Up the Londoner Sunday, Mar 9 2008

8 March 2008
Yesterday, the 8th of March, my good friend David married his long-time sweetheart, Melanie. The drive was long, as the wedding took place in McKinney, more than an hour north of us here in Arlington. But, completely worth it to see two good friends become “encircled, not enslaved” by their wedding bands & vows. Marita Beth & Kelly outiftted the bride to beautiful, beautiful effect. The wedding was themed; the bride wore an 1870s silver, bustle dress with her bride’s maids in Victorian-esque gowns. David and his groomsmen were in formal kilt attire wearing civilian-pleated kilts, Bonnie Prince Charlie jackets & dress sporrans. The effect was gorgeous.
However, that’s not what my photo is about. In keeping with the mini-challenge of “looking up” this is a photo of stairs looking up to the bar on the upstairs floor of the Londoner.

Since Kelly & Marita Beth had outfitted the bride, they needed to be at the wedding several hours early to ensure all went well with her dressing. Having nothing to do while they were occupied, I went into downtown McKinney. Downtown McKinney is a place I haven’t been in close to 20 years. It has changed for the better and is now a beautiful, bustling little historic town square. On the corner of one of those downtown streets is the Londoner, a fine, English-style pub. I went in, watched some football (Manchester City versus Reading) and had a couple of pints. Then I changed clothes and went back to the aforementioned beautiful wedding.
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 9 March 200

Still watching:
NASCAR: Kobal Tools 500 (because I can’t be bothered to change the channel)
49 of 325 Laps run
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Leads

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.3 sec (3/10)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 320
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

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Over My Head Sunday, Mar 9 2008

7 March 2008
I didn’t participate in last week’s mini-challenge as nothing really came to me. This week’s, however, is a little easier on the brain-processing. This is my first entry in the challenge:

While sitting at my desk in the office, whenever I look up, I see these strands of ivy from my cube-neighbour straining to the lights. So, looking up, as a challenge, is ready-made.
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 9 March 200

Watching:
NASCAR: Kobalt Tools 500
9 of 325 Laps run
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Leads

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture: f/5
Focal Length: 18.6 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

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Snow Covered Windscreen Sunday, Mar 9 2008

6 March 2008
Yesterday I took a close-up of the a/c knob in my car because I was hot, sticky & uncomfortable. Today, in the same car, I’ve taken a photo of the snow accumulating on my windscreen. Like I said in my previous post:  if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes (or in this case 24 hours).

We don’t get much snow accumlation here in North Texas. Which, I suppose is a good thing, since the roads, the cars & the people are not equipped or accustomed to dealing with any accumulation. In fact, the area pretty much shuts down if there’s even the hint of accumulation.
Luckily, we didn’t get anything near what they were predicting (in our area…areas a half hour further north got the whole 6 inches).
Cheers.

~KR (Written on 9 March 200

Watching:
Wigan vs Arsenal
Fulltime score: 0 - 0

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS
Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 5.8 mm
ISO Speed: 80
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

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Final Adjustments Sunday, Mar 9 2008

8 March 2008

Melanie and David Baxter’s Wedding Day

Congratulations, Melanie and David!  What a lovely event!  The recent cold snap and snowfall in North Texas made an outdoor event a difficult proposition.  So, in what I’m sure was a frustrating decision, Melanie and David moved their entire day indoors (except for a photo session where the bride shivered and smiled anyway!).  Their home is lovely, and made a charming background for both ceremony and reception.  Melanie and her girls (and Kelly and I) dressed upstairs, while guests arrived and took seats and the caterer worked her butt off!  Kelly and I did hair, and got dressed while the girls were doing make-up and hair.  Then, as the bridesmaids got themselves dressed, we dressed Melanie.  First, camisole and pantalettes, socks and shoes.  Then, bustled petticoat, underskirt, overskirt, and bodice.  Her mom took what should be some great photos and I snapped a couple, too.  This one, is of Kelly making a final adjustment to the laces on the back of the bodice.  After this, jewelry, gloves, and veil.  And, voila!  One beautiful Victorian bride!

Doug Jacobs performed the ceremony, Queen Anne’s Lace performed some lovely vocal renditions of songs specifically requested by their friends David and Melanie.  The meal served up for the reception was a delicious buffet of sandwiches and salads, and the cake was super tasty as well.  It was nearly nine o’clock before we felt things had calmed down enough that it was time to say goodbye.  It was a beautiful day and Kelly and Kyle and I were proud to have been a small part of it.

On a purely selfish note:  the little jacket/bodice that Kelly made for me to wear with my older brown silk skirt, came out perfectly and was a delight to wear.  Kelly looked amazing as always in her new blue and grey ensemble she built for herself this week.  We felt pretty!  I’m hoping somebody took a couple of decent photos of us!

~MB

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