Rodriguez-Rutkowski Wedding (September 2012)
The Favor I'm Glad I Said Yes To
Celebration, Florida is one of those places that feels designed for occasions like this, a planned community with wide sidewalks and white picket fences and a country club framed by palm trees and a vintage car that seems to have been placed there just for photographs. Christine's wedding day had that same quality, everything considered and arranged, from the floating candles in the centerpiece bowls to the string duo playing in the garden before the ceremony. The reception would follow later at the family home in Davenport, but the day belonged to the grounds here.
Christine's father walked her in full Army dress uniform, medals across his chest, and the gazebo ceremony was small and close, the way family weddings tend to be when the guest list is people who actually know each other. Doug had asked me to shoot it as a favor, and I said yes because that's what you do for someone who matters to you.
By this point I had already made up my mind that weddings were not the direction I wanted to go. But I'm glad I was there for this one. Doug was one of my closest friends during my Orlando years, and his family welcomed me like I belonged. That kind of thing is worth showing up for with a camera.
