Utah Day 3 part 2 - the reception

I took some photos at the beautiful reception, but more for practice and for my own memories because for once, I really liked Stephen and Stepheni's wedding photographer.  You see, that's one of my BIGGEST pet peves - bad wedding photographers.  They just have to try and I'm happy.  I usually have no clue how their final work looks, but the whole point is to capture each memory because to the couple, time flies way too fast that a good photographer is a NEED, not a luxury!  I've seen wedding photographers miss important shots like when the toddlers are being cute on the dance floor, or when the newlyweds sneek a kiss when they don't know care if anybody is watching.  But Tara was good.  Steven would have been proud.  I think one of HIS pet peves is hearing me complain about people not living up to their potential. 

So I started out with taking a photo of the cake being decorated (against the will of the decorator of course.)  And yuck - look at the yellow photo! 

I know a trick in photoshop, thanks to Lacey, for making the whites more white.  It works okay with non-human subjects like this cake. 

But who wants to spend hours on editing every single photo like that when I already pretty much do?

Not I.

I had to desaturate the heck out of all of Matt and Hollie's reception photos because I didn't know about how to fix my white ballance or even how to convert them to black and white a good way. I didn't want that to happen with Stephen and Stepheni's photos, so I asked the groom himself. He helped me figure out how exactly to set a custom white ballance, and convinced me that it really was ok even though it looked too cool to me.  I use it pretty much every day now. Thank you Stephen!!

So, these are a bunch of photos, of me practicing, and some when others had my camera, and they sum up the reception memories beautifully for me.   I'm excited to see the real photos though! 

 See the photographer's flash sticking up out of Stepheni's head - she was right in there - getting the shot of Stephen pinning my mom. 

 The lemonade fountain looked like limeaid.  It looked green - 'til I went to make more and saw that there was nothing lime about it. 
I like being helpful, so I kept the food and drinks flowing. 

 We got there really early for photos. 

 See, don't hire me to be your wedding photographer, I want nothing to do with it!  My white ballance may be okay, but I shoot entirely in manual, and much prefer natural SUN light.  There's a lot of shutter speed issues and camera shake issues, but the photographer was changing her settings while the bride's maids were having a cute moment. 

 I don't even know if I was looking at what my settings were here, I still like it:)

 Martin was a groom's man, so he had things to do, but the rest of us didn't. 

 Well, the father-of-the-groom's work is never done I guess:)

 Aaaaaw, the finished cake.  I wish my cake looked something like this, except with my flowers on it.  Ha!

 I found something for us to do while we waited!   Nice pocket tie, Matt.

 But after 2 pictures, we were called in for our turn. 

Before the reception started, Stephen and Stepheni gathered us all together real quickly to thank us and to exchange rings, intimately, with their close family and friends for those guests who were not able to witness their eternal marraige in the Salt Lake Temple.  So sweet and heart-felt. 

 And then . . .
Wait for it . . .
Hollie and I were sooooo excited . . .
To see this booth setting up . . .
COLD STONE ICE CREAM! 

 We weren't first in line, but we were second!  Thank you, Kathy's brother, for breaking the ice[cream] barrier for us! 

 We felt sorry for the recieving line participants who got started before many guests could get off of work to get there. 

 Here's the food - creative, don't you think!  Stepheni's family does food topiaries for most big occasions, her dad said. 

 Live music that played "[something] on a G string."  That's all I remember of the song title :).
It was beautiful, and they played for a long time! So elegant!

 Look at the nephews getting thrown by uncles - so fun!

 Aw, recieving lines are worth it:) 

 WOAAAA!

 Yes they smeared a bit of cake on each other.  It's Stephen, what do you expect? 

 And then came dancing.

 Ha ha Hollie:)

 Look at Kat's amazing hair after landing an amazing surprise flip by her brother, Matt's cracking up face:)  (Not to mention Katy's expression)

 I think you had to be there, but I deleted a photo of the super fast and furious flips when these two were swing dancing.  So good!  Who's laughing with me?  (If you were there, of course.)

 Here's one of my little flower girls, dancing with her grandpa. 

 I missed my own little baby boys.  I can picture one of my kids up on Matt's other shoulder. 

 YAY! So high!

 Hi my blogger stalker:)

 And hi Mr. and Ms. white teeth-beautiful couple! 

 The boquet

 The victory dance

 And they're off! 

 See ya Mr. and Mrs. Short Tie!  J/k.  You two had a beautifuly perfect wedding, luncheon, and reception which makes me miss family so much even though I'm at home now.  I love the faces of anxiety, giddyness, and excitement.