Miriam and RJ were married at the
Carnegie Institution for Science a few weeks ago, surrounded by some of the sweetest family I have ever met. And they played Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" without even a hint of irony, which, if you ask me, speaks a lot to how ridiculously genuine they are. Their brunch wedding in the beautiful rotunda was about the most relaxed it is possible for a wedding to be, with plenty of smiles to spare.
Miriam got ready upstairs in the kick-ass library.
It was raining, so we had to do all the portraits inside. Luckily, the Carnegie Institution for Science has some brilliant decor to work with.
I seriously love this library.
Miriam and RJ set up their ceremony in the rotunda at Carnegie, with guests on all sides of them and their attendants standing behind them. Wonderfully inclusive for guests and tricky for the photographer! Luckily I had my brilliant second shooter Julia there with me.
Pretty much taken at the exact same moment as above.
They included the Quaker element of allowing guests to stand up and speak if they feel moved. I love this as a wedding tradition.
I put Julia on the "safe" shots, so I could move around.
They hosted a brunch wedding, complete with drip-through coffee bar courtesy of
Vigilante Coffee.
RJ's mom absolutely dominated the photobooth.
Miriam and her dad sang a song instead of dancing. They're quite the musical family.
This might have been Whitney. Not sure. Let's just pretend it was Whitney. I was like "hell yes."
I do a macro ring shot at most weddings. I go up to my peeps and ask to take their rings. Often they look a little wary, but consent. Miriam told me to be really careful - because her ring is "over 300 years old". Whaaaat? Those little hands are on their own separate rings, and slide closed to cover the heart. How freakin' awesome is that?
Miriam's dad getting down. He's actually chopping wood in that third frame. Yessss.
My favorites.
My SEO-grabbing hidden title for this picture is "bride runs through a circle of high fives." We should all have a circle of high-fives at our weddings.
Congratulations guys!
Miriam & RJ's vendor team:
Coordinator: Meigh with
Lula Mae Events
Ceremony and Reception venue:
Carnegie Institution for Science
Catering:
Eat & Smile Catering
Drip-through coffee bar:
Vigilante Coffee
Cake:
Capitol Sweets
Florist:
Local Color Flowers
Miriam's dress: J. Crew
RJ's suit: Epaulet (New York)
Here's location #1 right next to dumpsters. I love how photography isolates - such that you only see what I want you to see, not the dumpsters in this alleyway (which was very nicely landscaped, obviously).
Location #2 by dumpsters! Sarah and Tim were such good sports for this one. "Walk that way and laugh out like you're having the best walk of your lives." This always works, seriously. Fake laughing is actually hilarious.
Could Sarah's hair get any more perfect? Seriously.
Congratulations, you guys!
I'm very lucky to live so close to these institutions that shape our lives. I love that I can, on a whim, head down to the Supreme Court to witness history. We stood in the blazing sun for a good half hour, chatting with those around us and holding our palms up like visors. We got on tip-toes to see if something was going to happen on the steps... no one seemed official. Sweat dripped off everyone's foreheads and necks. And then a cheer erupted ahead of us, and spread through the crowd like a wave. "Wooo! Yeah!" we shouted. "What are we happy about?" Everyone looked around in confusion. Some people were very excited, somewhere else in the crowd, but why are we excited? We started pulling out our phones, checking Twitter and news feeds. "DOMA is unconstitutional" @SCOTUSblog tweeted.
It's somewhat awkward for me discussing marriage equality. I was legally married without hiccups, get full spousal rights automatically and enjoy all the privileges of having a man-woman legal marriage. But marriage equality is extremely important to me, and yesterday feels like a big victory. But how much am I allowed to cheer? How much am I allowed to celebrate? I don't want to overstep my bounds - I can join in this fight but it's not mine to win or lose.
I had thought about doing some kind of promotion in celebration of the SCOTUS rulings yesterday - freebies for same-sex or non-heteronormative couples - but isn't that sort of what we're working against? If love is love is love, you all have to pay!
Suffice to say that I'm thrilled with yesterday's rulings. The country has made a dramatic shift in its thinking about same-sex marriage over the last couple years, and yesterday will be just one blip on the journey to full marriage equality. There's work to be done, but in the meantime, come on down and get your wedding photos.