Kelly was having a bad day. She stormed out of her dorm room at Keuka College, walked across the hallway and knocked on the door. Derek answered.
"I have no friends!" stated Kelly in a less than calm voice. "Can I come in?!"
"Uh, sure," stated Derek.
Now this little college dorm drama may not seem all that unusual until you realize that this was the first time Kelly and Derek had met. She must have made quite an impression on him though, because here we are a few years later at the wedding of Kelly and Derek.
The wedding was held outdoors at the Geneva Country Club on Seneca Lake in the middle of the Finger Lakes. It was really a beautiful location for a wedding. The only problem was the weather wasn't completely cooperating. It had stormed the night before with lots of rain and thunder and lightning. The morning of the wedding didn't look too bad but the weather forecasters were being somewhat non-committal. We weren't sure really what to expect.
The hotel where the girls were getting ready was just across the street from Seneca Lake and near some railroad tracks. We planned on going out there to do some shots with the girls after they had gotten dressed, however, just before everyone was dressed the skies opened up. And it rained. And it poured.
Forget the pre-ceremony shots, I was getting concerned about what we were going to do about the ceremony. The outdoor ceremony. The outdoor ceremony with no tent and no real back-up plan, as far as I knew, for foul weather. Somehow Kelly seemed quite calm during this time, though. She just kept saying, "aw, it'll clear up." I'm glad someone thought so because I wasn't so sure.
So while everyone was finishing getting dressed, it rained. And rained some more. And literally, about five minutes before we were to leave for the ceremony it stopped. It just stopped. (I'm thinking Kelly may want to look into another career as a weather girl.)
When we arrived at the country club a few people were wiping down the chairs and all but for a couple of teeny drops during the ceremony the rest of the day was quite nice weather-wise.
The ceremony itself went off without a hitch. The ring bearer and flower girl maximized their time in the limelight but they were fun. Even the release of the doves went well.
After the ceremony we did a bunch of formals and then the wedding party walked down to the end of the parking lot where a fire truck awaited them. Derek is a fireman in nearby Penn Yan and had one of their trucks brought up to do some photos with. That was a new one for me and was a lot of fun.
Kelly and Derek's ceremony and reception had a wine theme. All the table decorations had to do with wine and grapes, etc. It was really done nicely. They also had this incredible "candy bar". I never knew there were so many different kinds of orange candy. Everyone was encouraged to take a bag and fill it up with their favorite treats.
There were a few anxious moments, but in the end it turned out to be a beautiful day all the way around.
Following are a few (okay, quite a few) shots from the day.
Joel