Summer Weddings

Since my own wedding in March, I have a whole new appreciation for my friend's weddings. I never really loved them before. They always seemed so expensive, so archaic and so rooted in antiquated rhetoric that I found them to be somewhat alienating. Plus I felt so much pressure being single at everyone else's weddings. I'm probably too cynical to ever really LOVE weddings the way every little girl is supposed to anyway. My mantra when planning my own wedding was to "never support the "the Wedding Industrial Complex" not "I want to be a princess."

But even as a staunch supporter of simplicity and the occasional elopement, it was so hard to stay level headed when virtually every magazine scared the credit card right out of my purse. The wedding industry is so focused on informing people what they need in order to have a glorious day, that we all get a little lost. Every fancy little favor, signature drink, keepsake, flock of doves and embossed napkin beckoned to me and it took the last of my willpower to fight them off.

Now that all the pressure to be bejeweled and perfect is gone, I realize that I am genuinely in love with watching other people get married. I don't care a lick about how fancy the party is all I care about is the love. I am a love leach. I am totally and completely addicted to how much boundless love thickens the air during a ceremony. I cry every time. So, I guess since I made it through my wedding gauntlet, I can now attend other people's weddings without the pressure to perform, just the compulsion to support and enjoy.

My first wedding this Summer was a beautiful black and white beach wedding in Malibu. My friends Joe and Julie got hitched surrounded by the Julie's daughter Grace, family, friends and the ocean's chorus. Here are some of my favorite images from that day.