Er, we got married, too. Here are our photos. Scroll down to the bottom to read about the event.
























Lena and I set out to get married oh, fives months ago. I could honestly say we're a lot closer. Our reception for our parents was a lot of fun. September 20th will live forever in my mind as the day I danced as Hector Lavoe, the famous Puerto Rican salsa virtuoso, in front of my parents. Yes, friends. It was quite an event.

The entire point was to give my extended family a chance to celebrate the marriage. And celebrate they did. I still have the pony keg I picked up with my uncle Lanny that morning. It's squatting in the work room, probably totally foam.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning, Katy, mom, Sara, Bina, Mindy, Deivis, Pat and Lena brought baskets of food and transformed our modest apartment all-electric wannabe kitchen into a living thing that ate flour and spit out delicious treats.

The food was better than good. It was made by the hands of the people who love us. And everyone pitched in to make the evening entertaining. Our friend Deivis brought his Venezuelan cuatro and my dad brought his guitar. They tried to strike a deal between the harp-like four-string cuatro and the deep, slow pluck of the guitar, but in the end they parted amiably and played samples from both American and Venezuelan traditions. Deivis had the benefit of a choir of female tenors (Linda, Lena, Liz Beth and Sandy) singing along all their might. Dad had me, and I had been drinking. Still, we managed to pull off The Boxer and Bob Dylan's dream, my personal favorite.

The Boxer is special, too, as that was the song dad tried to teach me back in high school. I can still remember a few chords.

One of my best friends, Josh, jumped into his truck in The far northwest corner of Georgia and rocketed into the night with his girlfriend just to be there. My friends Bina and Sarah Epting showed up and kept themselves entertained by marveling at how fast Bina and my sisters' fruit tarts got snarfed. Jennifer took control of the video camera and made history. BTW, she is also a master of dog hair removal, treasure hunting, rollerblading, tropical flower cultiviation and, in case you aren't sold, she gives life-altering back massages. Do I have good friends or what?

Lena's friends added their spice and charisma to the party. Rosario and Jeff sat stylishly on the couch while Liz Beth and her beau chatted in the sofa adjacent. My uncle Lanny grabbed a scotch and joked around with anyone who sat on his arm rest. My engaging, wise aunt Katy met and proceeded to know everyone and like everyone and they all liked her, too. Lena kept the music distinctly mixed, and when some tambore began to play, she encouraged everyone to shake their ass, including me.

Shake I did. I need to learn. The next party is in Venezuela and could last a long time and involve a lot more gluteal input. So I need to practice. I'm getting ready like Rocky. I wake and I practice Spanish every mañana, 7AM via my Rosetta Stone software. I now know EXACTLY what a montaña is and EXACTLY how to wear it, thank you very much. I've also been taking careful notes about Venezuelan culture and slang. I'm up to date on the political state of the country, it's relations to the U.S., Russia and itself. Mr. Chavez, I beg to differ: Shankees are NOT mierrrrrrrrrrda!

Anyway, the party was starting to die down a little, and there was still a lot of food to eat, and I needed people to stay and eat it. so I took action. I jumped into a white nylon suit with a rainbow big-collar suit adorned in gold chains and leapt into the party as a strutting, microphone-wielding Hector Lavoe (special thanks go to my cousin Chad Maness for providing the John Ra-volta costume). It worked. And although now I feel my strategy a little extreme and just slightly embarrassing, for some reason it worked perfectly and no one batted an eye. I love my family.

Ah, the next day...

NOTE: To all prospective brides in the middle of planning your wedding, the true purpose of catoring isn't the food. Anyone can or has family who can cook. It's the fact that the caterer also cleans and packs up everything and takes it away. Another lesson learned the hard way.

So here we are, Lena and I, swimming in the roiling economic seas. We still have work coming in, but there have been cancelations, too. Luckily, we've booked three weddings already for 2009 with a few more decisions in the air. Good times or bad, love reigns, people fall in love and some marry under the warm smiles of the ones they love. I know, it's happened to me. Twice. We enjoy making photographs for these happy people. If you are once of them, please give us a call. www.saldiviajones.com or 404.228.9739. Peace.

Notes

Congrats to Jill and Chris!

The happy couple is (as of this writing) enjoying their honeymoon in Italy, and Lena is extremely jealous. Lena did three tours of Italy during the course of her life thus far, and loved every single trip, particularly the north of Italy. I haven't had the opportunity to travel to Europe, but from talking to Lena, Italy is near the top of the list when we eventually go. If you wish to read more about the wedding, scroll to the bottom of the update.

































The wedding was held at The Swan House in The Atlanta History Center grounds near Buckhead. It was an absolutely stunning location, the only caveat being a complete lack of power to all the most photogenic areas of the grounds.

Note to Self: Purchase better battery-operated lighting system.

Not that it would have mattered. There was little time to fool with. The bride had eight bridesmaids and the groom had his own tuxedo-clad platoon in tow. Add to that a massive, camera-equipped family and we had quite a handful before the wedding. Luckily for us, Lena got some one-on-one time with the bride in the Swan House just before the ceremony and nailed some dynamite portraits.

The next week we went to a Pictage User Group meeting where two of California's best wedding photographers, Michael and Anna Costa, talked at length about how they became successful. Needless to say, my pen nearly went dry I wrote so many notes. A few points stuck out in my mind, particularly along the lines of client relations and marketing. This couple outsourced almost every aspect of their business. All they had to do was shoot the weddings and rub elbows with clients.

Mike and Anna made sure first of all that they only worked for clients who made a point of setting aside ALOT of time for pictures and stuck to that schedule. That way they had the room to scout, plan and execute some of the best portraits I have ever seen, period. Also, they pinpointed the people they wanted to work for by working closely with vendors and planners they respected. They had a pretty killer website, too, which Saldivia-Jones needs to invest in as well.

Lena and I came away from the meeting charged and inspired. We met lots of other photographers from the Atlanta area, many of whom are amazing shooters. We'll probably be going to a lot more of these meetings as out business develops.

Congrats Kirti and Anshu!


























The beautiful couple is actually going to be married in India come February, but they hosted an engagement party for Stateside friends and family at the King and Prince Resort on St. Simons Island on the Georgia coast. It was a party centered around having fun with friends and family. Lena and I stayed at their family-owned hotel in Brunswick and had a lot of fun. After 10, the couple even invited us to put our cameras down and join in the dancing! Lena got carried around on the shoulders of an enthusiastic uncle and I learned how to dance Hindi-style. Overall, one of the best events we've ever shot!

--Notes