Thank you all for your kind thoughts! You guys know just what to say:)) and are so supportive. As far as looking calm and happy... Skip started crying in the middle of the night the week before the wedding, and he cried during the wedding while he was walking downt he aisle and reception when he had to do his speech and do the father/daughter dance. Actually the minister told Mary that it was sort of strange to see a guy who looked like he could be a pro wrestler barely able to make it down the aisle. Looks can be deceiving:) I sort of kept it together except for a small moment when she came down the aisle. I was actually sort of crying more at the rehearsal. Her husband (wierd to write that) is such a sweetie. He sent roses to the shop while she was getting her hair done with a lovely note that gave me goose bumps. He is just like one of my own kids, and they go together like two peas in a pod. I wish I had a close-up of her dress, it had sparkley scrolling around the bodice, more sparkley trim around the top and hem,and a beautiful brooch sort of thing at the top of the bustle. It was just such a fast paced day, that I couldn't get all the shots I wanted. She loves Gerbera daisies, and didn't want anything too fussy. The florist suggested that they go in contrasting colors so it would show up in the black and white photos. As far as the cake tree, there were 10 cakes, each with a different design. Some chocolate, some white, some marble. They tasted really good. The little favors on the table were cut out wedding cakes. His mom baked them, and we all went over to decorate them the week before the wedding. They were all different because so many people were doing them. We used plastic silverware we had little bells to jingle instead of tapping on glasses. They have a fence along the driveway, and I took the bows from church and put them on the fenceposts. Don't have a picture of it though. Thanks again! I am going to take the pictures down after today, because it kind of gives me the creeps to know that 600 people have looked at them.... Drema

As another wedding photographer, please consider this advice. First a little disclaimer; it would be 10X easier for me to shoot a wedding and hand you a CD of all the images. That would literally save me about 10 hours of work AFTER the wedding day processing images and also money to provide you with the proofing. I could charge you for the dig. negs and the copyright release and be done with it, moving on to the next wedding much faster. Here's why you should consider NOT buying digital negatives. Color Calibrated monitors of the photographer will give you the colors you think you're going to get. This will almost surely NOT happen by taking a CD to WalGreens or Walmart. Archival quality prints from the photographer means they'll last. ...and probably the biggest reason to order prints from the photographer is the post processing involved. This includes, aspect ratios, color-correction, sharpening, saturation, contrast, noise-reduction, dodging & burning, B&W and Sepia conversions and MUCH more. Like I said, I spend about 8-10 hours doing this processing for the average wedding. Unless you want/know how to do this yourself, digital negs may not be as good as it sounds. Few, if any, photographers are going to spend this time processing images to hand over to you on a CD. They are going to give you the untouched, unprocessed digital images. ...in short, they aren't going to look as good as you'd expect. Why would they, they haven't been 'developed' yet in the digital darkroom. The professional digital wedding photographer has skills that extend way beyond the camera into the areas mentioned above. ...just something to consider. My goal with wedding photography is to leave Brides & Grooms with a feeling of satisfaction and amazement! I feel strongly that a good portion of the "art" of digital photography is finished in the post processing. A photographer selling you unprocessed digital negs is selling you an unfinished product, in my opinion. Now, if you happen to be a whiz on the computer and are capable of and have the time to process your own digital wedding negs, then go for it! By the way, if you are a bride /groom who has purchased digital negs from your photographer and have realized that the prints don't look like you expected... I offer to process those images for you (as long as you own the copyright) for a minimal fee. Get in touch! daniel@dgmphotography.net -daniel

Thanks, Teresa. Would love to see photos of your home. I'll have to do a search later. Squirrel, it is antique pine. I do not cut directly on the counter at all. When needed, I use a cutting boards either on the island or next to the range. Don't cut directly on the granite either. We are good about wiping away water splatters after washing hands or dishes. I have never left a glass sitting on the counter overnight, so I don't know what that would do. The guys just asked me about that when they were here installing the tv cover. The pine is finished with Good Stuff for Wood which is FDA approved for food prep surfaces. I order from the below link. Have only recoated twice in 27mths. I clean the island with a damp sponge and have started using Lysol wipes too. Here is a link that might be useful: Good Stuff for Wood

I cannot imagine watching TV in that position - I would put the TV in a different room. Otherwise I would put one sofa facing the TV with a sofa table behind it in the middle of the room, and have a conversation area behind that sofa. We have two lounge chairs facing our TV, and we moved our sofa (which no one uses) to a wall perpendicular to the TV. We have speakers for surround sound placed so that we will get the optimal effect in the lounge chairs. I have a TV in my bedroom, and I have to turn my head to one side to watch it, which I do not like, but I only watch it for 30 minutes to one hour in the morning and never in the evening.