Rachel and Michael

Rachel and Michael are two of America's finest -- just back from serving in Iraq. In fact, that's where they met. Rachel told the story at the reception dinner, generating quite a few giggles in doing so...

It seems when Rachel first met Michael, she didn't pay him any mind because he had a mustache -- not something she is attracted to. But then one day he turned up with the mustache shaved off -- and that was good enough for her! Coincidentally, they were due to go on a mission later in the same military vehicle. Michael looked only slightly embarrassed as Rachel told everyone that his first line to her was: "I hope you know I make weird noises when I'm driving..."

Amid hoots of laughter, he explained that there is no radio or music in the vehicle and he was just keeping himself entertained. Unconventional though it was, Michael's line seemed to work, according to Rachel, as they were inseparable after that.

Rachel and Michael held their ceremony at the Hidden Valley Winery in Illinois amid sweltering late-June heat. It was so hot that one of the locals felt it necessary to tell us about how his best man fainted and fell over at his wedding.

Fortunately, we didn't have to worry about that -- first, Rachel and Michael had no wedding party other than themselves and, second, the pastor made sure the ceremony went quickly so that no one suffered from the heat. In fact, I checked the camera metadata afterwards and, from the time Rachel walked down the aisle to the time they were declared husband and wife, the ceremony took a mere three minutes and 30 seconds!

The winery itself is built around a small lake and has great places to shoot pictures. We had planned to shoot a few in a small vintage pick-up truck at the winery -- but we discovered early in the day that some hornets had decided to nest in the cab! So much for that idea... Fortunately there are so many other places to shoot there that it didn't make a big dent in our plans. But the heat did make it tough going...

Of course, everyone was happy to finally get to the air-conditioned reception house: Paulo's at the Mansion in O'Fallon, IL. It's 182 years old and Paulo acquired it recently and has almost completely restored the building. They've also done a good job on the grounds, which afforded even more places for good photographs as the sun started to fade.

Michael is stateside after the wedding but may return for a tour of duty in about a year's time. Rachel is on terminal leave, which means she'll not be going back to the military and hopes to raise a family sometime in the future.

The couple's families were a lot of fun -- coming from as far away as California for the ceremony. They were also very generous as I think it's the first time that I, as the photographer, have ever been toasted on a wedding day!

My thanks to Rachel and Michael for including me in their plans and my best wishes for a wonderful future together.