Holly & Steve – November 18, 2006

Update 12/22/06: The images are now online! Enjoy!

Update 12/19/06: Working on the rest of the images now, I should have them up by Thursday, so check back in!

Update 12/18/06: The preliminary album’s up here. Give the software a sec to get going. Yay!

Update 12/13/06: Aaaargh! Mundane tasks have transpired against me once again, and have prevented me from finishing an album design… however, I have made a great amount of progress in the last couple days, and I think the album will be worth the wait. It is going to be awesome… Hang in there, give me a couple more days (I’ll actually be in Chicago the next two days on assignment), I’m thinking Saturday!

Update 12/12/06: I’m trying my best to get an album design up by tomorrow! The entire set of images should appear next week…

Ah, what a weekend this was! I was flown from Chicago to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic on thursday November 16 for Holly and Steve’s wedding at the Paradisus Punta Cana resort.

One snafu at the beginning of the trip involved a bridesmaid’s dress… Holly’s SISTER’S dress. It was left behind and when they reached the DR and realized it wasn’t with them, I was called and asked to pick it up and bring it from Chicago! No problem, phase one complete. 🙂

Upon arriving in the DR there was a bit of culture shock, with some amazement at the “grass hut” (as I put it to a friend) that served as an airpoirt. I realized on the trip back that the back section of the airport was as ‘modern’ as you’d like, that the front facade was more or less for effect… it was convincing, however!

After being hearded into a van and communicating where I needed to go, I got a glimpse of the country side on the way to the resort. I had no idea a family of four could all fit on the same moped! My van driver was a maniac, but much to my relief I was safely deposited at the correct location… on the first attempt.

Anyway, I had the first 24 hours to myself and spent the time wandering the resort, getting ideas and generally settling in. Friday evening was the rehearsal, of course, followed by a fantastic private beach party for the wedding families:

Toasts were given, and our wedding couple were enjoying themselves immensly:

Here’s Holly having some fun with the classic game ‘Toss the little kid into the air’:

Always a crowd pleaser! 😉

We decided that the next morning we’d take the opportunity to do some relaxed ‘on the beach’ shots of Holly and Steve. They were a bit surprised, however, when the tide managed an extra five feet or so and drenched them! I know the ‘making out on the beach’ shots are a little bit old hat to some, but being from land-locked central Indiana this ‘photo op’ was a rare opportunity and a bit of a treat for me!


I like the mood in this next one, mainly just the beautiful waters… or maybe it’s the love in the air, LOL!

After a ferw hours’ break and some preparations, we were back on the beach for some casual portraits. Although it began to rain after only a few minutes, we did get some neat stuff:

Beach ball, anyone? A fun idea from Holly:

Speaking of rain, what started out as sprinkles on the beach turned into a torrential downpour! The ceremony was set in an outdoor area, albeit sheltered from above, but when you’re dealing with gale force winds that rip gutters from buildings, you postpone things for awhile. So that’s what they did.

Once the wweather calmed down, the ceremony proceded as planned, and as a bonus I got to shoot barefoot!


After the ceremony and the formal photos we headed to the reception. We had one of the restaraunts right on the beach reserved, it was great but my favorite part was the band!

A great local group, they did a good job of mixing up lots of reggae with some oldies. Very professional, and from the viewpoint of a fellow musician they were all talented players. I think Steve agreed:

I got some beautiful shots of their first dance:

And this one from later that I just love:

So, once the party really got started, I disocvered a very exciting fact about Steve that I hadn’t known… he’s a drummer, too! How did I find out? Turns out some guests thought he should sit in with the band!

Now, I don’t know how many of you have been in this situation before, or have seen it, but I gotta say I was a little nervous for Steve. Not to slight him any, but, hey, I’d never heard him play; I had no idea whether he was any good or not! So, I did that kinda ‘watch from the corner of your eye while holding your breath’ thing, hoping he’d do alright:

And… HE WAS GREAT! Steve’s a good drummer! He held things down with steady, solid bass drum work, kept it fresh with lively fills, and kept the band together with good time. All ingredients of great drummng! The song was the Eagles’ “Hotel California”, so of course everyone sang along as they cheered Steve on:

There was even mention of “Getting the band back together!”, whatever that means… LOL!

So, that wraps up some of the highlights of the trip, unless you care to hear the boring details of the fifteen hour return trip! Just kidding.

Thanks so much once again to Holly and Steve for having me there with them. It was such a memorable time, and the thing I wish most was that we had more time to hang out. I can relive it all as I design the album, and you guys can relive it, too when you see it… watch for more in the following week! I’ll be in touch!

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