!

So, that was fun. I was glad he caught it. Oh and when the groom (Derek) came and grabbed me to have Matt put the garter on, he took my bouquet away! :( Let me tell you what, I definitely went and got that back so I could take it home. I was SUPER thrilled that it happened to contain my veryvery favorite flower (the ranunculus!) and pink ones at that!

Also, as everyone and their dog informed us, this garter has a tradition. I'm pretty dang certain Matt's going to break it, but I'll share anyway...apparently the Matron of Honor wore this garter at her wedding--and Courtney caught it, and Derek caught the bouquet. Within two weeks, they were engaged. I think you all get what they were getting at with this story, hmm?

:)

Then there was dancing and drinking and cake and fun and pictures and poppers and WOW! Very fun wedding! And I'm super excited that I'll be shooting another wedding there in July!!

and now, the garter and bouquet are at home. I am drying the bouquet, and the garter is hanging from our dining room light. Matt put it there. :) I relocated it for some pictures, but it's now back in its place. :D

I'll let you know when I finish with the wedding photos (only three more mini photo shoots, an hour shoot and then del and betsy's weddings to go!) but soon, soon. Thanks for reading our little tale. (and ps: thanks, Nicole, for being such a shutterbug and capturing so many pictures!)