I'm back!

Between having a baby and getting back into writing as a freelance journalist, I've neglected things on the blog for far too long.

My first post back after the lengthy hiatus is near to my heart. I met Matt through some mutual friends in college and we hit it off immediately - we both had a sardonic sense of humor peppered with a healthy dose of cynicism. We were music snobs with a love for alternative rock, punk rock and hardcore punk.

Matt was the first to move south to North Carolina, landing a gig with Baseball America. The proximity to Matt was one of our main reasons to move to Raleigh more than a decade ago. We've both changed in a lot of ways - I'd like to think for the better. (Though, we still listen to awesome music).

When my wife brought her work friend Michele home for dinner one night, we had such a great time that we wished she lived closer. (She was living in Washington, D.C. at the time). Playing matchmakers, we invited Matt and Michele over on the same night. (They are both vegetarians and just seemed like a good match). The night was capped off with some really horrible singing on my part thanks to the Rock Band video game. And Matt had fallen head-over-heels. And not for my singing. He asked Michele out the next day. The rest is history.

We were thrilled when they decided to get married, and for a while Amy and I had delusions of becoming professional matchmakers. I was so honored that they wanted me to shoot the wedding, which was held at the Durham Museum of Life and Science. There were so many great and sentimental side stories at this wedding. We were reunited with our other college friends, Dave and Matt H. We had all spent a lot of time watching wrestling and drinking Natural Ice together in the late-90s.

Michele chose to wear her grandmother's 65-year-old dress, which was still stunning after all these years. Michele's brother officiated. And Michele served as her own wedding planner - no easy task, but she pulled it off beautifully. And I was just so happy to be a part of the day. Check out some photos below: Michele's grandmother, seeing her own dress worn for the first time since her wedding 65 years ago.