Monday, May 26, 2008

what a weekend




So Jeana and I finally figured out how to add her as an author to this blog, and I think, if all goes according to plan, she and I are going to be doing separate posts soon enough.

This weekend we spent in Hendersonville, N.C. shooting the wedding of one of Justin's friends from school. There were four of us, Justin, Jeana, me and Nate, another one of Justin's friends. Four wedding photographers might sound liked a tad bit of overkill, but I assure you it was justified for this wedding. To start, there were 10 groomsmen and 16 bridesmaids. . . the dress was amazing (Vera Wang) and then rented out almost all of two different summer retreats. We haven't gone through the wedding photos yet, so I'm not going to spend too much time describing it on this post, but I'll cover Saturday's events.

After driving through Tennessee to get to North Carolina for about five hours, we arrive at this really idyllic place. There's this huge lodge that three stories tall and that's the first thing we see. It's pretty much filled with wedding party guests, etc. We figured out we were staying in a "cabin" with Nate, his wife Rebecca and another of Justin's friends from school, Laura. Nate and Rebecca didn't get there until Sunday afternoon so we spent most of the day just hanging out and exploring the place.

This "cabin" was nicer than most of the places I've lived over the past few years. It had a built in fireplace, AC, a huge porch with a hammock nearby, a washer and dryer and a king sized bed on the second floor, where the three of us slept. Oh yeah, and a bathtub with jets. . . which will come in to play later.

After we got over the grandeur of the cabin, we headed out back toward the goat field. Vivaldi wafted over the meadow as the goats quietly munched on long strands of summer grass. The air was heavy with heat, pollen and the smell of Kudzo in bloom. We found out later the Vivaldi was from another wedding that was going on that day, but at the time the music was hardly audible but still present. The entire scene was surreal and yet incredibly beautiful.

Needless to say we decided to bond with the goats. We cut across their field and ended up doing some quality bonding with our four legged friends.

On an aside, I think all three of us are allergic to North Carolina. By the time we got across the field we were all leaking profusely from the face. There was a lovely older woman tending to some plants in a greenhouse nearby, so Jeana asked for a tissue. The lady obliged, and we ended up chatting for a while. This woman is the kind of lady I'd like to become one day. She was Belgian, and came here with her husband, who passed two years ago, in the 1940's to find strawberry's they had heard grew in the fields here. Her son owned the resort, and after he sold most of it he kept the house on so she could continue to live there. The lady tended the goats, peacocks, turkeys, ducks and organic garden. . . which was amazing. She also had a 15 year old, little mutt Rat Terrier named Licker, who I really loved. He was like a little sausage with legs.

It turned out she is an artist, and invited us in to look at the children's book she was working on, which will be published in France later this year. It's the story of her family during the war, I think. Justin took a ton of photos, but Jeana and I just chatted. This lady was magnificent.

After we left her, we went down to the lake, where Justin and I jumped in for a swim. Jeana has some amazing photos, and other than a close encounter with wolf spider and a dog that didn't swim well at all, it was quite a bit of fun. Because we went for a dip in our clothing, Justin and I had to walk back barefooted. . . which was just a laugh on the gravel road. The last picture included was shot just after Justin tried to ford the road by walking on Jeana's feet. It didn't work out too well, but it was really cute nonetheless.

The evening ended with us attending a pre-wedding cocktail party in town, but that's more wedding related so I'll save it for another post.

sigh. . . so much to post and so little time.

3 comments:

Nathan Clendenin said...

I put some of my photos from the wedding up at: http://www.nclendenin.com/photos/events/
(if it's not the default gallery - find the "Pitt/Merritt Wedding" album)

Unknown said...

I love this adventure. I miss both your pretty faces; it was so good to see you all in the mitten. Give that friend of yours a hug for me. He looks huggable.

Unknown said...

amazing pictures! sorry john and i missed this party - looks like it could have topped the reception. thank you for the AMAZING photos from the wedding - we love them!!!