Early in May we were lucky enough to be invited to photograph the wedding of Michelle and Allen. One of Michelle's best friends from high school, Becka, was one of my students when I taught photojournalism at the University of southern Mississippi. Becka told Michelle she should hire us to photograph her wedding. Thanks Becka! What a fun wedding ... well, I should say two weddings. The first ceremony--a Persian Aghd--took place on Friday night.

The next day everyone headed for the sand in Long Beach, Mississippi where a storm was trying to blow in. It was actually rather nice to have the cloud cover for the wedding -- both for the cooling effect and for the quality of light created. Before the wedding began, the bride hid behind a cover of parasols. (You can see it from both angles above and below.) The grooms wore khaki pants and casual white shirts with sand dollar boutonniere.

Here are a few of our favorite photos from the day.

And I'm honored to report that this photograph of the kiss at the end of the ceremony won a Wedding Photojournalist Association award.

It's taken us a while, but we've finally gotten around to sharing ceremony and reception photos from the Persian Aghd we posted about earlier. What a fun ceremony. The bride gets to pretend like she doesn't hear the officiant who is asking her if she is ready for marriage. Guests are encouraged to say the bride is out picking flowers or enjoying the sunny weather or some such. The ceremony is one of the most playful I've ever experienced. The reception was filled with delightful moments as well. Family members throwing money and dancing with hankies and friends and family taking part in the "knife dance." Here are a few favorites from the ceremony and reception: