Photo Shoots, Part 1

Happy One Year Anniversary to the gorgeous Fran (Napier) Power and Neill (Power) Power!

The two were married last year on a warm, sunny St. Patrick's Day afternoon. The ceremony was lovely and the party was full of family, food, candy, and a whole hell of a lot of dancing (there may also have been drinking). We posted about the Napier-Power wedding officially, but we never posted about the fame that followed a month later.

Trevor, who works as a photo editor for four magazines published by Modern Luxury, immediately recognized Fran & Neill's attractiveness and submitted one of their wedding photos to CS Brides, one of Modern Luxury's sister publications.

Here's the photo he submitted:

I mean, they're gorgeous, right?

Of course the editors published the photo, and it ran in the Fall/Winter 2012 print and web editions. It's still on the CS Brides website, so check it out (and I'm not saying that the other couples on the site are duds, but, well...yawn.)

So, here's to many more years of happiness for Neill and Fran! And hurry up and get to a milestone anniversary so we can have another party.

The Lighter Side Of This Month

Trevor and I were hugely thankful to have something wonderful to celebrate this month: Neill and Fran's wedding! The two got married on Saturday, March 17, St. Patrick's Day, and the same day the Power siblings' dad, John, married their mom, Maureen.

Maureen on her wedding day

The wedding was truly perfect--the weather was beautiful, the couple was beautiful and didn't seem to stop smiling all day and night, and I danced until my feet were numb (I even got T. on the dance floor for three [three!] slow dances).

Here's the day in a pictorial nutshell.

John and Fran Power (we'll now call her Fran Power #1)

Fran's mom and Rachel, lighting candles

Trevor, ushing

The groomsmen and the groom

Fran's nephew Devin, the cutest ring bearer

Sadie Power, the awesome flower girl

The groom, watching his beautiful bride come up the aisle

Some lovely words from the pastor

The vows

The kiss!

We're married!

The new Mr. and Mrs. Power with the other Mr. and Mrs. Power and Fran's parents

Fran, Destiny, and Neill

The new Power couple with Power siblings

Rae, T., Neill, Sean

The flower girl and her parents, Angi and Sean

The groom shows off his new jewelry

Letty, hanging out at the reception

Sadie took the dance floor ASAP

Letty and Rae with Jim and Grandma & Grandpa Madel

Introducing the new Mr. & Mrs. Power!

Neill steals a kiss from his lovely bride

The cake was beautiful and delicious

First dance

Aren't they perfect?

After dinner we spent about three solid hours doing this. Then we all collapsed.

We ended the night by filling up bags of candy from the candy table (which I got a picture of that night but can't find now; just picture a big table covered in huge glass containers filled with candy: gummy bears, Skittles, M&Ms, Tootsie Pops, Blow Pops, Swedish fish...). I ambled up to our hotel room and Trevor hung out with the post-wedding crew, which included the bride and groom. They hung out until the wee hours, playing cards, eating pizza, and having a wonderful time.

So, raise a glass (or a mug if you're still on your a.m. coffee like me) and toast to the greenest St. Patrick's newlyweds in town. XO.

Father and Daughter on Man Day

For this week's Monday Manday, Trevor and I had lunch with Dan, Simona, and Maya, and our friend Liz. We stuffed ourselves with tapas from Cafe Iberico, where Simona used to work. We hadn't been there in years, and the food was just as good as we'd remembered. Maya was the best baby in the joint (she didn't fuss or cry or fall off of her chair like some lunatic toddler did) and posed for a number of beautiful pictures for T's new camera.

After the feast (tomato soup with goat cheese, grilled mushrooms, two kinds of potatoes, octopus, clams, avacado salad, and more), Trevor and I were too jammed into our own jeans to go clothes shopping for him like we'd planned, so we went to the grocery store instead. It was good to go on a super-full stomach because we only go the necessities and then came home to putz around. It was hotter than we were ready for, so before we could turn on the AC, Trevor changed out the filter and then, while doing other fantastic man-maintenance, realized that our fire detector is a dud. Luckily we are fire-free and have a fire extinguisher, but we'll be getting the detector fixed a.s.a.p. just in case.

I got the car serviced today before our trip this weekend to Milwaukee for our friend Megan's wedding (she met her fella, Michael, a couple of weeks before our own wedding; at our reception she told Trevor and I that she was going to marry him--and hot damn, and now she is!), and then Henry and I went on a long, hot, hot, walk. We're back now so I could work on my syllabi (which were due a few weeks ago...blergle) and catch up on my backlogged American Idols before tonight's finale. Who do you think will win? I'm banking on the guy from Mt. Prospect, since his version of "Hallelujah" made me tear up. Seriously. Crying about American Idol. It's maybe already time for me to get off the couch and back to class...

And speaking of tearing up at the television set, last night was the last episode--ever--of my favorite show of all time: Law & Order. I'm planning a very special post about it. I have to pull myself together first. I shed a few tears last night while Trevor wasn't looking, so it's going to be an emotional goodbye. Until then...