Apologies that it took me so long to get these photos up here, but it’s been a little hectic recently. For those of you who haven’t heard, I (Mike) found out a week after the wedding that there was an opportunity for me to move to Munich for work and after discussing it with Katie, we took it! Though this means Katie and I are going to be located on different continents for the next few years, at least it will also mean lots of frequent flier miles and an unlimited supply of Stroopwaffels! Katie is entering her last year of law school in a week or so and upon completion this coming spring she’ll be headed out to Los Angeles to take the music industry by storm. …So, needless to say, it’s been a pretty busy summer.
But without further ado, below is a link to our web album of some of the wedding photos. Thank you Ian Grant for your amazing work!
Please stay in touch, if you’re ever around (in Philly or Germany) let us know! Thank you for all the support and good wishes, we had an amazing time on the trip and at the wedding. All the best to everyone and hopefully we’ll see you again soon!
I’ll simply start off by saying that yesterday was probably the craziest day of our lives. As you probably read in Katie’s previous post, we woke up yesterday morning at 4:00AM, drove for 5 hours to Yosemite, took a bus up to the top of Glacier Point, hiked approximately 10 miles (6 hours) to the Yosemite Valley, then got back in our car and drove another 4 hours to Sonoma. …needless to say, it was a long day.
Our early morning drive from Mammoth Lake to Yosemite was absolutely incredible as we weaved our way through the Sierras on Sonora Pass. The diversity of desert, mountain, valley and forest truly speaks to the beauty of California’s Eastern landscape and definitely helps you stay awake when driving on only a few hours of sleep. Miraculously, our time budgeting was accurate and we arrived in Yosemite just a few minutes before our shuttle bus to Glacier Point. The bus ride up gave me a new-found respect for bus drivers as we snaked along narrow cliffs hundreds or thousands of feet above the canyon below (fortunately Katie was sleeping a good portion of the ride because as you may know, she gets a little nervous in ‘dangerous’ situations).
Once at the top, we disembarked from the shuttle and the true adventure began. Early on, hiking was easy, downhill and dry. Katie and I laughed at what terrible shape we are both in for 23-year-olds and we snacked every so often on some trail mix we brought along. All in all, it was a nice walk through the woods, enjoying the landscape and wildlife (including this rattlesnake that crossed the trail in front of us).
The hike continued for about 3 hours as we descended about 8,000 feet, ascended 2,000 feet, crossed a powerful rushing river and made our way Westward toward the Yosemite Valley. Demanding, certainly, but breathtaking and an amazing way to see the beauty and grandeur of the park.
Just as we arrived at Nevada Falls, roughly the half-way point of our hike (and our target destination for our wedding pictures), we noticed some high winds and a large gray cloud above us — not the best thing to see when you’re 5-miles from camp. At first, we thought it was refreshing (as we were both hot and sweaty from hiking) and sat on the rocks enjoying the view of the falls, the valley below and some much-needed wind and drizzle.
Perhaps we were a little naive, or just too tired to make the connection, but gray clouds, high winds and drizzle usually do not come alone and before we knew it, Katie and I found ourselves being pelted by hail. Then the hail accelerated, grew, and the downpour began. Amazed and in awe by the lighting and the echo of thunder throughout the canyon, we ducked between a tree and a rock to take cover and wait it out.
After about 10-15 minutes of very poor cover from the sideways-blowing ice and rain, we realized that waiting was not an option (especially since we had just passed a bobcat taking cover in a cave less than 10 yards away). We sucked it up, grabbed our gear, and started making our way down the steps (this time of year, and during a storm like this, the steps are some steep, slick granite rocks under about 3-4 inches of fast-moving water).
As we were rushing down the treacherous landscape, I fell and landed on my arm. I thought it may have been broken last night and the very nice girl at the pizzeria where we stopped for dinner had her dad take a look since he was a retired EMT who used to work in Yosemite. Fortunately for me, he said that the only potential break was small and if I wake up tomorrow morning and my arm isn’t black and blue, I should be OK (I woke up this morning, and I think all is good).
We kept on pushing and working our way toward the valley. After another 2 hours of hiking (in the rain and hail with somewhat low morale) we found the most impressive sight of our entire journey — Vernal Falls. Vernal Falls is so powerful this time of year that the water gushes over the falls with the force to spray mist everywhere. This makes for an amazing view, but a pretty dangerous climb down mossy, wet rocks.
Eventually, exhausted, battered and relieved, we made it down to the Yosemite Valley and I can honestly say it was the most physically demanding thing I have ever done (running 10 miles is tough, but hiking 10 miles up and down that kind of terrain is an entirely different experience). We got to the car, changed into some dry clothes, and set off for our 4-hour-drive to wine country.
When we finally arrived around midnight we grabbed some medical supplies (including the world’s natural painkiller – alcohol) and went to sleep, completely exhausted. I apologize for the lack of blog last night, but we were a tad bit tired. I must say, that as much as I make fun of Katie for always being a spoiled little princess, she was a real trooper and did not complain at all. Every time we found ourselves in a terrible position, she just laughed, said “Really?! Really Mother Nature?!” I’ve really got to hand it to her — I was extremely impressed.
After some much needed sleep, we woke up this morning (at 11:45! Yeah!), had a very healthy breakfast of chardonnay and brie, and just let our bodies tell us never to do that ever again. Naturally the best side effect of this kind of physical activity is hunger — a lot of hunger. Which conveniently will be fulfilled by our dinner tonight at one of the best restaurants in the world, French Laundry! Katie and I are pretty tired, hungry and overall in the mood to drink 4 bottles of wine, eat 25 courses and be complete gluttons for the rest of the evening. Tonight should be incredible.
So to recap, I offer the following equation:
10 miles + 9,000 ft altitude + 1 bobcat + 1 rattlesnake + 1 bear + 3 deer + relentlessness wrath of mother nature = 1 unbelievable day
So it is with that behind us that Katie and I prepare our appetites for an unparalleled culinary experience (French Laundry has tailored their extended menu to our trip around the world and will be incorporating global flavors into our dinners this evening). Check back for our experience at the restaurant and several wedding pictures tomorrow. Thanks for reading and we’ll talk to you then!
Today was our first full day in California and let’s just say that things did not exactly go as planned. After arriving in Mammoth Lakes late last night, we planned on waking up as early as possible to hike around Yosemite and check out some of the amazing waterfalls that Mike had read about after the Swine Flu insanity altered our plans. We scheduled a tour at 10:00AM that would take us up to Glacier Point and then we would hike to Yosemite Valley. According to Google Maps, we were about 90 minutes away from the Yosemite Lodge where we were supposed to meet our tour bus, so we left the hotel around 8:00AM with (what we thought was) plenty of time to make it to the bus. We stopped at the front desk just to double check our planned route and the exchange with the concierge sounded something like this:
Katie: “Hi, can you tell me the best wayto get to Yosemite Lodge?”
Concierge: “Sure. Let’s take a look at the map. [Pulls up map on the computer]”
Katie: “Great, we are scheduled to take a tour up to Glacier Point and we have to meet at the Lodge.”
Valet Guy: “What time is your tour?”
Katie: “10:00AM”
Valet Guy: “Um, I hope you mean 10:00 tomorrow. Route 120 is closed so it will take you at least 5 hours to get where you need to be.”
Katie: “Crap.”
So, needless to say, Mike was not a happy camper once I broke the news to him that there was no possible way that we were making it into Yosemite in time for our tour. We decided to start driving and see where we ended up. Mike was slightly stressed at this point so he began to speed down Main Street only to be stopped 2 minutes later by Officer Swartzkopf of the Mammoth Lakes Police Department for going 55mph in a 35mph zone. Oops. Luckily we were able to avoid a speeding ticket, but not before being subjected to the usual police lecture consisting of: “I’m really tempted to give you a ticket right now, you know that, right?” ”Do you usually obey the law, son?” “You can enjoy the scenery much better when you obey the speed limits.” We sat through it like real champs, but it was not the greatest start to our day of adventure.
After our chat with the police officer, we were able to reschedule our Yosemite tour until the following morning at 10:00AM, so we decided to explore the area around our hotel. Our first stop was at the overwhelmingly beautiful Mono Lake where there are these crazy rock forms called “tufa” sticking up out of the water.
After exploring the area and finding ourselves pretty much in the park by ourselves, we decided to grab our wedding ensembles from the car and capture our first official Wedding of Wonders photographs. Although this particular location is not considered to be a “world wonder” per se, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to capture the beauty of the scenery for our wedding album. We set up our tripod about 40 feet away from where we wanted to stand and then changed into our outfits. Since the timer on our camera only lasts 10 seconds I’m sure we looked absolutely ridiculous having to run back and forth from the camera to our photo position, but somehow we managed to get a few great shots. So, without further ado, here is our first official Wedding of Wonders photo:
Obviously you can’t tell from the picture, but it was almost 100 degrees when we were taking our photos [I have the sunburn to prove it], so Mike was ready to pass out wearing his tux.
After completing our photo shoot at Mono Lake, we continued driving along Route 395 and stopped along the way when the scenery warranted the production of parking, setting up the tripod and braving the heat. Here are some of our favorite shots of the day:
Even though things started out a little rocky, we ended up having an amazing day of exploring Mono Lake and the surrounding area. Tomorrow we are heading to Yosemite at 4:30AM so that we can make it in time for our 10:00AM tour (yikes!) and after that, we’ll be heading to Napa Valley to prepare for our meal of a lifetime at The French Laundry. Since we will be on the road for most of the day, our blogging may be delayed depending on how late we make it to Napa, but be sure to stay tuned for the second half of our California adventures!
It was great meeting you this morning in your beautiful town of Mammoth, CA. While our time together was brief, we will certainly remember our impromptu get together. Thank you very much for deciding to let us go with a warning instead of actually writing us a ticket for going 55 mph in a 35 mph zone. Although our wedding reception is more than a month away, we appreciate this thoughtful gesture and shall consider it to be our very first wedding gift. As per your suggestion, we did “slow down and enjoy the scenery,” but please note that the view was equally spectacular at 80mph. Thanks again.
For those of you who have not been through the torturous wonderful process of planning a wedding, you have absolutely no idea how stressful truly fantastic and involved gratifying the entire production can be. Although I may have made things more difficult on myself considering my admitted perfectionism (and the fact that we will be traveling around the world for the 5 weeks leading up to our reception), there are about a million things that must be taken into consideration before the big day. While I have been pretty great about finding bargains for everything from our reception centerpieces (Ikea vases + wholesale flowers = awesome) to my wedding dress (Ebay, baby!), there is one thing that I absolutely refuse to cut corners on: Wedding Photography.
As soon as Mike and I nailed down our official wedding date (after numerous instances of failure), I began to hunt for a photographer that fit our needs with regard to style, personality and budget. This may sound like a simple task; however, there are about a million photographers out there who are either too traditional, too uptight, too expensive or all of the above. After perusing about a million wedding blogs and contacting a handful of potential candidates, I stumbled upon an exciting piece of information. My friend Tanya from high school (a fantastic writer with an outgoing personality and great attention to detail) and her husband Ian (a professional photographer with an eye for just the right shot and passion for traveling the world) had decided to enter the wedding photography business. Although Mike and I had met up with Tanya and Ian for dinner in Paris a few years earlier (completely coincidental), I knew very little about Ian’s photography abilities, so I decided to do a little research. Off to Google I went. A few clicks later and I found my way to Ian’s websites: www.IanGrantPhotography.com and www.DistinctPhoto.com
Not only was I instantly blown away by the images that flashed before my eyes, but I could tell by the blog entries and overall style of the site that their approach to wedding photography possessed a certain effortless appeal that I had been looking for all along. I sent them an email immediately and crossed my fingers that they were available to fly across the country from Los Angeles to photograph our wedding reception near Philadelphia (and that we could afford such a proposition). I received a response within a few hours (sweet!) and Tanya was happy to answer all of my crazy, stressed-out bride questions (phew!) and give me a price quote that didn’t make me roll on the floor laughing (one photographer sent me a quote for nearly $30,000 and I laughed for nearly a month). While I was 99% sold after looking through Ian’s photos online, my emails back and forth with Tanya officially sealed the deal. Through our conversations, it quickly became clear to me that Tanya and Ian don’t just click, print and cash the check. They become as emotionally invested in the wedding photography as the bride and groom. To them it is not just a business. It’s a passion and way for both of them to use their talents in a manner that really showcases the beauty of each couple and each wedding that they photograph.
So, although the stress of wedding planning has kept me up many nights writing lists and having nightmares about things that could possibly go wrong, I know that the images of our “big day” will be a beautiful reminder that we picked the perfect photographer to capture it all. One click at a time.
