10 things I learned from my first wedding

photo by @danaemoran
I took away a few points from Tom and Camila's day that I want to share with you all! Hopefully, they will help you prepare for your next wedding. Or they might make you laugh. Either is good. These are some things I wanted to scribble down in the middle of the ceremony to make sure I remembered them for next time. In the midst of the hurry and flurry and curry (oops, forget I said that) of the day, these are some things I discovered in the course of the day. Happy Wednesday!

1. Never wear a dress with sleeves. This is the middle school equivalent of coming to school with the wrong pair of converse -- not that I would know, because I'm homeschooled. Not only will you look uncool, but you will be hot. And sweaty. And that last one is only acceptable when it's time to dance, as long as you are surrounded by other like-dancing people who are hot sweaty messes too.

2. Start your day with cinnamon bagels. No, really! Even half a bagel will give you the added boost that you need to get through the morning. Cinnamon is optional (read: necessary). And if there's the added benefit of fruit, swipe as many blueberries as you can cram into your mouth without looking like a chipmunk.

3. Always have your coffee. Always. If you only take away one thing from this whole post, please take this point. When the designated coffee getter is grabbing a mocha for the bride, politely petition her to pick up a green tea frapp from Starbucks. And if you have a barista friend who scribbles a sweet note onto your cup, that's an added bonus AND a bit of encouragement.

4. Smile. If you accidentally pop your focusing screen down next to your sensor because you tried to slip on an efs lens onto your mk 2 without realizing it's not compatible until AFTERWARDS, do not panic. Smile and hide your shaking hands. And then pop the silly screen back in place and laugh at yourself, because you've got this. When you're faced with the prospect of rain, smile and start scouting indoor locations. When all the wedding guests are cutting a mean rug on the dance floor and you have no idea what to do because, let's face it, homeschool proms aren't always all that happenin', smile. And follow along in the cupid shuffle, because it's as easy as one-two-three.

5. Be loud and in charge during the family formals. Think of how hard it is to get a good Christmas Card photo: twenty plus takes of "say cheese" might wear thin on your patience and you'll end up with grimaces instead of grins. Now multiply that number by thirty, add a hot sticky day, factor it by the square root of dappled sunlight, divide it by the rapidly dwindling time, subtract it by the stares of passerbys you'll get while assembling groups of many numbers, and you'll have your family formals. This is where you need to pull a Fezzik from Princess Bride, cup your hands, and yell, "EVERYBODY MOVE!" It might help if you're 7'7 like Andre the Giant, but if not, fake it until you make it. You're not wearing heels for nothing!

6. Bring more memory cards than you think you'll need. And then double it. This will ensure that you don't have to rapidly transfer seven 4gb cards during the thirty minutes of down time before the ceremony. It will also ensure that you will be able to casually change memory cards with no sweat. Think Adele accepting her awards at the Grammy's. Smooth and effortless. "Let me just switch my card quick...alright!"

7. Wear flats for the reception. After the ceremony is done, slip off (or more appropriately, pry) the heels off of your feet and pull on some nice flats. This is a good time to bring bandaids, because unless you were smart and broke in your heels before the ceremony, you will have blisters galore. If you don't have fat feet like some people (um...me) then feel free to ignore this one.

8. Have a food pocket. I read this post by Kristen and laughed...and after shooting Tom and Camila's wedding, was ready to set my camera bag up with a 40% gear to a 60% food ratio. If you are unlucky enough to have exhausted your vast stores of snacks before the ceremony begins, ask for a granola bar. The bridesmaids are nice, encouraging, and sometimes, they will gift a sweaty photographer frantically transferring images to her computer a granola bar.

9. Practice your sprints. You will be on the other side of the Church, snapping a shot of the couple as they light their unity candles when inevitably, they will walk to the other side for their First Communion as man and wife. When this happens, think back to Kickball in gym class and race around the back of the Church like the bases are loaded and you're the tiebreaker for the end of the year game. When you get to the other side, informally known as "Home Base", resist the urge to yell "SAFE!" as you casually shoot the Bride and Groom. Small fist bumps are allowed here as long as they can be misinterpreted as changing your camera settings.

10. Have fun. Know your stuff, be prepared, be present, but have a good time. There's nothing more frustrating than a crabby wedding photographer (speaking from friends experiences here). The couple hired you to shoot their wedding because they clicked with you, your photos resonated with them, and hey! they wanted you to shoot their special day. So keep that in mind, have a good time, and tell their story like only you can. If you're lucky, you'll even be able to grab a slice of cake...and who isn't happy when faced with the prospect of some chocolatey goodness?

Have any first-time wedding tips? Any wedding stories? Share them below!

The Chocolate Bunny Saga

When my dad was a kid (think four or so), one Easter, he and his older sister Laura both got chocolate bunnies. Now, these were the real deal -- big, rich, and oh-so-chocolatey. As is often the case with little boys, he made short work of his Easter bunny and promptly devoured it. Laura, on the other hand, took a tiny bite and put it away in the freezer in the basement.


In the next few weeks, Laura would venture downstairs and eat some of her bunny, tearing off small bites each time. My dad, who had no Easter candy left, finally got to thinking that he'd like some more chocolate. So, everytime Laura would go downstairs to nibble some of her bunny, he would go down after and eat some too.


It was a great system! He would end up with just a little chocolate and no one would be the wiser. Pretty soon, the bunny was all but gone. The only thing left were the feet. One day, Laura ventured down to the basement saying, "I think I want to have some of my bunny...I haven't had any since Easter." My dad froze. Laura came upstairs, puzzled. "Well, I can only find your bunny, Todd -- only the feet are left. But where's mine?" To which my dad answered, "Uh, that is your bunny."


We discovered our chocolate Easter bunny was missing ears...and soon found the culprit. Four year old Elijah. A chocolate love must run in the family, and that easy to snap, easy to share must be just a little too easy. Oh, well. It got eaten and we had a chance to relieve the infamous bunny story. We even laughed a little (a lot) about it. And that's what really matters. Besides...look at that cute face! His smile gets me everrry time.

Happy Friday! xo

the many faces of eli

The other day at lunch, 'Lijah showed us all of his faces. He demonstrated them in the middle of eating a sandwich stuffed with luncheon meats and veggies while talking to Sam and grabbing a few more chips. "Okay, now, what's your...mad face?" I asked. He crinkled his nose and bared his teeth and glared at me from under his conductor hat. "Show me your excited face?" His scowl transformed into a grin that made me laugh.

One of my favorite things about being the oldest is watching the littles grow up. Hearing their stories, listening to them play piano (chopsticks never sounded so good), reading them books, and tickling them until we can't stop laughing. I love their knock-knock jokes (Eli's are all variations on the same theme), mismatched socks, sticky kisses, messy faces, and giggles. Mostly, I love them. Everyday that passes I'm reminded of how blessed I am to be their big sister.

a merry meringue mishap

I have had many disasters in the kitchen. I've had glass pans shatter, have dried out noodles, spilled things, dropped things, overcooked and undercooked things, and made many messes. In the past year, my cooking has become good and tasty, which (my whole family) is actually thankful for. I haven't had any more mishaps or spills, though I admit to quite a lot of messes.

But (there's always a but -- you should know this by now, especially if I'm talking), yesterday, I had my first Christmas Disaster. I hope that it'll be my first and last, but you never can tell. Especially in the holiday season. You see...we've been making meringues lately (probably six or so batches), and I was determined to make a batch that would set properly. Every batch of mine I had overwhipped, so while they tasted good, they weren't melt-in-your mouth or fluffy. (if you're friends with me on facebook, you know where this is going)

So there I was, whipping my meringues and contemplating life (ha!) when the meringue batter (what do you call something that's just egg whites, sugar, and peppermint extract?) started spraying everywhere. And I mean everywhere. The counters, floors, cupboards, and everything in the surrounding area, including myself, got a nice thick splatter of sticky white unbaked meringues.

I frantically tried to turn the handmixer off -- instead of just pulling the plug like a smart fast-thinking person would -- and only when the whisk stopped whisking did I notice that one of the tines had broken off and was sticking straight out. I quickly cleaned up the mess on all the surfaces, while the egg mixture dried in my hair (groooss). My shirt was splattered with white like I got into a bad snowball fight and I was sticky all over.
And I smelled like peppermint. So that was a...plus?

I would have shared some photos from my cooking escapade, but I was so stunned (and sticky) that I didn't take any -- ha! -- so I'm sharing some of sweet Sam. Have you had any holiday or cooking disasters? Or (bonus!) both? I'd love to hear them! We can laugh about them together. And then I'll wash the sugary egg out of my hair (kidding -- as soon as the kitchen was cleaned, so was I). Happy Friday!

adorkable.

I'm not sure what prompts me to put up these posts.

Perhaps its my great humility.

Maybe it's the fact that it's been a hard week and Sam's been sick, so I need to write something lighthearted.

Or, really, it could just be because I like to laugh, and don't mind doing it at my own expense.

You decide.

Anyways, I'd like to present my brand new e-book...

Aren't you excited?

Wait. Don't answer.

This book is for the photographer in all of us. There's all sorts of tips on how to flip your hair and fail, use sunflare to the worst advantage, and, oh yeah, make a mean Leia Organa hairstyle.

Y'know. Everything you need to know to go pro.

Okay, not really.

My favorite chapter is chapter five. It's all about getting that crazy burning-hair look that's so popular. Believe me, have your clients attempt this and you'll be a winner everytime.

Because seriously, who doesn't want a picture of themselves with flaming locks?

And of course, no one can forget the Killer Model Looks on page fifty-two. It's gold, baby. Or at least something like that.

Moving on.

It's on sale right now on Amazon for a limited price of only $999.99 -- hurry and get it while it's still hot!

What? You thought I was serious? ;)

Happy Thursday!

Loads of love,
Hannah

Yesterday I made...fudge.

Yesterday was one of those deliciously yummy summer days when the weather is perfect and you're just itching to do something--anything--as long as it's exciting.




So I made fudge. I'm not sure that's necessarily considered exciting, but it was spontaneous enough for me that it made for a fun afternoon. Being the amazing chef that I am (HA! I usually just leave it to my sister, Chloe, because she's actually good.) I googled "five ingredient recipe fudge." and "easy fudge." Because I'm just that talented.

Seriously.

I ended up going with a recipe that seemed simple enough. I'd hunt it down for you, but you can find oodles of fudge recipes at allrecipes.com (where I went). You can find oodles of any recipe there, actually. It's a stockpot. Hence the "All Recipe" part.



So my journey began. I was venturing in the vast wild unknowns of fudge. As we have no microwave (sadly, it died a few weeks ago) I had to make the fudge on the stove. Did you know that fudge can burn? My mom reminded me a few times. I was not gonna have burned fudge on my hands, no-siree-bob! (I was actually hoping not to have burned fudge in the pan either...)



Then my mom said to just put the ingredients in a glass bowl and put the bowl inside a pan. What? Okay. I'll trust her. Even though she did just buy The Joys of Jello cookbook. (I admit, it was for sentimental reasons.) Won't the glass break? I asked (I had earlier asked to just use a glass bowl on the stove--ouch! And you didn't believe me when I said I was no maestro!)

"Nope." She assured me, and with visions of glass exploding and shattering in my face, along with burnt fudge, I began. I had several moments of panic, because I couldn't find a few ingredients (after I poured the other ingredients in the bowl of course--oh, boy!) and then some pan issues, and all, but I was ready. I hadn't been waiting to do something spontaneous all day to end up with burnt fudge and glass in my hands. And a trip to the ER. Nope. Didn't want that either.



As my water began to boil, I frantically put the glass bowl in the pot and waited for the ingredients to start melting. Panicked, I saw only little smears of chocolate chips--no full blown, "Hey, look at me--I'm melting, what a world, what a world!" Granted, it hadn't been a minute yet. Don't look at me like that!



I lifted the bowl out of the pot for a moment and was deluged with steam. Yowch. Add second degree burns to that list of injuries I didn't want to come into the ER for. I put it back in and stirred the ingredients and they turned into goop! Really ooey, gooey goop.

That freaked me out. Of course I would be the one to end up with inedible fudge--typical Hannah.



But then, something magical happened. The goop turned into soft, thick and completely mixed in fudge! It wasn't goopy anymore! And it smelled good. Really, really good. Enough for my siblings to snitch some of it off the spoon.

Perhaps I wasn't a flop after all! The first time since making it, I had hope.

I spooned into a pan and then tried to smooth it out. Tried. How on earth do those chefs get perfectly flat and smooth pans of fudge? And you know what chefs I'm talking about. Those chefs, the ones on Food Network who can make anything look and taste good with no sweat. And they never get burned by fudge, or have glass blow up and shatter in their face, or make trips to the ER because of burns from steam. (luckily, I hadn't either, but I still wasn't clear.)

After I put the pan of fudge in the freezer I waited patiently for it to be done. It took about a half an hour to set and get firm. I checked it at 20 minutes, took it out, and asked my mom to tell me what she thought. She pushed it with a finger and said, "It's done." I however, wasn't so convinced. It wasn't that hard. Clearly her overeagerness to taste my delicious fudge had blinded her to such a degree that she would do anything to eat it. Or maybe she just didn't like super hard fudge. But I, being selfless, said that I'd put it in the freezer for ten more minutes. There was a loud groan from my siblings because of this.

This was how I looked.



Like I said, I was patient. Then I cut it (and probably bended the spatula I cut it with. Yes, spatula. I didn't want to end up accidentally cutting myself! That fudge was hard then!) and took the smallest piece for myself. Which in hindsight, I question, but it was the most accessible.

By then, my siblings were standing near me with plates. Yes, plates. For fudge. Sorry, kiddos, I'm not that generous with my portion sizes.

I had a small spasm of panic. What if it doesn't taste good? What if no one likes it? What if it just tastes like melted chocolate chips? These thoughts did not stop me from tasting it. So far, I hadn't had glass explode, the fudge burn, get burned myself, or accidentally cut myself cutting the fudge. So far so good.

And then, it got better.

That fudge was good. And so worth it. Even despite all of my fears (however reasonable or highly unreasonable they were.) Now I've gotta get rid of it. Oh, wait. Never mind. It's almost gone. All my hard labor (hee hee...) devoured. Like flies to honey. Like moths to light. Like my siblings to the fudge. Wait. Oh, right. It was my siblings.



What have you done that was spontaneous lately?

The Watermelon Cake

Once upon a time, there was a girl who was turning 8. She wanted a boombox for her birthday, and an incredible cake.

On her birthday, her mom and sister decided to go out to Target and buy her a cake. They come back with a fabulous looking...watermelon cake.

The girl hates it. As in really bad. She's afraid to tell her mom and sister that though, because they're very excited about it, and think it's very cool. They think that she loves it.

She doesn't of course. And the truth finally comes out.

They are, undoubtedly, upset and somewhat confused. What girl doesn't want a fabulously cool cake in the shape and color of a watermelon?

Well, this girl doesn't. But that's besides the point.

They eat it anyways. The girl glares at it and is caught between feelings of disgust, bewilderment and guiltiness. Her mom was so excited. How could she--the girl--not like it? But then again, how could someone have such bad taste...?

Flash forward to another birthday. A fourteenth birthday. A few days before her actual birthday, her mom and sister come home from Target, bringing with them, oh, yes...

A watermelon cake.

disclaimer no. 1: all of this is true.
disclaimer no. 2: she really did hate the cake the first time.
disclaimer no. 3: but she loved it the second time.
disclaimer no. 4: the cake is one of the best cake that she's ever had.

What I learned yesterday...

My sister and I went with a couple of friends to a fair yesterday, and I learned some very invaluable things. Such as...

They like to look at their "fat" reflections on the side of the car.

Trying to take a photo of your feet while walking does not work.

My sister is a cutie. Oh, wait, I already knew that. I told you though.

If Hayley sees you taking a picture, she'll quickly put her hair behind her ear.

Even an overexposed image can't stop these girls from looking cute.

It is possible to take a picture where everybody is actually looking and smiling.

In her spare time, Hayley doubles as a jester.

Deer are considered "Exotic Animals." (the sign said so.)

Zedonks do exist.

After walking around with flipflops, your feet will look like this.

Purple cows like to sit on people...

...and hug them.

(the above two were not posed. promise.)

If you take a picture in the shadow of your house, it will end up looking like this.

So you need to find a sunbeam.

Then take the picture there.

And any day that ends with this...

...is a good one.