sonofabitch

This stone is gen-u-wine, like-a-love should be (ee ee ee)...

Pre-ceremony. The light from a skylight hitting the couple.	7/23/01 I did a wedding this weekend. Never for a second thought about my own. Until I was trying to make the bride relax a bit. The groom had gone off after the wedding to pick up the best man's mother. An hour later, everyone was waiting for him at the reception. And the bride was getting a little anxious. I told her my own wedding had been delayed two hours because my about-to-be sister-in-law was late arriving from New York City. When we got to the reception, everyone had been drinking champagne for a couple of hours. They were all smashed. And we didn't actually perform the ceremony until after the salad was served. I guess I'm a little surprised that I was able to talk about it so lightly. For many years after my divorce, I would drive past the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and swear at it. Out loud. As if I were mental. I hated the building. But now, I drive past it and it takes me a second to realize what it is. Amazing how a little memory loss can be so comforting I was a bit stressed out about the wedding. I am not a wedding photographer. I will be if the pictures come out okay. But until then, I'm just a guy who takes weird photos who was asked to do this wedding. The bride is an 18-year-old friend of my daughter. Kind of young. But I'm not sure if there's ever a right time to do anything. I wish them well. The bride, by the way, saw the 1010 pictures and then asked me to be the photographer. If the real pictures come out all right, I will be very happy. The fun thing was that I had carte blanche to shoot anybody. The groom had told me to shoot everything during the ceremony. Walk around the chapel, click away. The lady who ran the Church of Truth had other ideas. she sensed that I might be a little distracting. I played it somewhere in the middle. I shot mostly color, and have yet to see the results. I did shoot a couple of rolls of the polaroid polagraph film. Same stuff I used for the 1010 stuff, the pool party, and on and on. I should have shot the whole wedding on this stuff. I love it. And I got to shoot other people. Willing subjects. Not one person put his hand in my face. Even the four guys below were cool about it. The highlight of the day had to be the dancing. Two people in particular. One, a young woman who just graduated from the LA County High School for the Arts. Where Charlotte went. This girl was so funny. Completely uninhibited. Just out on the dance floor, dancing, making fun of the "old" music. And then she was joined by one of the older women at the party. The younger woman was playing around at first, but the older woman wanted to dance. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. The bride didn't even know who the older woman was. Just a relative who popped up at family reunions. Well, she made her place in history on Saturday. And I've got the pictures. Sunday was a whole different day. A relaxing day in Pasadena at the house of a friend. It felt like I was on vacation. We did a little writing, but mostly sat out in the backyard and talked. It's five thirty in the a.m. Gotta get some sleep. The lesson? Does there have to be a lesson? Activity is good. Simple thing like that? I spend way too much time at this computer. SONOFABITCH I want more yard sales.	Bridesmaid and bride. The dancing queen.