CNN iReport

First off I do not profess to be a ‘make my living' from weddings but I have done many of them none the less. Any way I was asked to do a very close family friends wedding this past weekend and here is how my day started & ended! My apologies for the long post but I have to tell this story!

Morning of the wedding: Post my second cup of coffee (should have had 3) and waking up in the beach house with the bridal party - I asked the Bride and Groom for the rings so I could do some Macro shots in the nice AM sunlight on the deck...After setting up and taking a few shots of the 3 rings (engagement and two wedding) on the railing I set the engagement ring on a piece of cloth out of range of my next shot....well with a single puff of wind I heard a ‘tink...tink...tink'..And a rustling of leaves...my first instinct was to run away, but my legs did not cooperate..the ring had been blown off the railing and down the deck stairs and into an area of leaves that were 6-8 inches deep? Now I remind you that the wedding party is waking up now and in the kitchen...And I am now down on my hands and knees rooting around in the leaves like a squirrel looking for a lost nut...so with that I calmly went to my good friend, and the groom and a few of the other male guests and asked them for their help (Get the girls out of the house was #1 on my list). One of them thank god had the good sense to start making cocktails to help in the search...LOL and another one had the idea that hey this is the beach..There has got to be an old retiree around here with a metal detector..so they went knocking on the doors of all the neighbors...So with cocktail in hand and a metal detector finally located we set up search pattern in/around and under the deck....panic had set in many a time..The least of which was when the brother of the bride said ‘ Hey the Engagement is over...you don't need a ring for that any more' ......Well 3 hours later, a few cocktails and quite a few MOBs stopping by to give advice the groom yells Eureka!! Ahhhhhhhhh my life is restored and I am back in the good graces of the family....But wait it gets better...

Post ceremony: I remind you that this was a very close family of mine and I went to College with the brother of the bride and consider this to be my second family...to which they refer to me as the good son...well not after this morning...I digress...post the uneventful ceremony..The MOB tells me that she wants the B&G at the reception ASAP and no stopping at the beach etc for extra shots...mean while I have already had the discussion with bride about stopping for some fun shots at the beach...Arrrghhhhh So as you can guess I was also the chauffeur for the B&G to the reception...Now you also have to understand that the Bride is a free spirit and does not live by the rules or by conventions of normal wedding traditions and certainly does not listen to her mother LOL...So on the way to the reception she spies a County fair..yes she wants some shots on the Farris Wheel...I thought this was a fun idea and so we set on our quest to hop on the wheel...you should have seen the faces of all the kids and families as the B&G were walking though the fair as if this was planned! After a few shots and a few kids crying b/c the B&G cut in line to hop on we set off for the reception..At this point the bride and I have visions of her mother at the reception door stomping her feet with a scowl on her face...I know you can see this coming...but I step on it and we are cruising along at a nice clip and I turn the corner...and Johnny Law is right there in the median....As Homer would say..DoH!!!! So the couple as if on cue starts to kiss in the back seat and wait for me to be pulled over in the rental car...As the lights and siren go off I am looking for my wallet in the camera bags...and get ready to give an excuse to the nice officer...Well no more did I roll down my window than the bride starts to chat up the officer..and I am just shaking my head and trying to hand him my license. So the bride starts to tell the officer that it is her fault and she was yelling at me to hurry up and that her mother is going to blow a gasket and kill me since we are late to the reception....To which the he replied "that is no excuse"...I sunk into the seat prepared to accept my fate...when no sooner had he laid out his non mood for accepting a lame excuse then she says... "Well you have not met my mother..." which he just started to crack up...and let us go...but not before she got out of the car and I snapped a quick pic...Ahh saved again...funny thing is that on this day both the bride and groom saved me from fates I do not wish on anyone...Whew!!!