Photo Courtesy of Voisin Photography

Photo Courtesy of Sandi Foraci Photography

This week we met with our two finalists for wedding photographer, and I am not sure they could be more different. Fortunately, both are uniquely exceptional, but making a decision between the two is going to be difficult.

On Sunday, we met with Sarah Voisin of Voisin Photography. In the last decade, the term “photojournalist” has been hijacked by people who like taking pictures of other people’s feet, which has caused the word’s origin (a journalist who uses photography) to be kind of lost. Voisin is the consummate photojouralist under the proper, original definition.

Voisin works full time for the Washington Post, and it shows. Her attention to “the moment” is very strong, and the quality of her photography is just better than anyone else I have seen in the business. My one hesitation is that her personality is more reserved, and she might have problems corralling our family and friends into some of the more “required” pictures that don’t just occur naturally.

On the other hand, tonight we met with Marylinn Spindler of Sandi Foraci Photography and she was clearly the consummate professional. She was well prepared, thorough, with an absolute knowledge of weddings and what can, might, and should happen on the big day.

Her photography was great, but I believe her strength was in the bridal and wedding management areas. She was very helpful in mapping out our thinking, extremely accommodating to our desires (and sincerely, it didn’t seem forced) and seemed like she would be in complete control of any situation. The Lady Sparkler immediately took to her, and the two of them seemed to really click.

So, in the end I think we would be extremely happy with either of our two finalists. We are just not sure what is most important … Do we want A++ in photo quality and a B+ in wedding management, or an A- in photo quality and an A+ in wedding management. It really is going to be a tough call.

Photo Courtesy of American Music Caravan

We have got a LOT moving forward now.

After (literally) months of searching, we are getting ready to settle on a band. At various times, we thought about jazz, big band, swing, dixieland, bluegrass … really, pretty much anything that didn’t have a vocalist. Finally, we seem to have settled on the idea of a “little” big band, one can do a mix of just about all of the above.

Fortunately, there appears to be a band that is willing/able to do that … the Sultans of Swing (they also trade up instruments to become the Sheiks of Dixie, but my family is from New England … and nothing with the word Dixie is particularly well received).

We are still in the contract phase, but are pretty optimistic. If you want to listen a little, there are sound clips of the both bands, as well as play lists for each (Sultans, Sheiks).

So, as you can probably tell, The Lady Sparkler has kind of turned the full time blogging-reins over to me. She loves blogs, loves to read about blogs, and loves to tell her clients why they need to have blogs … just not so much into the blogging-thing herself.

So, the dress …

The one you see pictured to the right is kind of exactly like the dress, but not exactly. The Lady Sparkler has decided to do off-white instead of white, and the embroidery / beading will be in the same off-white (here the embellishments are shown in silver).

She has also special ordered some straps for the dress in case she doesn’t want to fight with dress-slippage on the happiest day of her life.

The Lady Sparkler’s mom came up from Houston to help, and between the two of them (with a special guest appearance by Melissa for one of the boutique days) plowed through their list of stores and dresses, and had the whole thing wrapped in less than a week.

Amazing.

Needless to say, the dress has amped up the wedding expectations around the Parker-Spindler household a little … almost like the wedding — in the words of one bride who shall remain anonymous — is “really happening” now.

Personally, I will match The Lady Sparkler in that state of euphoria once we get the band and the photographer nailed down. Florists and cake makers can “do” a dozen weddings in one weekend if they have to. It’s pretty tough for a band or a photographer to be in two places at once.

So, on to the next big project … either finding us music and pictures, or finding us a physicist who can bend the space time continuum. Frankly, two weeks ago, in the order of “completion difficulty,” I would have placed music and pictures first, space time continuum bending second, wedding dress purchasing third.

I guess that’s a good sign, huh?