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Meghan and Anthony were married at the highly recommended Arbor Gate in Spokane. As mentioned earlier, Anthony and his groomsmen and family come from Australia. Also from Australia: the sweet cake that rode on the lap of Anthony’s dad via trans-hemispheric flight. Still easier than bringing a kid, I imagine.

Of course, there’s one story from this wedding that must be told. It’s mid-ceremony, and just as Meghan begins to read her vows, there comes a crash. Two groomsmen are down in the shrubbery. The vows stop and people rush forward. The best man’s white in the face and prostrate. Dilemma: do I stop photographing because, well, the best man, Nik, could be dead and I don’t want to appear tacky, or do I document the whole crisis, playing the odds that he’s going to pull through and the groomsmen would kill to get some shots of the best man unconscious? I mean, these guys aren’t nancies—we spent the morning driving over curbs in downtown Spokane and intimidating the boyfriends of teenage girls next to us at stop lights. I thought I had detected a certain “Die just as you live” code of ethics among them. As I considered the scope of what his last wishes may be, a staff member walked up the aisle to deliver a glass of juice and a cookie. I decided that nothing’s too serious when juice and cookies are involved, so I started snapping, and he came to a second later. There’s a picture in the post of what the ceremony was reduced to around the time of his first drink. I showed him pictures later of what he looked like just before the fall, and I heard what happened. Nik was feeling faint so he tried to wiggle his toes to get some blood circulating. Nothing doing, and when he realized it he handed the ring pillow to the guy next to him and whispered, “take this, I’m not going to make it,” and then collapsed, taking out a groomsman with him.

The whole party handled the situation with aplomb. The day was brilliant, Meghan was beautiful, Anthony and his parents were gracious, and I’ll mark this one down as one of the most memorable weddings ever.

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I was in the middle of an edit when I found this one. I very nearly deleted it as I was tossing out the focus errors from a 2,000-picture lot. It reminds me that I should be as aware of my surroundings when I’m editing as when I’m shooting.

After a marathon family portrait session and a long ceremony, it was time to pull the limo up to the Elk and relax.