73/365: A Bridesmaid's Slow Descent Into Madness...

I've skipped photo number 72 for the moment. It's on a roll of film yet to be developed, so I'll upload when it exists. In the meantime, here is number 73, or the tale of a bridesmaid's descent into madness. Katie's (pictured x 3) long time friends, Nicole and Steve were tying knot. Naturally, having set the two up (and, well, the bit where Katie has known Nicole their whole lives), Katie was announced bridesmaid. The perk your girlfriend being being part of the bridal party is that you're an automatic special case invite to the wedding (yay!). Unfortunately you also get to watch the stress of being a bridesmaid send your partner slowly mad :P The wedding was in Newcastle, so it was a big drive. Me, Katie, another of the Canberra bridesmaids, and another of the forever-friends cohort drove up the Thursday night before the Saturday wedding to allow the bridesmaids to be present for their bridesmaidsly duties. We arrived about 6 or 7 hours later to meet the stressed bride and promptly fall asleep. Not being part of the bridal party, but being around while they do their thing is kind of fun. I had a great day and a half, heading to the beach, filling up on coffee, having a nap, editing some photos. The day of the wedding, I was lucky enough to get a nice long rock climb in with Sam the maid of honour's boyfriend. The bridal party, on the other hand, were bundles of stress and nerves... Come 4PM the day of, Sam and I had driven to the venue, a little unconsecrated chapel in the Hunter Valley. The ceremony was nice, simple, and elegant. After the ceremony, while the bride and groom were getting their photos taken, the stress must've subsided in the bridal party, because things got very silly. Katie calls me over to take photos of (gay) groomsman Tom getting fake married to bridesmaid Rasa. Katie poses next to a stained glass window depicting Jesus, and excitedly poses next to a door even smaller than she. We head outside and she promptly kicks off her shoes, and decides the bouquet would make a nice replacement for her head! Reception followed, eating, merriment, and dancing happened, much champagne was imbibed, and a good time was had by all. I didn't take very many photos. The bride and groom asked that we refrained from shooting during the ceremony (so the pros could do their work and the guests simply watched), and at that point I realised I just wanted to have fun instead of looking at the whole event through a lens!