People will often ask me when wedding season "begins," a question I'm never sure quite how to answer. My first wedding this year was January 19th and we've been going ever since. But to be fair, there is a point each year where it feels like Mendelsohn's wedding march truly gets going (bad play, I know) and it's probably right now.

Starting with the marriage of Naomi Downour and Alexander Hines this past weekend, I'll be attending a wedding pretty much every weekend of the year. If that doesn't constitute the start of a season, I don't know what does!

I'll always be grateful to Naomi. She was the first bride to book me who specifically cited my Washington Post story as the main reason. Given that there were no photos of mine in the Post story--just photos of me looking sweaty and miserable--I take that to mean she was touched by the sentiment. I was relieved, of course, that she liked my pictures, as well. That's always a plus for a wedding photographer.

Naomi and Alexander were married at the Old Post Chapel at Ft. Meyer and from there we headed out for some pictures. Headed out is probably a stretch, since we only had to walk about two hundred feet from the chapel door to find a glorious magnolia tree in full bloom. That was easy.

After pictures, we headed out towards Delaplane, Virginia, where Alexander's parents have a beautiful house surrounded by fifty acres of rolling hills. It was from this area that Stonewall Jackson began staging troops for the first Battle of Manassas. Our trip was decidedly shorter than theirs, assuming there were no limos back in 1865, though we all fell asleep in the car anyway.

After we arrived in Delaplane, Kyan, Naomi and Alexander's two-year-old son woke up from his nap and joined the party. He looked very dapper in his little tux and red Crocs--Mario Battali would be proud. And Matt Lisack, my trusty assistant for the last couple of years, made a beautiful photo of the two of them on the hill outside the Hine's home.

Now that we have this new blog, one of the things we can do much easier than in the past is create quickie galleries. And I'll waste no time trying this new feature out. If you click Photo Galleries in the column to the right, you can take a sneak peek at some of the photos from Naomi and Alexander's wedding.

That's all for now. As I get a little more comfortable with this new blog template I'll figure out how to do a better job of wrapping text and the like. Until then, take care.

Matt