In which I close the door on the year.

These images contain my past year. Over the course of 365 days, I've witnessed weddings, proposals, intimate album recordings, and danced with Bill Murray at a Kentucky festival. I've experienced a silent, still Manhattan, and walked down the middle of Park Avenue surrounded by only the calming quiet that a snowfall can bring. I've seen cancer rip through families, and the funeral possession of the greatest boxer known to man. I've seen laughter and tears, watched heartbreak and new love. I've sat down to dinner with some of the most brilliant chefs of our time. I've had ham. So much ham.

This is my life. And it is also your life. Thank you for letting me be part of it all. 

Jess and Joe celebrate in the hills of Ithaca

We met on an ugly, rainy day in Louisville. It was a rare chance for me to meet a couple from a different part of the United States before their wedding day. I am normally forced to rely upon phone conversations to get a gist of who the two people with whom I'm going to be intimately spending twelve hours of one of the most celebrated days of their lives are. Chemistry is key. And we had chemistry. Jess is quiet, determined, confident, and so very kind. Joe matched her kindness and complemented her other qualities with warmth and a slight hint of nerdiness. We talked fashion, bourbon, and Madewell jeans (yes. We could put that in "fashion," but in reality that is a category in and of itself.). I assume I showed them a photo of my dog because I show a photo of my dog to everyone to make sure they adore her as much as I do. I assume they adored her as much as I do as everyone adores Kona. It's how I test the level of awesome my couples truly are.

Their wedding day was just as lovely, genuine, and thoughtful as I thought it would be. Jess and Joe's celebration was less about them and more about the support group they had curated. Sounds of joy bounced around the rolling hills of Ithaca's wine country from morning until night as everyone celebrated all the love with which they were surrounded.