Friesen/Gonazalez Wedding, Denver

       Last weekend, I flew to Denver to do the photography for Elizabeth Friesen's wedding. And may I just say, it was a great wedding, and wonderful to see my friends again. But first, the story of the WORST DAY OF TRAVEL EVER.

        My flight was supposed to leave at 10:35, so I made sure to give myself an hour to take BART to the airport, and an hour to be sure that I have enough wiggle room. I left the house at about 8:00, just to be safe, and walked to the BART station. The announcements were saying something about a delay in the Transbay Tube, under the Bay, but I figured “eh, they're city people, a delay is probably like 20 minutes or something.” So I squeezed onto the train and went to the next stop.

         We were held at that stop for 20 minutes, waiting for congestion on the track ahead to clear up. One of the 2 tracks under the bay had malfunctioned, leaving just one track for to-and-fro traffic under the bay. At rush hour. I freaked and called Ben, who said he could come pick me up and get me across the Bay in about 15 minutes. Five minutes after that, the train left the station, so I told him not to worry about it and to just go to work. At the last stop before the Tube, our train was held for FORTY-FIVE MINUTES. It was awful and I was positive I would miss my plane. Finally, we were allowed to go through. Then we were held at the first stop across the Bay. I deboarded, determined to find another, more reliable transportation to the airport (I'm not sure what I would have chosen, had it come down to it). As soon as I made it up the escalator, the train left. Fortunately, there was another train to the same destination just behind it, so I hopped on and rode all the way to the airport.

          Once I got to the airport, I SPRINTED through it, trying to find the correct security screening point. By the time I reached it, I was sweaty and nervous and shaky because I was sure I was going to miss my plane. I was also positive that I would be pulled aside by the TSA for acting suspicious! Luckily, I wasn't, and I made it to the gate on time, and got on the plane, where I proceeded to pass out for almost the entire flight.

          One of Elizabeth's aunts picked me up at the airport and drove me to the wedding site, near Grand Lake, CO. We got spectacularly lost, but saw some beautiful scenery. Like I said, I was doing the photography for the wedding, so I threw down a quick supper of buffalo chili and fudge, chatted with the 9C girls and Brian, and then took a quick walkabout with the director of the place to see the available scenery.

The next day, I got up INCREDIBLY EARLY to check out the lighting and to go see a location that the director had recommended for some post-wedding couples' shots. It was a very beautiful spot, and on the way back, we saw a giant moose! I took some pictures, naturally. After that, it was time for a nap before the pre-wedding photography and then the wedding itself.  

The wedding went very well, and the photography, though pretty stressful, was a good challenge for me. I had borrowed Alyssa's hot-shoe flash for some of the indoor shots, and I'm really glad I did, because there's no way I could have done it with just my pop-up (not to mention, I'd look like some sort of amateur!) After the wedding was the reception and a dance. Brian and I did some swing dancing, which was awesome, and then all the Bethel folk gathered into a circle and belted “Wagon Wheel” for the last song. That was really a nice end to the evening.

But the evening wasn't over yet! There was an afterparty in one of the lodges, and we all stayed up til past 2, playing games and catching up.

The next morning, we headed out again for some couple's shots. For some reason, I had assumed that 8am would be early enough to catch the magical morning light. It wasn't. So that was another challenge to deal with – direct, strong mountain sunlight. But I think I got some good shots. I've included a few here, a preview of sorts.

      After the photography, I hitched a ride to Denver to hang out with Martin Olson until my flight left the following day. We had delicious falafel with his family, and then walked down the Denver Mall, an outdoor shopping center that is actually way cooler than I thought it would be. We even ran into a chalk art festival!

       

        The next day, we walked Lady the Airdale terrier, visited a park that was once a cemetery, saw the new Star Trek, and then, unexpectedly, Nicky Smith was in town! So we met her, walked more dogs, had tacos, and then we both had to leave.

 It was good to see them again, even if I had just seen them two weeks ago at Bethel. Whatever. At this point in my life, I'm not going to complain at the frequency with which I see my Bethel friends.