NOREEN & JUSTIN

Hi. I’m sitting here in the middle of the night writing my blog and thinking….. Help me out here, k? But what does “woot!” mean? I’ll use it in a sentence. “The boy took a picture and it was good, and he exclaimed ‘woot!’”. Okay. So tell me, does anyone actually ever say “woot” when they’re excited about something? I’m just really dying to know. Discuss amongst yourselves and get back to me.

We have had such a fun June! Three weddings down and one to go! And last weekend’s wedding was so much fun!!!!!!

Noreen and Justin, (such a cute cute cute couple!) were married on Saturday, June 20 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Madison, followed by a lively reception at Gaylord Spring House.

It was an early wedding……

Now, those of you who know me, know that Cheryl doesn’t do early well. And I must admit it was difficult to ooze out of bed on Saturday at 6:00 am in order to get ready and be at the church by 9:30……. Okay. It was difficult to ooze out of bed by 7:00 am in order to get to the church …… okay. It was difficult to ooze out of bed at 8:00 in order to get to……okay. It was really easy (because I overslept and panicked) jumping out of bed at 8:30 in order to get ready and get to church by 9:30!

Yes, Cheryl overslept, but still managed to get to the church by 9:30! Yay! In fact, we, meaning Lynette, me, and Dawn of Team McNeal, all got to the church at 9:30. I think. At least that was the plan. I got there and ran into the church building so I could find Justin, so I didn’t see anyone until about an hour later when Noreen and Justin saw each other for the first time in a beautiful, but HOT, courtyard area outside the church. Did I mention it was hot? WOW. It was HOT! Cheryl sure does not do “HOT” well…..

But it was a GORGEOUS day with a blue sky and a lazy Saturday morning feel to it. Generally I’m sleeping through this lazy Saturday morning feel, but still, it’s a nice “feel” if you’re awake and all.

Anyway, Justin and his groomsmen all arrived at the church already dressed. For the most part. Justin and the guys only had to put on their shirts and boutonnières before the photos started. But I was there getting the guys getting into their shirts.

Oh. They didn’t wear the traditional tuxedo, which I think they were all REALLY glad about. But rather, the guys wore black pants and a really cool traditional shirt from the Philippines that I think men wear there when they get married.    It was a really cool shirt! The groomsmen wore theirs over a green tee-shirt and Justin wore his over just a plain white shirt. The shirts had really delicate patterns sewn into the front of the shirt. Justin’s pattern was different than his groomsmen’s patterns. Justin told me that the shirts were made of pineapple. They were really light and organic and looked cool, as in NOT being HOT. I heard the guys mention several times how grateful they were that they weren’t wearing tuxes! But yet they all looked so handsome!

Lynette and Dawn were with Noreen while I was with Justin, and they were getting her as she was getting dressed. Noreen looked so beautiful!

Like I mentioned before, they chose to see each other before the ceremony. The photographer first took Justin, followed by me, out to this really pretty courtyard and pointed Justin away from where Noreen would be entering the courtyard area. It was hot, and Justin was starting to pace around a bit while he was waiting. I don’t think he was nervous, I just think he was excited about seeing Noreen and getting their day started. I saw Noreen first as she walked toward Justin and she was sooooooo beautiful! Her veil! Ahhhhh! I don’t know what it was, but it framed her face just perfectly! And her dress! And just everything! Noreen is such a nice person too, that she just glows anyway. So she glowed even more than usual on her wedding day. Justin turned and saw her and they were so happy! I love it when that happens!

I also just love it when we have such a super nice couple like Noreen and Justin! You can’t help but fall in love with both of them. Plus, they’d been dating eight years before getting married, so that made everything else about the day even so much more special.

After Noreen and Justin saw each other, the photos began and everything went into double time! There were a lot of people to take pictures of! Lots of family! Lots of special friends! Lots of groomsmen and bridesmaids! Dawn and I handled most of the photo shoot since Lynette was working very hard with the audio. We had never worked a wedding at this church before, and we were having problems with our wireless mic interfering with the church sound system.  So Lynette had to figure out a plan B, and that kept her really busy before the ceremony.

The Church Ladies at St Joseph also kept things moving right along at a brisk speed. There were three Church Ladies, or okay, “Women of the Wedding Guild”, or something like that, but I only know one of them because she was so funny and easy to work with. That was Lonnie. Yep. I enjoyed Lonnie. :--)

We also had a wedding planner for this wedding, but she didn’t get to do much at the church since the Church Ladies were in charge, but she was very helpful at the rehearsal as well as at the reception. We had never worked with Amie Williams of Simply Exquisite Event Design before, but she was very nice. And we were so happy to have a wedding planner in charge of the details! We feel that wedding planners are SOOOOOO important for a wedding.

We also worked with a photographer that we’ve never worked with before either. Her name is Evin Krehbiel, and she moved things along pretty fast too. I like it when photographers can move a photo shoot along in good time, and especially with a large group of people! That’s hard! But Evin did a great job!

Soon it was time for everyone to get into their places for the ceremony. Lynette had figured out a plan B with the audio, so we were ready. Lynette shot the wedding from the front of the church, but sort of behind a wall. I was standing along the side of the aisles, and Dawn was shooting the wedding from the back. Plus, we had an extra cam shooting from the back as well, only from a low perspective. We had it covered. And there was a lot to cover! Noreen and Justin had a traditional Catholic ceremony with a full Mass and Holy Communion. And they also had a Veil Ceremony, a Coin Ceremony, and a Cord Ceremony. All of these had special meaning for the couple and in uniting them in marriage forever. It was a lovely service.

But after the ceremony, let the party begin!

Dawn and I covered the reception at Gaylord Spring House, and we had such a good time! Noreen and Justin were so happy! And all their family and friends and guests were also so happy! Everyone was just SO HAPPY! It’s easy to work a reception where everyone is HAPPY and enjoying themselves. And that’s how it was with Noreen and Justin.

Before the reception began, I was able to get into the main reception room where the tables were all set up and decorated for a very nice dinner. Dawn was down on the floor below where the guests were being treated to pre-reception hordourves. They had a chocolate fountain and a photo booth……it was really nice.

Oh! But when I first arrived at Gaylord Spring House I ran into someone I didn’t expect to see! Courtney Hammons of A Magical Affair! We enjoyed working with her so much last year at Sarah and Eric’s wedding, it was good to see her! I didn’t get a chance to really talk with her, but she seemed to be helping out with Gaylord Spring House. And it looked beautiful! Everything at the reception was organized really well, and that was especially nice for us! We were kept informed about upcoming events such as the toasts, cake cutting, first dance, etc. That makes our job so much easier! We love good wedding coordinators and event planners!

Also, Noreen and Justin had a great band at their reception. City Lights was there! The last time I did a reception with City Lights was years ago and I remembered how great they were. We had another wedding with City Lights last year, but it was the wedding where I was Missing In Action because I was at my college reunion. Anyway, Sam Levine, the saxophone player and also the leader and mouth-piece for the band kept us updated really well as to what was coming up so we could be in position to get our best coverage. Plus, they totally blew the house down! What a great band! They had the dance floor full and fun! Their lead singer can belt out a tune! I luvs a good band. :--)

Oh! I almost forgot! The Cake! It was beautiful! And I snagged me a piece too! After all the guests had been served their cake and were dancing, I spotted a cart with plates and plates of cake just sitting there right in front of me, so I grabbed a slice and ate it while shooting the dance floor. YUM! I saw Dawn across the room looking at me like she wanted a slice too, but I didn’t get her one. Well! Dawn is going to have to learn that at the receptions we generally grab a piece of cake when we have the opportunity to grab it! When it comes to cake and receptions, it’s generally each man for himself!  Dawn will learn. :--) Besides, Dawn knows I luvs her too. :--)

 An interesting thing happened during the toasts. I must say, it’s never happened to me at a reception before. During Noreen’s Father’s toast, a bird smashed into the window right behind him and the wedding couple! Oh my! And I got it on video! But I hear that if a bird smashes into a window at your reception, you will be granted 100 years of marital bliss. Yep. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

The total highlight of the reception was Noreen and Justin’s first dance. Get this. As a total surprise to everyone, they choreographed their first dance to the famous dance from the movie “Dirty Dancing”! They did a GREAT job! Noreen was so nervous! But she didn’t have to be. She did great! Noreen and Justin can really dance! And their guests LOVED it! I know I was smiling from ear to ear the entire time. So much fun!!!!  A video clip is posted in our screening room, so be sure to check it out.

It was just a very nice pleasant happy day. And I think that was mostly because Noreen and Justin are just very nice, pleasant, happy people. We enjoyed working with them SO MUCH. And it’s really so great when two really nice people find each other and get married. It’s a good feeling…..

Dawn and I left the reception before the party ended, but we left knowing that Noreen and Justin had a wonderful day.

Thank you Noreen and Justin for letting us capture your wonderful wedding day  on video for you! We totally enjoyed spending the day with you and your families. We know you two are going to have a very happy life together! All our best wishes go out to the both of you!

And now it’s almost 4:30 am and time for this girl to take a quick nap on the couch before starting her day.

WOOT! WOOT! WOOT!