On Sunday, I had dinner at Frank Ma South with my wife and a handful of friends. There, two of my long-time friends, David Dollar and Anne Marie Lindsey (who are expecting a baby in 10 days) mentioned that they were getting married this week at the Dekalb County Courthouse in downtown Decatur. I was excited about these two long-time friends of mine finally tying the knot, and offered to come and take photos for them. They didn’t know what time they were getting married, but it would be during the day sometime. Unfortunately, Dallas’s work schedule isn’t as lenient as mine, so she wouldn’t be able to come.
Yesterday morning, Dallas reminded me that they were getting married later in the day, so I e-mailed David to find out when I should be there. He said 1:30pm, so I decided to just work from home and wait for my camera batteries to recharge. I lost track of time writing code, so I only had 35 minutes to get from my house and find them. Last time I was invited to shoot a courthouse wedding, I got a speeding ticket, so I was extra cautious zooming around I-285 at 80mph. I couldn’t find the courthouse building, so I just parked and walked around, and eventually caught up with Dave and Anna:
We waited in line for about 25 minutes before being called up into the little courtroom. The room was so small, that I had to stand outside of it in order to take photos. I really should have brought a wider lens, but the 35mm did a respectable job:
The guy running the ceremony was full of smiles, but you could tell at the same time that he had probably married 10 couples already that day (how cool of a job is that?). The ceremony was very brief, weighing in at only 1m35s. Before I knew it, it was already time to kiss the bride:
So we travelled outside for some shots of them in Decatur square. The first stop was the tree of overexposure. I really had to use some Lightroom magic to make sure Anna’s face wasn’t a white ball of flame in this photo:
Then the Gazebo, overlooking Decatur square:
The old courthouse, where I discovered that I accidentally packed my 80-400mm birding lens instead of my 80-200mm portrait lens. I liked this scenic shot of them on the steps:
And finally we wandered to Decatur Square itself:
None of us had eaten yet, so we stopped by the Raging Burrito for lunch. The chips with salsa and queso were fantastic. Dave and I had our orders switched on us, resulting in me wondering what the heck the sour cream is doing in my burrito, and him wondering why his was so spicy. I didn’t take a whole lot of photos inside the restaurant, but I did like this one of them toasting with sweet tea:
After lunch, we played around taking a few more photos in the square. I tried to get some nice silhouette shots, but none of them came out very well. Eventually, it was time to get back home to do some work at my real job, so we wandered back to the parking lot:
You can check the rest of the photos at their wedding photo album. I am so happy I was able to share in this special day with them. I don’t think of myself as a wedding photographer, but I think I was able to capture something very heart-warming. I look forward to taking more photographs of them once their little one is born =)
Add New Comment
Viewing 4 Comments
Thanks. Your comment is awaiting approval by a moderator.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Do you already have an account? Log in and claim this comment.
Add New Comment
Trackbacks
(Trackback URL)