Never Do Too Much At Once....


When we were making our wedding plans, it was SUCH a flurry of decisions.
We wanted a short engagement, but we weren't expecting to end up with just
3 months!!

Everything we'd planned suddenly was pushed forward. We'd look at wedding
magazines and they kept insisting that the things we were just considering should
have been done 18 months out... It was nuts!

But, we got it all together; primarily by deciding to separate our wedding ceremony,
and our reception; by a week.

See, we REALLY wanted to enjoy them both, but we knew that if we tried to
do too much on the day of, all we'd want to do was get away to the honeymoon!
So we split them up... And boy-oh-boy are we glad we did

I'll blog images from our wedding as soon as I'm able, but for now; let me share
a few from our fabulous celebration.

Here's Riley:



Just as my friend Matthew Saville was flown in to photograph our
wedding, Riley Spiller flew in for the Celebration.

It's really quite special... See, Matt taught me how to take perfect
photos TECHNICALLY; Riley taught me how to capture moments
in the fashion world, and then I convinced both of them to come
capture OUR moments :D

We had a blast :)



Nelle and I arrived from our honeymoon, directly into the waiting party.
It was oh so exciting... Just ask Nelle!





The best part of the Celebration (for me) though, was that I actually
got to shoot a LOT of it.



Many of the next photos are mine :)


There were many fantastic conversations:




We also had simply the BEST helpers in the world:




The Matron of our family (My Grandmother, Vita Hinshaw)
was looking lovely as always:



If you're wondering just what the heck that pink is in the background;
it's one of the main buildings of the Chalet Suzanne...  Founded by my
Great-Grandmother in 1931, it's where I was born and raised.

Some of these photos were taken by my new sister-in-law's boyfriend
Michael Flores; he's a real up and comer, and has been growing by
leaps and bounds under my tutelage.



Above is my little brother James... One of my favorite people in the world.
(He is SO friggin' cool)

A few more of Nelle and I...





Laughing at something... Or someone ;)




As it grew later, sunlight and perfect diffusion gave way to flashes
and moonlight... Oh, and the party began :)




Just in from Scotland, where he's been studying for his Doctorate;
here's Robert... My brother-in-law, and his wife Katie... They were cutting it up!




In attempting to do something a bit different; we gave
away the flowers as favors... And apparently it went quite well!
We heard lots of reports from folks that said they lasted over a month :D




One more thing we did to be a bit different...
Here comes the toss!!




I told you it was a bit different ;)



We'd assembled 12 roses... 6 loose, and 6 together.
That way, MORE WINNERS ;)

Amazingly (and unplanned) Alexandra my little brother Joseph's
(then) girlfriend caught them... And as of LAST NIGHT, they're
engaged as well!!





And THEN the party really got moving :)




Taking a breather with my older sis...




LOTS of old friends came to join in the fun...
Here's a rare moment that Cody wasn't dancing like a madman:




Two of my favorite people of all time... Riley and Emily.




And here's the PERFECT picture that explains the three
way relationship between Nelle, myself, and her darling sister Emilie.
These girls are pretty much the uber-awesome; I'm so blessed to have them in my life.




My awesome sisters...




And the new sis, once again:




All in all, an amazing night... With loads of incredible moments:



My Dad Rocks :)


Many thanks to each of you that read this far; many, MANY thanks
once again to all of you who made this possible.

I'm so in love with ALL of you, and so HONORED to have you in my life.
I can't wait to share each of our next chapters :)

Saturday, my darling wife and I are heading off for another adventure...
This time, a cross country road trip to California to capture another couple's
perfect wedding day.




Keep us in your prayers; and let us know if we can do
anything to bless your life!

Or At Least, I Hope Not...


What can I say?
Life is wonderfully zany :)

Saturday was our three month anniversary... And since I haven't blogged
Engagement, Wedding, Honeymoon, or Celebration photos; I figured it's
high time I finally do at least one of those ;)

So, like I said... Why not go out of order?


Our Honeymoon:

It all began on Sunday, September 13th... We rushed out of my family's resort
(http://ChaletSuzanne.com) already a little rushed to make our flight... Only to
discover that our getaway car had a dead battery!!

A quick jumpstart and the fastest airport trip EVER (Literally; we made it in about
half the time it should take... While barely speeding!) we arrived at the Orlando airport
and picked up our tickets... At which point, my beloved Bride learned where we were
going :)

Maine!



I'd spent months and months researching places we could go; and it all
came down to either a small Cay in the Bahamas, or the Grand Old State
of Maine. In the end, we opted for Maine since it'd be COOL (and far
less likely to be in the path of a Hurricane ;)

Man oh man, were we ever glad we went!!




See? ;)

Truly though, Maine was perfect... We went to four breweries, two forts, and
spent LOTS of time exploring.

See, when we landed in Portland, we went to pick up our rental car and they gave us
a choice... A bland ol' Chevrolet, or the Toyota Prius Hybrid... To be blunt, I've always
harassed the Prius and their fleet of predominantly slow, boring drivers ;)

But on the roads of Maine? The Prius was a blast!!
We drove over 800 miles on $38 in fuel (58mpg+!) and I was even able to test
the "crazy" factor... Got it up on three wheels a few times, and brought the fuel
burn down to 4mpg... Haha TOO much fun!



Of all the Coastal villages we visited in Maine, we liked Bucksport the very best.

It was beautiful, quiet, and wonderfully devoid of the plethora of tourists that are
EVERYWHERE else in Maine.


Bucksport, ME



See that bright white building in the middle?
That's a quaint old Bed And Breakfast that was recently bought out by
Best Western... Know what that means? Beautiful, quaint rooms with ugly
comforters, windows that open wide, and clean surroundings... Perfect!!

We stayed there for 3 days, and loved EVERY minute... See,  Bucksport
is unique in the fact that they have quite a few REALLY cool little things.
First among them, is "Fort Knox" -- No, not the one you're thinking of,
but the ORIGINAL Fort Knox from the early 1800s.

We visited :)




See it Larger...


It was truly a cool, and unique place :)





Though admittedly, my attention was elsewhere :)





Bucksport is also the home of Maine's fastest elevator...
Which takes you here:



To the top of their gorgeous bridge observatory...
The view rocked :)





B&W = Love.




One thing we may not have mentioned... The REASON there aren't a lot
of tourists in Bucksport... Simple.. There's a "small" paper mill there:





But the view from our hotel could make up for anything:




And here's our view of Fort Knox...



The clouds were just Oh SO Amazing.
After three days in Bucksport we were ready to take off for the North...
Bar Harbor was our next stop; but before we'd arrive there, we just HAD
to stop by our second brewery of the trip... "Atlantic Brewing Company"
t'was AWESOME :D


Nelle agreed :)




Then, suddenly we were in Bangor:





I stopped in and bought some *great* old books :)





The next day, we headed South, back to Portland...
And to our 3rd brewery of the trip "Shipyard Brewing"




The last day of our trip, our flight didn't leave 'til the late afternoon so
we took off on a lighthouse / Fort hunting trip...

It was successful! :D




Shipwreck!





Nelle and I decided we needed to snap some more photos of the two of US.
I think I'm getting better at the whole self portrait thing:



:)

An amazing old building on the Fort's grounds...
It was used as an Officer Quarters in the late 19th Century.




And as a silly finale for this post...
Here's the Greatest Graffiti of ALL Time:




That's all for now :)
MANY, MANY more posts to come!!




P.S. Do me a favor?
Leave a comment to motivate me to  post more!
Which was your favorite photo??

Long Overdue...


But it'll have to wait a bit longer ;)
See, I have a surprise for those of you who only know me through my blogging...

Something tells me it'll be worth the wait though :)
Oh, and I'm going to make up for it in the mean time!

I've missed writing so, so, so much.
This past year has been such a whirlwind, there is MUCH I need to share,
so many epiphanies, so much joy, so much challenge. You're all going to
dig it, I'm pretty darn sure :)

But let me just do what I do best... Share a little bit of true beauty with you :)



Rodney & Melodie (Are Amazing)....

sweet boutonnieres.


Talk about PERFECT!! :)