The genesis for the trip to Lake Norman was the wedding of my college buddy Tom to his fiance Jaime.  Being the reception was on Lake Norman so close to the yacht club I was able to sail Saturday, attend the reception and sail again on Sunday.

It was a beautiful venue at a home on the lake and it was great catching up with old friends and celebrating with Tom, Jamie and their family and friends.  Congrats Tom & Jamie!

PICTURES

Saturday I celebrated the wedding of my sailing buddies Mark Stephens and Melissa Orndorff.  The wedding was held at Hermitage Hill Farm and Stables near Waynesboro, VA.  Here are some of my favorite photos:

Bride and Groom Melissa and Mark.

My date to this wedding was a real nag:
My date to this wedding was a real nag.

Of course I had the GoPro up in a tower simultaneously taking video and stills:

Melissa walking down the isle.

Some of the sailing crowd
Double Eagle Crew: Jon Deutsch, Lauren DeSimone, Marie Schacht, Mayo Tabb, Melissa Stephens, Mark Stephens, Bruce McConnel, Bonnie Black, Sam Mitchener, Chris Tulip

This is also the first real photography opportunity I’ve had since I’ve switched to using back button focus on the D7000. I generally liked it.  My biggest fear was that I’d try to hand the camera to a non-photographer or someone would pick it up to take a picture and either get out of focus pictures or just get frustrated with it.  I’m looking forward to using this more and I really think it helped my hit % of properly focused pictures.

View the rest of the photos here.

 

This Columbus Day weekend I got to be in Destin Florida for my college buddy Chris K’s wedding along with a bunch of other college friends.  It was quite a trip covering over 2000 miles with plenty of fun along the way.

We started out Go Karting when we arrived Thursday night.  I had a little incident (video) which would scar my nose for the remainder of the trip.

Friday was the guys hanging out with bachelor activities.  Most of the day was spent lounging on a pontoon boat at Crab Island and exploring parts of the Choctawhatchee Bay and inter-coastal waterway.

Saturday was a rehearsal cookout and watching ECU football.

Sunday was a beautiful beach wedding followed by the reception.

Congratulations Chris and Jaimie! Thanks for having me as part of your special day and what a blast!

Photos | Video