I absolutely love that dog.

I couldn’t just dance.  “But Dave….your dancing is more than enough.”  Sure it is.  But being a photographer I had to document everyone’s reaction to my skills.

This guy on the right…red tie….he is responsible for the dance call out.  I’ll see you in November brother….and there may or may not be payback.

I’m not sure what this guy’s face on the right means but I’m pretty sure he was emotionally moved by my dance.  We were all moved.

The month of May was extremely busy.  There were five weddings total and Jessica and Derek’s was the first!  Here’s the rundown on who all made their day so awesome.

Venue:  Huntsville Botanical Gardens
Salon:  Mel Taylor Salon
Jessica’s Dress:  Madison Town and Country Bridal Shoppe
Food:  Catering by Kurt
DJ Services and Lighting:  Metropolitan DJ

These guys were both nervous until they got to see each other.  Then they were just fine!

Little Miss Addi decided to pose for everybody.

Cosby’s view from the front.

The sisters.

I was standing on the dance floor right at the beginning of the reception when someone brought Addi over and put her down.  She immediately started dancing and literally didn’t stop until the music stopped.  At one point she took a break long enough to put her pajamas on and then she took those footed feet right back out there.

The bride and groom’s first dance.

The father daughter dance….with a small appearance by Metropolitan DJ’s Steve Metz at far right.

…and the traditional wedding photographer dance.

I’ll explain later.

In this first clip my interview begins at 8:18 into the clip….

….and starts at the beginning of this one.

Thanks to Cookie for the interview and to Debra for the invitation!

Sometimes (a lot of the time) if you light the subject well and make the background work for you instead of against you….the location doesn’t matter.

I plan to illustrate this better in future posts but for now….here is Bo in a hotel parking lot.

Congratulations to Bo and the rest of the this year’s seniors!!

You’ll have to wait a few weeks to see the bridal photos…but here are the others!

There were 38 studios entered so I feel pretty good about #4!  I’m sure I wasn’t Anna’s first choice either but you see how well that has worked out for me!  :)  I do hope I wasn’t her 4th choice….that would have actually made me sad.

Click here to see the rest of the winners!

Bruce Roy at Belle Fleur provided the cake.

I have never known another photographer who makes me feel like more of a slacker than Jonathan Palmer.  He shoots all the time.  “Working” or not.  JP’s wife Danielle was a bridesmaid in the wedding so he was lurking around the reception with his camera (see below).  I’ll come back to this at the end…

The music for the reception was some of the most fun and unique I have ever heard.  The Two Gentleman Band out of New York City are great!  I would try to describe their style of music to you but just take a look at them….they sound exactly like they look.  You might not think that a two man band would keep the dance floor full but they certainly did!  They were really fun and could play the heck out of a kazoo.

Back to those cool DIY ideas from Ms. Kristen….this photo by Cosby.

Their first dance…

…and the Father/Daughter dance.

The bride and groom on the dance floor with the aforementioned Jonathan Palmer in the background.  He proved once and for all that he is a better photographer than dancer.

Then it was time for the traditional groom and brother of the groom dance.  Is this not a normal tradition?

I braved the cold and lack of tripod for a quick shot of the city after the sun went down.

Then they ran through sparklers and headed towards the honeymoon……oh wait….

This amazing finale was a surprise to Luke from his new Mrs.

How to depart from a wedding reception | Part 1 from Jonathan Palmer on Vimeo.

Thanks to JP for this video!

There was no way I was leaving that reception without getting my picture with The Almost King of Pop.

There is so much to talk about and show from this wedding that I didn’t want to try and cram it all into one post.  I know it’s been forever since I posted those two previews but I didn’t want to post anything else until I had the time to do it right!

Kristen and Luke were married in the chapel at The Burritt Museum on Huntsville’s Monte Sano Mountain.  It was a day filled with numerous rain showers and we could watch every one of them roll through the valley before they got to us.  Luckily the timing worked out pretty well and the rain didn’t affect the wedding or the reception!

Kristen told me several weeks before the ceremony that this was mostly a DIY wedding.  Knowing Kristen I knew this meant it was going to be really cool.  One of the best “do it yourself” parts of the day was the bride’s dress.  Kristen’s “Nana” made this beautiful dress for her and it turned out so great!

This shot below was shot by Gary Cosby Jr. who (as almost always) was there to be my second photographer.  This would be the groom…Luke.

The two decided to see each other beforehand and the chapel made for a perfect setting for this meeting.

Every time a bride and groom choose to see each other beforehand it is different and special in it’s on way.  But almost everyone has a moment similar to the one below.

This portrait was the first idea that came to me when I walked the grounds that Saturday.  As cloudy and crummy as it was the view to the city below was beautiful.

The beauty of having a second photographer like Coz is when I set up a portrait…

….he is always somewhere shooting something just as great if not better…see below.

If sitting on the beds in the cabins at the museum is prohibited then I used Photoshop on the next image….if not…then she’s really sitting on it.

This is the exterior of the chapel where the ceremony took place.

This is an example of a photographer who becomes obsessed with a view and the clouds that accompany that view.

Kristen and her Dad walk down the sidewalk towards the ceremony.

I love the looks on both of their faces just after they were told it was there time to enter.

Cosby captured this view from the front.

This is another image that the Coz made during the ring exchange.  The reason it’s in here is because Kristen put Luke’s ring on the right hand.  Does that mean we have to do this thing all over again?  A wedding “do over” would be a first for me.

I’ll post images from the reception and everything that went along with it in Part 2 tomorrow night!

However I was editing through their images and wanted to toss these up really quick.  I asked Luke to kiss Kristen on the forehead and when I said “…a little less pucker” Kristen felt the need to make fun of her husband to be for his over pucker.

I thought it was pretty funny.

The full post is coming soon….I mean it this time.