Did I ever mention I really dig ampersands. You use them instead of writing “and”. In general it’s most appropriate when the two nouns you are connecting have a familiarity or common proximity. Y’know peanut butter & jelly or fish & chips I’m sure you get the point. But that’s just me I’m kind of writing geek. I feel it was more than fitting Brooke & Bob share one when I mention them… they go well together, they look good together, so I say it’s ampersand time.  Anyhow, that really doesn’t begin to describe how excited I was to be present on this day.

Brooke is an old friend. One of the oldest, in fact. You see I moved around a lot growing up. And sadly, you don’t get to take your friends with you when you go. Not so sadly though, there’s an opportunity for new friendships to bloom when you settle back down. So in 5th grade I met Brooke. For the next 8 years we went through school together. We spent more than a few class projects together, worked on the class yearbook, we even did crabwalk relay once. Good times! So when she told me she was looking to a photographer for her wedding reception/vow renewal I jumped at the chance!

Along came the day. My assistant (Melanie McLean of Wayward Winos fame) and I showed up at the hotel and met Brooke in the suite. Mel and I geared up and I went in to see Brooke. I had no idea that all her bridesmaids were friends of mine from high school. It was like a mini reunion. Brooke started to get all teary eyed. She said something to the effect about how blessed she was that we all could be here for her. I told her to stop it or she was going to get me to cry, and I didn’t make it through 8 years of school without having them see me get all emotional to breakdown now. We all laughed and things progressed on a very happy note for the rest of the day.

After hearing Brooke talk about Bob and seeing pictures of their wedding ceremony in Jamaica it was a total pleasure meeting him in the flesh. I got to meet the rest of Brooke’s family as well (I’m not positive but I think there’s a fishing trip I got roped into with Mr. Conaway).

We went from the photos at the hotel to the cocktail hour to the vow renewal and finally got to my favorite part: Dance Floor Mayhem. It was a seriously fun night and great to see everyone. Here are my Top Ten pics from the night (OK Eleven I had a hard time leaving one out).