As a young man with a lust for photography, I thought it would be great to take wedding pictures. Until I realized that: A, It meant working every weekend. B, It’s not nearly as much fun as taking pictures of bikes and bike events. Over the years friends have asked if I will take the pictures at their big event. I generally decline, with excuses about how good the real wedding photographers are, and how it’s a one-time deal and they should get the best talent money can buy.
Friends Laura and Brett weren’t taking no for an answer however. Explaining that since this was the second time for both of them, and a very informal affair, they wanted to have a friend take the photos. Thus I spent the last weekend on the north shore of Lake Superior, north of Duluth, Minnesota, almost all the way to the little town of Tofte.
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Lake Superior is the biggest fresh water lake in the world, and the view is incredible – day or night.
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We spent Friday night doing a short rehearsal of the wedding, eating some great chops off the grill, and enjoying the view and the solitude. The actual event was scheduled for 4:00 PM on Saturday, on the lawn just below the deck. Somehow it didn’t really happen until almost 5;30, and no body seemed to care. As Laura explained, “the idea is to have fun, this event is for us, not anybody else.”
Dinner at the Blue Fin restaurant followed the wedding, which was in turn followed by a couple of hours at the street dance in Beaver Bay. We felt a little silly mingling with the locals; the guys in their camo-gear and girls in their hottest Saturday night outfits. No one seemed to care however, and pretty soon the band was playing a slow number “for the wedding party.”
The whole event, the entire evening, was so low-key and stress free, without the anxiety that often seems an integral part of the typical big wedding, that I told Brett and Laura that they should market a how-to video: How to Have Fun At Your Wedding.
If you’re wondering what they did with all the pissed off friends and relatives who didn’t get invited, well they all received invitations to the big party being held back home in two weeks time.
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Some couples would opt for a fancy high-falootin’ joint where people drink red wine while they listen to jazz – and then there’s Brett and Laura at the street dance drinkin’ Budweiser.
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