I once had a boss at USA Today who had a great outlook on just about everything. The first person to introduce me to Maryland blue crabs at a welcome barbecue at his home in the summer of 1988, Paul Whyte had an expression that I'll always fondly remember. Whether he was peeved at some broken photo transmitter or angry at some news editor who had just eliminated a photo spread from the next morning's paper, Paul would always shrug his shoulders and say, "It's a smile."

Nothing ever fazed Paul's cheery outlook on things. And if you ever asked him how many days until his retirement--when he could finally fish on Lake Anna morning, noon and and night--he would tell you, "224 and three hours." He knows how to enjoy life and he's probably sitting in a rowboat right now as I type this, waiting for some bass to bite. This Bud's for you, Paul. (He'll laugh at that because he always made fun of my non-beer drinking ways.)

And for some reason, when I sat down just now to write about the remarkably relaxed and joy-filled wedding of Natasha and Wade this past Saturday at the Fairmont, all I could hear in my head was Paul Whyte saying, "It's a smile."

Everything about their wedding, including our fun engagement session on Natasha's parent farm in Madison, Virginia, was punctuated with smiles and laughter. There was not a moment of stress to be found for a six block radius of 24th and M Saturday.

(I know I'm supposed to very impartial in these musings, lest I offend another couple down the road with less enthusiastic prose. But let's cut the baloney right now: I adore Natahsa and Wade, their warm and funny families, their crazy siblings (yes, Wesley, this Bud's for you), and their dog, Blue. There. I said it.)

Seriously, folks, these guys all get it. Weddings were never meant to be drama-filled festivals of stress. That's a product of too many television networks featuring shows called "Bridezilla." Weddings should be filled with laughter, not tension, and Natasha and Wade were clearly raised by great parents who imbued this sense into them. In fact, I've never seen a groom's mother ham it up so much at a wedding.

Natasha started the day by walking into her suite at the Fairmont, laughing with her sister as they laughed at the box of flowers awaiting them on the table. She didn't stop smiling for eight hours. She laughed with Wade, as she wiped lipstick off his cheek, when the two saw each other for the first time. They laughed in the gorgeous antique Bentley that took them to St. Matthews. They laughed as they saw friends from their perch on the altar. In fact, they may be the first couple to keep winking at me during a Mass. And we all laughed as the caretaker of St. Matthews rather rudely slammed the door on us as he was locking up the church. (This has happened to me before but never right in front of the bride and groom. Finally, third party confirmation of the indecencies to which I am subjected!) Luckily, just as we were about to let our good mood be tarnished by a dope, a couple of strange women came to the rescue, asking Natasha and Wade to pose with a Flat Stanley cutout. We all started laughing again.

And so it went. Wesley, Wade's brother, delivered an hysterical toast and I thought Natasha was going to pass out she was laughing so hard. (One of our favorite regular readers of The Dark Slide, Bruce Snell of Kansas likes to peek at  the metadata that is stored in these images, to see what lens speed I'm shooting at. This next image was shot at a 1/20th at f1.4 at 1600. Now that's a smile!) Wesley pretty much made me laugh every time he opened his mouth, always telling me how crooked my tie was or something.

As usual, my very best to Wade and Natasha, sitting on a beach in Puerto Rico today, sipping pina coladas. If anyone deserves a break from D.C. right now, it's them. And to see more photos from their wedding, click on photo galleries in the right hand column or just follow this link.

Take care,

Matt