No Pictures, Please, but for a Good Reason.

I know, I know, people <i>love</i> to take pictures. Some bring their cameras, others are happy with their smartphones, but all feel this need to document any event with hundreds of photographs. Which is fine, except for one thing - if you're busy setting up a photo, fiddling with your camera, taking into account lighting and focal distance, focusing on keeping your arms still, how much attention are you paying to what's going on in front of the lens? Even if much of that work is taken care of for you by your camera/phone, you're still going to end up doing some fiddling - checking to see if the shot came out well, deleting it if it didn't - and you're going to miss something.

On top of that, there is a study that shows that the more you photograph, the less you remember.

Now, Sarah and I are not the most comfortable in front of groups of people. Neither of us really enjoy being the center of attention. So, for us to present ourselves willingly to our friends and family, and ask for all of you to focus directly on us (and my sister, who will be doing most of the speaking) is kind of a big deal. We are stepping somewhat out of our comfort zones here, and we don't think it is too much to ask for your undivided attention.

In addition, we put this ceremony together ourselves. A good amount of work has gone into it, so, while I can't speak for my wife-to-be or my sister, I can say that I would greatly appreciate if people actually heard what we wrote.

We have hired a professional photographer (Sharon Simpson), and she will be there with two cameras, so there will be plenty of photos from all the angles available after the wedding. You will not be disappointed.

All of that said, this only applies to the ceremony itself. Beforehand, the cocktail hour, the reception - all fair game. The only thing we ask is that if you are taking personal photos during the family photo time with our photographer, Sharon, you let Sharon have precedence (i.e. don't try to get the subjects to look at you when they should be looking at Sharon).

Is anyone else getting exnervanxcited? I just made up that word, but I think it fully encompasses how I feel just three days from the wedding. We've spent so long talking about it and planning it, that it doesn't really feel real that it is almost here! But it is! And we don't really have much left to do! That might be the most surprising thing! We actually planned ahead! I feel like I'm just saying things to include more exclamation points! Ok, I really am! No more exclamation points in this post after this one!

W-3! (I lied!)