October 2009: My Best Birthday Month To Date! :-)

I wasn't looking forward to my birthday but now, WOW, I'm so looking forward to the next one! :-) For the past several years I have been celebrating the entire month of October as my birthday month and this year has been the best! It started out with me receiving at least 100 emails, text messages, and calls from clients, family, and friends from around the world! Thanks everyone for your thoughtfulness! :-) I then enjoyed a taste of Greece at Opa's restaurant in West Palm Beach with my mother while being entertained by a belly dancer and a waiter and waitress dancing on a table top according to the Greek tradition. Tyler Perry's new movie was also enjoyable. The following weekend, I enjoyed vacationing in Trinidad and was pleasantly surprised with a birthday cake made by one of my best friends, Gershwin's sister, Simone and enjoyed their warm hospitality. It was also great meeting up with one of my photography friend, Arvin. Trinidad was a great cultural experience. After returning to Florida, 2 weeks later I flew to New York to photograph Cindy and Mark's Post Wedding Glamour Session. They are a delightful couple and we had a great time while capturing the essence of the lively New York scene. I then flew back to Florida for Jamie and Mike's wedding. It was a lovely wedding and it was an especially treasured day because I enjoyed seeing the love shared between 3 couples who I have had the pleasure of capturing their weddings within the past year. I was contacted by www.karibbeanexpressions.com and enjoyed being interviewed and seeing the resulting article. My last flight for the month took me to Bermuda and I had a amazing time spending 4 days in paradise with Abena, Shaka, their family, and friends. It was great seeing their wedding in the Bermuda Royal Gazette along with pictures I took. I'm looking forward to doing their anniversary pictures in Ghana, West Africa next summer and her sister, Mary's wedding in London next summer! :-) While in Bermuda I met actor, Chris Tucker, Quincy Jones, and Kavon Edmunds (Baby Face's brother who is coming out with an album, entitled "Who Knew". It was also great seeing one of my most frequent blog commentors, Teka after several years when I went to support her during her Mary Kay presentation during her visit to Florida. Wow! that was a FULL birthday month but one that I will forever be grateful for! Thanks to everyone who made it a blast! Below are a few pictures that gives you a taste of what October was like for me. I will add more pictures and slideshows soon when I create separate blog posts for them.

Tracy and Jermaine's Wedding (Miami, Florida)

I chose to remain silent leaving this blog post as a surprise for my blog followers. Back in March this year, I enjoyed photographing Tracy and Jermaine's Engagement Session. I had mentioned that regrettably, that might have been the last time you would see them because I was already booked for an overseas wedding on their wedding weekend. Well, Tracy and Jermaine enjoyed their engagement session so much that she called me later and changed her wedding date to be 2 months earlier so that she could keep her venue and have me as her photographer!!! :-) I was and am still very honored that they would change their wedding date to have me capture it! :-) Thanks :-) I am so happy that they made the change because the wedding was AWESOME!!! :-) I had soooo much fun while working. They had so many symbolics details that made it unique and very interesting. They even considered that it was Michael Jackson's birthday and honored his memory by doing a dance routine to Thriller and danced to a lot of his music during the rest of the evening. Regrettably, Tracy's mom was laid to rest after the engagement session but Tracy lovingly honored her memory by wearing one of her mom's ring and a bracelet with the word mom on it. They also did a candle lighting ceremony at the reception and the family huddled together sobbing and comforting each other to the point that I started to tear up. It was very touching! Tracy has watched the slideshow a million times already and Jermaine mentioned that he believed that God chose me to capture their wedding! Wow, those are 2 of the highest compliments clients could give me as I'm grateful for the gift I've received and am happy it's a blessing others! :-) Thanks Tracy and Jermaine for choosing me to capture this special time in your lives. It is obvious that you love each other very much and I wish you only the very best for your new life together as husband and wife! :-)

TO VIEW THEIR SLIDESHOW CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW or visit: www.shellyedwards.com/TJW. I have included some of my favorite pictures below.