Wedding Shoot and Shoot-Out (sort of)

So yesterday was my first wedding shoot with Patti. The bride is Stefanie’s cousin and they hadn’t hired anyone to do the video, so they said it was fine if I got in a little practice.  I must say, the ceremony itself was fascinating. The groom’s family are Parsis, a Zoroastrian people who emigrated from Persia to India around the year 650 AD. The ceremony was performed by a Dasturji, who explained the ceremony in English and conducted the whole thing in an ancient Persian dialect. For instance, a witness on each side must propose that the groom marry the bride, then that the bride marry the groom. The bride and groom must then attest that they come freely to be married. And they do this three times. There was also a fascinating closing benediction, Doa Tandarosti. The dasturji chanted blessings while heaping red rose petals into their joined hands. Really beautiful. The reception was… all right. The DJ was waaaaay too loud, and played dance music during dinner. Patti’s complaint with him was that he didn’t give us a schedule of the dances and announcements so we missed the first few seconds of some of the important dances. The families were great though. The groom’s grandparents cracked me up. They were around 90 and dancing to things like Eminem and Snoop Dogg. The tables were also pretty interesting. They were covered in sugar skulls. They really wanted to honor their late loved ones and made the whole reception a Day of the Dead. The favors were skeleton lollipops, as were the little bride and groom on top of the cake. A couple after my own heart. ^_^

I think I did okay. Patti said that she liked that I listened to her advice and that she’s sure it’ll be fine. I think my favorite shot was when the DJ played "Piano Man" and the group formed a big circle and sang along, swaying together with the arms around each other. I got a shot from inside the circle and then again from above on the stairs. I guess we’ll see.

I think the most shocking part of the night was our trip to the car. The wedding was at Villa Bianca in Seymour and they can host something like four weddings at a time. Well, I guess not everyone can get through the night quite as harmoniously as these two families did. There was a huge fight in the parking lot between some guests of another wedding. Even the bride got involved, still in her dress, screaming at these people. And they were pushing her around! Jerks… I would sincerely hope that one of them wasn’t her new husband, but I think he may’ve been. Otherwise, why would he let his bride get involved in that? Classy. The staff called the police as we were leaving, and fortunately, Patti’s car was away from the main fracas.

At any rate, my feet are killing me and I’m dog tired. It’s not often I go to bed after 1 AM! There’s a shoot in Norwalk next weekend for flag football and Patti said she’ll let me know which day it is, but that I should come. I think just as an assistant. Not like she’ll tell me for sure either way until I show up and find out I’m taking pictures. LOL… She’s a little scattered. She’s sweet, but I’m not sure I could do this as constantly as Stef does. She edits the videos, and while I wouldn’t mind learning, I don’t think I could spend that much time with Patti. Whatever else this job provides me, it will be a learning venue, and maybe later, I’ll find something that fits better. I don’t like Patti’s racist attitudes and her complete willingness to share them with me, like I’m a member of some club. I don’t know how long I could be around that before I just snapped and couldn’t take it anymore.

Well, I guess I officially have a job, however sporadic it may be. In more domestic matters, karma the kitten is doing well. She’s very playful and gaining plenty of weight. She still can’t quite jump up to the couch, so she likes to climb up our legs… not gently either. I try to keep her playing gently by taking my hand away when she gets too rough and saying "Gentle." She usually responds and puts her claws away, so that’s a step in the right direction. She’s better about cords, though she still can’t resist the cord for my straightening iron. It bounces and is thus fair game. Aladdin is no longer hissing when he smells her on me, so I guess he admits her presence in his house. I can’t wait until I can get them together and Aladdin can put her in her place once or twice. That should be good for a laugh.

We finished writing our thank-you notes, and now we must go out of town to mail them. Yeah, the mail is that bad around here. Not a single invitation in 50 was lost when I mailed them from Middletown, but it seems like anything I mail in this town disappears. Maybe Milford just doesn’t like me. The feeling is at least a little mutual. We will definitely not be buying a house here.

I got my name officially changed with both the Social Security Administration and the DMV. Yay! Now, for the banks and credit cards. Wheeeee.

And I’m making my mother a Christmas present. It’s a table runner with hunter green velvet in the middle and a pale mist green shantung on either side, with the seams and ends cut into a chevron. The ends will also be weighted with gold and silver starburst ornaments. I may also line the seams with thin gold braid. I’ll make that decision when it’s done. What I’m proudest of is that I made the pattern for it myself. ^_^ I can’t wait to get started on it, though I was thinking of going up to Vermont for a couple days this week, so I may have to put it on hold till I get back. Yay for me!

Hmmm… 10:30. I suppose it’s time to officially start my day.

~Liz