As it's our third year doing it, the weekend before Memorial Day weekend is just now expected to include doing photography for the Trinity House's Formal.
This was the second year for us to be at the
Meltebeke's house - which in our opinion, is a much more photogenic location (compared to the church where we were the first year). This is a view from the walkway across the canal, including the majestic house (owned by a prominent family in our church as well as the grandpa of one of the girls living at Trinity):
And, as you walk across the walkway, this beautiful gazebo sits in the middle. Last year, the majority of the pictures were taken inside of it, however, we directed the picture-taking to a different locale this year so the lighting would be better. (
Side note: On the other side of this canal is, essentially, an extension of the parking lot of
Autzen Stadium where the
UO Ducks play their football games. So this walkway, to us, means our route to watching football games as the
Meltebeke's kindly let us park on their property and allow us passage through their gazebo to see the Ducks -
all's to say - it's a happy place for us!)
Lots and lots of pictures to follow - I tried to choose people that I've connected with this year to highlight from the 1200 pictures that John took last night. =)
First up: Nick & Shannon and Lauren & Walt. Nick and Shannon are so fun in front of the camera and Shannon works with the middle
schoolers along with Kimmie and Becky. Walt is someone John meets with and the current house manager at the
AO (Guys') House. He is TOP quality - and I think he and Lauren make an adorable couple.
Here's my gal, Katy (the one I went to see "Soul Surfer" most recently with). She's
hangin' (as friends) with Drew - who John actually had breakfast with yesterday - and came home saying just how impressed he was with that guy. It's also become a tradition for me to take a cheesy big-smile pic with her at the
Formal's too....
This is Lindsey - the coordinator of the Formal this year. Isn't she the epitome of "classiness"? I loved her dress. She attended with Garrett (also as friends) - another guy that John has the opportunity to hang with. Lindsey and I try and make time to get together when we can, but that girl is ALWAYS busy because she's just so talented and willing to help everyone.
This is Heather and
Kenjon. I was supposed to meet up with Heather last week, but we had to take a
raincheck for this week - and John is meeting with
Kenjon for the first time this week. Interesting note:
Kenjon (
Barner) plays for the Ducks and is one of our top running backs.
Brayden actually has a jersey with his number on it! Last year, our hearts all stopped for a moment, when he took a horrible hit on the field which resulted in a massive concussion. Thank God he recovered without major incident and he is now consistently coming to
CCF!
This is Danielle - who I went walking with (and took all the pictures with) on Friday. She's so much fun, and had the perfect "fun" date to take her in Brad (who is the brother of the bride (Kaitlyn) at the last wedding I posted about):
Abby and Matt (also just friends) - who were so eager to be absolutely silly all evening long. You just can't be around Abby without smiling.
These are some pics of folks I really don't know all that well, but loved the fun
spontaneity/fun of their poses:
As John was setting up the picture to take of the two of us, he snapped this of me:
and then Abby kindly took a shot of us:
When the "Couples Shots" were finally concluded (at one point, there was quite a line-up!) - everyone convened inside to eat dinner.
The theme of the evening was "Old Hollywood" - and the "little touches" (including some of the props used in the picture taking) were so great and just made the evening:
After dinner, folks came outside again to take more candid/group shots. John and Will (who was asked by one of the Trinity gals to be her date) did a little parody of one of the poses for their own "couple's shot". =) (I got to take this one!)
An example of some of the goofy group shots - I find myself having a hard time getting over just how pretty Sarah and Lindsey look -
While some of the guys were posing, they got the idea to hold Will upside down in a handstand:
It seemed like a good idea at the time until his cell phone fell out of his pocket and into the canal. You should have seen the looks of astonishment and disgust as Will bravely (foolishly?) took off his shirt to try to reach down and retrieve his phone (it was the SIM card/contacts he was most distressed to lose). Oh Will....sadly, despite all of his efforts, which included donning some swim trunks to get all the way into the canal - he never did find the phone.
While it's hard to make out any individuals in this group shot, it is pretty stunning to see all 80 or so of them together, not to mention the fun reflection in the water. The "group shot" to me always means that we are almost done and I can get out of my "formal attire". However, this year, what came next sounded like the most fun out of any of the activities offered at past formals we've attended. The whole group headed over to Camp Harlow to do some ballroom dancing (going along with the Old Hollywood theme) and then they changed clothes to sit outside and have a big bonfire....how fun is that? As for us, though, it was off to pick up our kids from the Whites and for me - to bed, and for John, the very long process of sorting through those 1200 images!
