A Willard wedding

The posts have gotten a bit on the ponderous side of late, so just a quickie post about last week's wedding of Shari Maletsky and Aragorn Smith at the Willard.

It seems like forever ago that I met with Aragorn and Shari at the studio. And sometimes when that much time goes by one forgets little details about the couple. Remember, I meet with most couples a year before their wedding. Most days I'm just lucky if I can remember where I left my keys. So in this case I forgot how laid back and fun these guys were. But by the time I started shooting Aragorn shaving in his room at the Willard, and saw that he had shaving cream on his nose and around his eyes, like some deranged elf, I remembered.

Shari and Aragorn were married in the hotel's Crystal ballroom, a magnificent turn-of-the-century space that truly takes one back through Washington history. (Remember, the term "lobbyist" comes from the Willard's famous foyer.)

Anyway, it was a beautiful affair, marked primarily by it's high level of joy and low level of stress.

A case in point (and Shari, forgive me for mentioning this!): At one point before the ceremony, we were taking some photographs outside in the patio area. Though we were outside for less that three minutes at that time, the bottom of Shari's dress got a little dirt spot on it. With 420 weddings of experience under my belt, I can safely say that a lot of brides would have had a meltdown. Shari didn't bat an eye. She was completely and utterly cool and collected. I was really impressed!!

I have to hurry up because I need to get back to--where else--the Willard for what promises to be another great wedding this afternoon. Today's ceremony is at St. Sophia, the fabulous Greek Orthodox cathedral off Mass. Ave. I'll keep you all posted!


Matt