Sorry for the delay, gang. I'm a week behind and it's all because of technology. Between changing email servers (and losing thousands of old messages in the process), new phones and hard drive failures, it's been a challenging few days here at Matt Mendelsohn World Headquarters. In the end, everything worked out fine, though I admit there were times I was ready to bite someone's head off.

(Without a doubt, the lowest point came when our new Google Apps email wasn't working and I tried to actually contact a human being at that company. Trust me when I tell you there aren't any human beings who actually work there. Not a one. And if I had to try and guess one more password word puzzle--you know, those twisting teasers like "karpuzziness" and "schnizzleoppittt" that confirm you're not a spammer--I would have really gone off the deep end. It's hard enough to spell schnizzleoppittt when it's displayed straight and proper. But throw in those gyrating letters and my blood pressure starts to rise real fast.)

Anyway, beautiful wedding pictures of beautiful couples always calm me down a bit and so I'm here to show you a few sneak peeks from the wedding last Saturday of Lauren Davis and  Vance Townsend. As had been the case, it was just a glorious day for a wedding and I was happy to be away from my computer!

I met Lauren and Vance through a former wedding couple, Beth and Chris Burger, who were married at St. Matthew's a few years ago. I'll always remember their wedding because it yielded one of my favorite church pictures ever, this overall (left) from the back of the nave. I usually don't like to take too many chances while the vows are going on, but I couldn't resist throwing on my 16mm for just a few moments to get this image. I know Beth and Chris agree.

Well, times flies when you're having fun and I'm happy to report that Chris and Beth have an adorable son, C.J., who was the ring bearer for Vance and Lauren this past week. As I've said many times before, that's one of the great things about weddings: the generational connections that tie one to another.  I love seeing old friends at new weddings, especially when there's a new little one to show off or a former bridesmaid-now-turned-bride.

As usual, I knew things would go smoothly when I got to Lauren's family home to shoot some of the getting ready pictures. Lauren was standing at the door with a big coat hanger attached to her back, delicately propping up her veil. Hanger aside, she looked radiant. The light in the living room was soft and a big classic Bentley was waiting patiently in front of the house.

Things were fun and easy from the start--especially when Lauren noticed that Vance's letter to her had a slight little spelling correction on the envelope. We all laughed at the sweeteness of it. (Vance, I'm not poking fun, I swear. It was really nice. But you will get grief over this for years to come, man!)

From there it was off to Holy Trinity, which, like St. Matthew's, is one of my favorite places to shoot. It's always accessible and bright, and always yields beautiful images. My old buddy Cliff, who I worked with twenty years ago at United Press International, assisted me from the balcony. Afterwards we all jumped in the Bentley and cruised over to the Capitol. It was a tad hot (okay, it was scorching) but we had fun waving back at all those tourists in their Tourmobiles from our Bentley. We even had a chance to hop on over to Union Station to take some pictues in the shade. No matter how many times I go to this one spot, I always have to shake my head and tell myself that we're not in Italy. (Just watch: every photographer will start going over there now and ruin it! It always happens this way.)

And after all that, it was back to the Fairmont, where guests wined and dined themselves for a while and danced and danced for an even longer while. It was really a perfect day and I wish Lauren and Vance the best. To see a mini gallery of their wedding, click here.

As for me, I'm off to Richmond tomorrow to work on an upcoming story. In a few days I'll post again, this time with photos from another great wedding this weekend. And I'll also be able to let you in on a secret that involves, me, my pictures and a certain museum in the City of Light.

Take care,

Matt