Wedding Stuff

Thoughts on love this Valentine’s Day

Lately it has been chic to bash Valentine’s Day or even celebrate “Anti-Valentine’s Day” with other single friends.  I probably fell into the same camp once or twice when I was single on Valentine’s Day.  However, I think Valentine’s Day is one of the better holidays of the year. (I am hoping with the link to the Anti-Valentine’s Day that I have gotten rid of all the naysayers now and can write passionately about being in love without reprisal or scorn.)

So why do I (Matt) love love?  I’m a romantic.  Let’s face it – my job consists of taking photos of people and spending their happiest days with them.  We feel great when people are truly in love and exchange their vows.  We shoot a lot of Syracuse weddings but honestly some are something truly special – the ones in which both people are phenomenally in love and can think of nothing but marrying their partner.

Love has health benefits.  Among the health benefits are fighting disease, boosting immunity and lowering stress.  If you’re in love you have a lower risk of cardiovascular diseases.  Married people live longer, have fewer heart attacks and lower cancer rates.  Love has other significant benefits as well.  Love has economic benefits – shared housing costs, health insurance, utility bills and so forth.  Shared food costs lower the price for each of you.  Married couples also earn more and invest better.

Some of my favorite thoughts on love are in the form of song, poetry and quotes.  Here are some to get you feeling like a hopeless romantic on Valentine’s Day:

“You are what I never knew I always wanted”

“Don’t say you love me unless you really mean it, because I might do something crazy like believe it.”

“You don’t marry someone you can live with – you marry the person who you cannot live without.”

“To say ‘I love you’ one must know first how to say the ‘I.’”

“I never knew how to worship until I knew how to love.”

The last sums up my own personal relationship very well.  As I said, I am a romantic.  I call Sarah “the Empress” and as often as possible say “Yes Empress!” to whatever she asks me to do.  Of course, being in real love also means I have to say no sometimes.  True love isn’t selfless and it’s not selfish.  True love is balance.  Balancing your needs with your partners, balancing your wants with theirs so you both end up with the life you want.  Love is seeing your own values embodied in someone else and recognizing it.

So today I want to say Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you in love. (And Happy Anti-Valentine’s to those of you who are celebrating that today as well.)

I’ll leave you with this final quote from The Princess Bride:

Westley: I told you I would always come for you. Why didn’t you wait for me?
Buttercup: Well… you were dead.
Westley: Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.
Buttercup: I will never doubt again.
Westley: There will never be a need.

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Wedding photos of Lindsay & Joe (Rochester)

We met with Lindsay and her mom as well as Joe’s mom back in May. We had a good feeling Lindsay and Joe were going to have an incredible wedding and fun reception. Lindsay and Joe were married January 2nd at the Linehan Chapel at Nazareth College.

After the ceremony we had the fantastic opportunity to shoot at the Monroe County Office Building. It was snowing and dark outside when we arrived and I was very glad (and grateful!) Joe and Lindsay had made arrangements for a fantastic shooting spot. One of my favorite shots of the last couple years is the dip kiss shot below!

Following the reception we went to the Rochester Plaza Hotel, a place we’ve been a few times in the past. We love shooting at Rochester Plaza Hotel because it’s a GORGEOUS reception venue, the staff is pleasant and the service is wonderful! We rarely enjoy a venue as much as we do RPH. Oh, it doesn’t hurt that their bacon wrapped scallops are to DIE for.

Photos? Photos!

Weddings

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