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Baltimore - Maryland [Wedding Technology / Oct. 7, 2007]
 With autumn comes the inevitable "jet lag" we always experience. There are just too many places to be before all the leaves disappear from the trees and we're left with cold weather and shortened days.
This October we were especially busy because of the red-eye flight Sonia and I had to take to be in Baltimore, after we finished a wedding in San Diego. We had the whole crew: Seph, Joyce, Janette, Sonia, and myself all working there prior to the flight which made the San Diego wedding a breeze... and we planned it to be that way because it would have been too much for Sonia and I to do both weddings alone!
Our San Diego wedding was for a military couple who met in flight school a couple of years back. Akil a Marine and looked sharp in full dress; wearing his medals and pristine whites made for spectacular shots and dramatic poses. Erika took Air Force dress code into her own hands, but no one was complaining... She looked stunning!
We'd actually met them several months prior to their wedding and took some time to shoot their engagement photos and film their "Love Story" so we could show everything during their wedding reception. (I really wish more people would summon the courage to hire us for our documentaries. I know it's difficult to talk to a camera, but they're such a big hit at the weddings, and it almost feels like your attending a celebrities wedding because of it! Plus, the way everyone is enthralled with the video is really exciting... and we're a pretty big hit afterwards too!)
The biggest problem for us was knowing that we'd have to finish the wedding and then run straight to the airport for our flight to Maryland without getting cake, leaving the twins [Joyce and Janette], and Seph to cover the festivities and after hours fun... While we enjoyed airport hospitality.
The flight to Baltimore wasn't too bad; it was actually pretty nice... but it's impossible to really relax with the way flights are delayed these days! I just wanted to be on the ground with enough time to spare for a couple coffees and a few minutes for us to slip into "wedding mode". (Wedding mode is
a real phenomenon!) The best way to describe it is, "Finding a happy place, and making sure everyone is there with you", which can involve stress, plotting, and manipulation! (Just kidding!)
 If everything was simple for us,
we'd have too much competition! 
The day progressed beautifully, but we had to work around a few prerequisites that the couple had mandated. First, that they would not see each other prior to the wedding... ("No Problem, we work around that sort of thing all the time!") Secondly, the ceremony ends with about 30 minutes of available daylight. ("Whoa horsey! That's going to complicate things!")
Turns out that the church - being a historical monument and only having certain hours available - had made the couple work within those guidelines, and us by proxy! (So - once again - we were thrown upon the altar of "Hurry-up-itty-ness" as sacrifices!)
 Working in low light is always tricky, but the mood of the darkening sky and fading light of fall is worth the challenge! Sonia pulled off some remarkable low light shots in front of the church while I set up for family portraits inside.
Once we were ready for family shots, everyone came inside and we literally had about 10 minutes for everything - which came as a total surprise!
Seems the church coordinator had miscalculated the time we had available and we had to finish within a matter of minutes. (Amazingly, we did it! But it would be wrong not to give credit to the Brides mother for getting everyone prepped and in line for the pictures in an orderly fashion!)
All in all, for all the last minute changes and improvising we had to do, compiled with the long hours and lack of sleep we encountered, I have to say, "I'm impressed!" If everything was simple and easy, not only would our job be boring... We'd have way too much competition!
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Being that Baltimore is so close to Washington D.C. and we had a day to kill before heading back to San Diego, we decided to get in a little sight seeing. Neither Sonia or myself had ever been there before and we both wanted to see some of the monuments and get a little historical perspective. The surprise was the awesome reverence and quite emotional grasp that Arlington National Cemetery had on both of us! We walked through the grounds for hours and could hardly speak without our voices cracking from our struggle to stay composed. You really can't grasp the awesome and total sacrifice that our men and women of the Armed Services have given without stepping foot there... Particularly in the front entrance where they've created a cemetery photo gallery. It was impossible to keep my composure! (You'd cry too, okay?!)
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Anyway, the next day it was back to southern California and time to look ahead to the weekends next wedding at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. The park has dubbed the wedding held within as "Wild Weddings", but that's totally cool and totally appropriate. Wild is perfect if you are looking for it in the first place!
The wedding was beautiful and only occasionally interrupted by money calls and squawking birds, and you really had to be listening for them anyway. The cheetahs - resting in the area that was directly behind the ceremony grounds - were too tired to pay much attention, but we assume that 's a good thing. (It would be wrong for the guests to have their attention divided by vows and roars.)
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