Yesterday was really fun for me, because I was able to photograph flowers at the Rose Court Garden and end my night at the Jazz Kitchen. I know it’s cliche, but I adore photographing flowers. Especially bouquets. So there I was, surrounded by 20 or so beautiful arrangements, and taking my time to photograph each one.

When I finished, I asked what was going to happen to all the flowers. M offered me an arrangement, so now I have a beautiful bouquet with roses and lambs ear sitting on my kitchen table. I told M that I decided working in a floral shop would be much better than working at a pizza place, because you would always smell like roses instead of sausage. She agreed, teehee.

After photographing flowers, I had a small break and used it to catch up with a few friends I hadn’t seen in a while who work around the resort, and then met with a potential wedding couple. I love these meetings. I get to put a face to e-mails and go over plans and explain the photography process. They brought their daughter/soon to be step daughter with them, and the dynamic between the three of them was so much fun, they’re going to be a cute little family.

After the meeting, I had to run to the Jazz Kitchen to photograph some details for a wedding they were having there. I wasn’t hired by the bride, so I ran into their photographers in the Brisa Courtyard and introduced myself and told them to just kick me if I ever get in their way! They were really nice, and we talked about cameras and lenses and they showed me some of their photographs they’d taken. The bride was beautiful and her wedding was New Orleans themed. It really was a beautiful set up, I always look at weddings like this and feel a pang of, “oh, I wish I’d done something like this for my wedding”, and then I run through potential friends who I can possibly persuade to have a New Orleans themed wedding some day, heh heh. Something tells me, that’s not going to fly, but one can hope?

After meeting their photographers, I went to the Jazz Kitchen to take a few photos of the decor. I’m always amazed when I go there at how positive and organized their staff is. I used to work in a restaurant, and it wasn’t anything like it is there. B, their manager, was so professional and had everyone excited about setting up the decorations for the wedding. It was really fun to feel like a part of it. They had a New Orleans band that was going over music in one of the rooms upstairs, and it was fun to hear their music playing.

After a while, Little T and Big T showed up to bring me a light stand that I’d left in my car. Little T loved hearing the band and wanted to play on the big drum. At one point, the band walked up to Little T and took his hand, and danced with him while they were playing. Little T, of course, thought this was amazing.

When it came time to photograph the wedding couple (the New Orleans band was leading them from the Brisa Courtyard at the Grand Californian to the Jazz Kitchen), I stood above on the top floor of the Jazz Kitchen to grab my shot. I was looking down at the rehearsal dinner that was going on, and suddenly realized it could possibly be the wedding I’m photographing today. When I’d run into one of the wedding planners earlier, she was telling me that the bride I’m photographing (today!), was so sweet and friendly and beautiful, with hair that looked kind of like Kim Kardashian. I was looking down at the rehearsal dinner from above, and noticed the bride looked a lot like her description. I ran downstairs to quickly see if it was her, and was so excited to discover that it was. She said it was funny because she’d been staring at Big T and Little T (they were downstairs at this point waiting for the band), and she thought they might be my family because she’d recognized them from my Facebook Page. I was really excited to meet her the night before her wedding, and it made me look forward to today even more!

When the band and the bride marched up, it was really exciting and energizing. I could hear the band playing and everyone outside the restaurant cheering, and everyone began to march into the Jazz Kitchen with New Orleans umbrellas, beads, and instruments. I thought it was one of the coolest reception entrances I’d ever seen, and kind of got teary eyed, because I always do that when I see large groups of people who are all just happy and having a great time. What can I say? I’m just /mush like that.

After I’d photographed their grand entrance, it was time to say goodbye. Big T, Little T and I, walked through Downtown Disney and stopped to hear some live Latin Music. Little T ditched us to dance with a group of pre-teen girls, who were definitely feeding into Little T’s ego by going on and on about what a cute little toddler he is. :p I tried to dance with him at one point, but sadly, even at the age of 2, there are moments where mom just doesn’t make the cut. Here he is, running away and breaking my heart. 😉

All in all, a good day.