Gone Fishin'

Just a two-second post here to let everyone know that I'll be out of the country from 7/2 through 7/12. I'll be able to check my email a bit, but I'm not sure I really want to! We're off to Paris and then to Greece, to attend the wedding of Maya's cousin. See? Even when I'm not shooting weddings I'm still attending them.

I've had three great weddings the past couple of weekends, including a fantastic wedding at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, a gorgeous wedding in the Chicago area, complete with a walk on the sandy beaches of Lake Michigan, and the wedding of a woman I first met when she was in her stroller in Binghamton, New York.

Hopefully I'll be able to go into more detail about all of these weddings when I return.

So here's to Sarah Tierney and George Wisnieski, who had one of the most beautiful days of the year--and venues--for their wedding. The Naval Acadameny Chapel, with its maritime-themed stained glass, was truly breathtaking.

And here's to Adrienne Valassis and Todd Stratman, who, to their credit, made sure they had a few minutes to hit some golf balls at the country club after their Lake Bluff, Illinois wedding. I photographed Adrienne's sister's wedding at the same club a few years ago. Shawn, Adrienne's sister, is about to give birth and it was neat to see how life moves on and on.

And here's to Caroline Mahoney, who I first met when she was just a toddler, playing along the sidelines of high school soccer games near my house in Binghamton, New York. Caroline married Daniel Seymour, a firefighter, this past weekend. Twenty-some years ago, when I was working at my first job at the Binghamton Press, in upstate New York, the Mahoneys took me in and treated me like I was one of their own. Their generosity has always been vast. I'm a Jewish kid from Long Island, but after 20 years of friendship I feel like I'm part of a huge Irish family as well.










Gotta go pack now! Taxi's coming in 30 minutes.

See ya,


Matt