There was very little standing around to be done at this particular wedding, and no excessive posing for pictures, either. Nevertheless, it's amazing what a wandering photographer can catch, especially from people who normally shy away from cameras.
Just
inside the doors of the garden club, this table was set up for guests to
sign in. By the time I made it to the building, there was already
quite a line. I think they just wanted to see the picture on the
right, from back when Eric had long hair. I'm not sure who set all
this up, but I can say the photos brought back a few more memories, to
say the least. Back when we were in ninth grade, Eric got a real
bad haircut. I don't know what posessed him to do it, but he came
in with it real short. Jessica and Lars were our lab partners in
Honors Biology, and they actually accused him of looking like me because
of the haircut. What an insult. I'm so much prettier than that.
Anyway, that was the semester I spent trying to show Jessica that I was
much more insane than she. I lost. Big time. So Noel
had already left the wedding at this point. Flying off to her island
in the Pacific to become a fire...fighter, so her dad can keep an eye on
her. "When will he ever learn?" she asked me.
Slowly
but surely all the muckity-mucks made their way through the doors.
All the nerve of them keeping us waiting. I did enjoy hanging out
with Beth, though. We didn't really know each other terribly well
except through e-mail. The old skool e-mail, on the electronic
bulletin board. There were several girls back in the day that existed
in reality, yet I only knew through e-mail, and Beth was probably my favorite
one to e-converse with. Gawd I hate cyberspeak. Anyway, Sean
came in later and I hung out with him, too. I'd seen Sean earlier
at the toy store, and my sister Holly said it's the most human he's ever
looked. His beard's usually all scrappy, and his hair's usually long
and all that. And we'd never seen him in a tuxedo. 
I
also had the privelage of meeting their mother for the first time, so I
got a good photo of the three Williams' together. All those times
of hanging out at Sean's house, and not once running into his folks.
I guess they were usually asleep by the time I'd get there, or otherwise
occupied. When I first met Sean, Eric had told me about kissing the
ground after getting out of the car with him, and how he'd take Back Beach
Road about eighty miles per hour. Of course, with my infamous u-turns
in front of Mack Trucks, and hitting the drive-thru entrances around fifty-five
or so, he kissed some ground with me, too. Sean has a knack for saying
the funniest possible thing regarding certain situations. I'll never
forget walking into the Internet lab at Gulf Coast Community College once
when Sean was looking for Star Wars sound files. I said "hey Sean,
what's up?" He said "I'm searching for waveforms. I just...love..searching
for waveforms! (sung) Wave-forms, you tiny little wave-forms..."
a la Star Trek -- Generations.
Ah,
finally the groom decides to grace us with his presence! Good of
you to show up to your own wedding reception, Eric! Perhaps you can
tell the rest of us what the square root of... nevermind. Oh, and
that guy just behind him is my rival photographer. Ha, I say.
I got MUCH better shots than he could have hoped for. I got action
shots, buddy. Including this one. People just look more realistic
if you don't tell them before you take the picture. Just ask Sean
Penn. The only problem with guerilla photography is that composing
the shot isn't easy, since you're too worried about actually getting the
picture in the first place to concern yourself with rules of thirds or
lighting conditions or anything. God bless Adobe. When I get
rich and famous, I'm buying every Adobe program out there. So anyway,
Eric walked in, Carla walked in, everybody was happy. 
I
took all these pictures, and then everybody changed out of their dresses
and tuxes, except me because I didn't know we were allowed to change clothes.
Of course, Justin jumped into the photo without me knowing, and I didn't
really see any point to cloning him out of the shot. Oh well, if
the Prestons want a print of this or anything, I'll just have to bite the
bullet. It's pretty simple, just curtains and a table. I've
done worse. The bottom rung of the ladder in the "Ghosts" image in
my gallery didn't exist. It was all cloned. I tried to get
everybody head-to-toe whenever possible, like one of those movie premier
shots you see in Cosmo. Some things you can only crop so much.
I wish I could show all this stuff to Eric and Carla in person, but unfortunately
they decided to up and leave for Europe. Heck, I don't even know
whether they've seen this stuff or not. I hope they like it.
I don't do entire web sites for just anybody. These pages are for
anybody who missed the ceremony, or can't remember much of it. Ha,
see what you missed by being anti-social, Noel?
So
right before everybody had changed and looked casual again, I got Eric,
his mom and dad, and his brother Sean (whose female companion was giving
me and my camera the look of death) in the picture. It was a matter
of pulling teeth, but I was incredibly gentle. So let's see, Eric
goes to Europe with Carla, Sean goes off to the Air Force Reserve, and
Mom and Dad go back to Panama City. Glad they had at least one good
chance to chill together before all heck breaks loose. I don't believe
I'd seen them all together since Eric, Sean and I went with Mark and Aaron
to Pensacola for the Ozzy concert back in May of 1996. Funny that
Eric and I gave up on the idea of joining the military, yet Sean, who wasn't
in ROTC and had longer hair than both of us put together is now signing
up. Expect the unexpected around here. 
So
later on, we all sat around the champagne table, and Justin, Sean, and
Eric were feeling like the Untouchables. So here's my friends putting
on their game faces. This was right before Eric's aunt grabbed us
and made us dance. The nerve of her, interrupting our quality time.
Then along came the bubble blowing ceremony, followed by the wedding present
opening ceremony. I was at the arse end of the field during the bubbles,
and package opening isn't web material, so I went back toward the tables
where Selina's little sister was blowing bubbles to her baby niece.
That's Selina's daughter, to avoid further confusion. That took a
half hour or so, and keeping babies quiet is one of my specialties, so
it was all cool.
Finally,
in the course of my wandering aimlessly, I came across these really cute
young ladies who smiled at me and actually enjoyed having their
picture taken. Later, as I helped Carla's mom in her efforts to direct
the cleanup crew and load the vehicles, I found out the girls are Carla's
cousins. I believe they had been the bridesmaids earlier, but I didn't
get any photos at that time. Anyway, I thought they were immensely
cool, because it's so much easier to take a guerilla photo if the subjects
are already smiling. And it was such a relief after some of the nasty
looks I'd gotten earlier. I guess somebody renewed the ancient belief
that graven images will take your soul away or something like that.
Well, what they don't know won't exactly hurt them, so I will continue
with my guerilla tactics as long as there are weddings to be had, and ceremonies
to be performed. Wherever vanity reigns supreme, I will be putting
the vain in their place. I have presented the wedding of Eric and
Carla Preston in the truest, and most honest context I can. For those
of you who couldn't be there, I hope this gallery and commentary has given
you a better understanding of what it was all about. 
So
if you see me coming, and I've got a camera, watch out. You might
just go on the Internet.