Yesterday's Wedding

I had a great day photographing a nice wedding with my good friend Cory Parris of http://www.coryparrisphoto.com/ at a beatiful, old home on gorgeous property on Bainbridge Island. Here are a few photo's of one of the higher profile guests. He was pretty dang funny I've got to say. It was a lot of fun spending the day out there.

Savannah loses a tooth!

"I've got a wiggler Dad!"

Those were Savannah's words last week as she could hardly contain her excitement. It was barely loose, but sure enough, it was a wiggler. We weren't allowed to mess with it much as she was excited about the prospects of cash from the tooth fairy but apprehensive of the process of the yanking. I suppose it didn't help much when I loudly asked Lea to get me some string. When asked I gave Savannah a sly grin and said to tie around her tooth then the doorknob. I demonstrated the slamming of the door and that was the last time I was allowed to even look at her tooth. Sometimes the kids take me literally I guess. I suppose I'll have to watch that :)

A few days went by and she had an appointment with the dentist. I was sure he would deprive me of my opportunity to yank the tooth. He looked at it and it wasn't quite ready. He told her to wiggle it as much as possible to loosen it up as the replacement tooth was already coming in behind it. She took his advice and by the time I got home from work it was really loose. She let me check it's wiggability and it was good. I grabbed a piece of TP and told her I wanted to "clean the tooth." I had a good grip and pulled, but nothing doing. The wiggler was stuck. All I had managed to do was freak her out yet again as apparently the tugging didn't tickle.

The next night it was really loose. Her cousin Athena was visiting from Eugene, OR and I asked Savannah if I could look at it again. Her response...

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As she ran in terror and Athena blocked my path in an attempt to protect her.

OK, I deserved that I thought. As she was getting ready for bed however, she asked me how the Dentist would pull her tooth. "I'll show you." I said. I grabbed another piece of TP for maximum grip. "You're not going to pull on it though right?" She said with a hint of fear in her voice. "Of course not sweetheart, I'm just going to show you what the Dentist would do." I gripped the tooth and pulled. I felt it budge a bit and knew it was my chance. I kept my grip, gave it a twist and yanked hard. Blood flew from her mouth and sprayed across the room! No, just kidding about the blood. I just wanted to add a little more drama to the story. Sorry bout that. Anyway, I had the tooth in the TP and said that's what the Dentist would do. She said "Oh." Then she must have felt something odd because she put her finger in her mouth and gave the funniest look. "Did you..HEY! It's gone!!!! You pulled it! MOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!! It's gone!" She took off running out of her room looking to show Lea. When she was showing her she said "I really wanted you to pull it Dad." I knew she did, but was relieved all the same to learn she wasn't ticked.

It's such a trip to have the kids go through the various stages of growing up.

Greg and Lauren

Last Saturday Greg and Lauren were married over the 18th Hole at the incredibly beautiful Snoqualmie Ridge Golf Club. I don't recall ever photographing a wedding where the Bride and Groom were so focused on photography. It was a lot of fun spending the day with them driving around Seattle creating beautiful portraits before the ceremony took place. We started at in the morning at their family breakfast, moved on to hair and makeup. From there we all headed to Seattles prettiest view at Kerry Park on Queen Ann Hill for a round of portraits with bridesmaids, groomsman and parents. After that we were off to the University of Washington for more portraits. We went to several locations on the campus as there are many beautiful areas to photograph there. At one point we snuck into the library where one of the most beautiful staircases is hidden in gorgeous light. I was able to snap off a few photo's of Lauren before security came and told me no wedding photography was allowed. I came up with a lame story about not being a wedding photographer but the three cameras around my neck at the time gave me away I think. We snapped a couple more shots and tried to discreetly leave. Discretion wasn't in the cards for me that day however as I accidentally dropped the metal ladder I was carrying on the marble stairs...CLANG, CRASH, BANG!@! All the way down the stairs. I can only imagine the shade of red that must have been on my face. Oh well, it was worth it. The shots I did manage to grab are gorgeous!

After UW we hopped in the bus and headed out to Snoqualmie Ridge. We spent another hour or two shooting formals and the ceremony began at 6:00. The light was a photographers dream! Absolutely perfect. It was a beautiful ceremony. Uncle Butch performed the service informing everyone that he wasn't an ordained minister but assuring everyone it was a legal ceremony. I would imagine it was as there were around 20 lawyers in there including the groom :) One of the greatest moments of any wedding I've attended happened during the kiss. They moved in to lock lips and anyone who has spent any time with Greg and Lauren would know that they are madly and passionately in love with each other. One kiss wasn't enough and they moved in for another. Uncle Butch was miked and let out an exclamation similar to "Oh My" that was absolutely priceless! I get a kick out of it every time I think of it.

The reception was spectacular as well. They had a 5 tier cake and an additional cake in the shape of their dog! It was very lifelike though I don't know how he tasted. The DJ turned the lights completely out on the dance floor which at first I thought was going to present a challenge for me. Instead I opted to experiment with lighting effects and ended up very happy with the results. I had my assistant Joshua hold onto a light pole with my flash on it. When he saw me pointing my camera towards someone he would hold the flash over or beside them giving some very interesting lighting effects. Cool shadows gave a look of real intensity that I am excited to have captured. Here are a few pics as a sneak preview. I'll post a link to the slideshow when they are all completed.

Have a great day!

Mat

Brett and Lori

On July 14, Brett and Lori were married at a beautiful Cathedral in downtown Portland, OR with the reception held at the Portland Art Museum. Lori is the daughter of John and Debbie McGrath. Some of you may know that I am the General Manager of McGrath's Fish House in Lynnwood, WA. I have worked for McGrath's for 19 years (I'm 35 so do the math...it's a long time.) I have quite literally grown up with the company and have know John and his family for all of my adult life including Lori. It was a great privilege to photograph Brett and Lori's wedding day. They are a wonderful couple and clearly very happy together. The ceremony and reception were exceptionally beautiful and the evening was capped off with I kid you not the best band I have ever seen at a Wedding...Design Band. Their web site is www.designband.com if you are planning a wedding reception you should definitely look them up as the energy was electric. Not one moment they were on stage was there a free space on the dance floor. One of my favorite parts of a wedding day is weaving in and out of the dance floor catching fun moments of people getting their groove on. When Design Band was on I had to stick to the perimeter as there just wasn't any room to get in the middle of the floor too much fun. Anyway, below are some photo's from the day. You can view a slideshow with some of my favorite shots from the day here... www.mathaywardphoto.com/Mcgrath.htm

The entire gallery is available to be seen here..

http://kkstudioconnect.com/apps/customer/index.php?clientID=7839&albumID=9222

Let me know what you think.