Jerri’s daughter, Jessica, contacted me a few weeks ago to hire me to shoot some family portraits.  She explained that her mom, Jerri, was marrying Mike down in St. John, and the weekend before they left the family was having a dinner party to celebrate.  My services were intended to be a surprise gift for Jerri so she could have some formal family photos.

As it turns out, the surprise was on Jessica (and the rest of the family.)  Jerri called me about a week later saying that Jessica had spilled the beans about hiring me – but she wanted to let me in on another secret.  The family had been a bit disappointed they wouldn’t be attending the ceremony in the Caribbean, so as a surprise Jerri and Mike decided to be married that night in St. Charles!  None of the family knew the wedding was going to take place, so I had to keep quiet.

On Saturday night, shortly after I arrived at the Embassy Suites where the family dinner was taking place, Jerri and Mike led their 14 family members back to a private room for dinner.  A few minutes later, Jessica’s 4-year-old daughter came into the room with a small bouquet and she had an announcement – that Mike and Jerri were getting married.  Jerri had made a quick change into her wedding dress and the couple came into the room to surprise their family, who were genuinely shocked!  They then all shuffled over the the Conservatory in downtown St. Charles for an intimate candlelit ceremony.

What a beautiful venue for an intimate ceremony!  Jerri and Mike are still going to St. John next week, but now the trip is a honeymoon instead of a destination wedding :)  Congratulations to them, and good work on keeping such a big secret!

Tomorrow is finally Inauguration Day – so what will you be doing to celebrate it?  Personally, I’ll be having brunch and drinking a mimosa in celebration of our newly sworn-in President.  If you have some free time tomorrow and you’re still looking for something to do, check out one of the following:

One of my favorite places, Park Ave Coffee, is giving out free coffee and espresso drinks from 5:30-6am, hosting a live KSDK broadcast, and showing all of the inauguration events.

The Royale is having an Inauguration Party pretty much all day, starting with breakfast at 10am.  They’ll be broadcasting events and offering specials on mixed drinks, including the “Hope Hot Toddy” and “The Bailout.”

The Moolah Theatre is having a free party starting at 10am to watch events live on their big screen.  (If you go, bring a can of food to benefit the St. Louis Food Bank!)

And if you aren’t as lucky as I am (self-employed and free to play all day!) you can watch the events at work on your computer via either CNN or Hulu.  Just don’t get busted by your boss.

Wherever you are, I hope you can enjoy this moment of history in the making!

It’s my off season (as you can probably tell by the lack of work on my blog here), and I like to travel in my off season.  So I’m excited that I’ve finalized my trip for this year – I’ll be going to Lake Atitlan, Guatemala for 2 weeks at the end of February/start of March.  YAY!

The photo to the right is from www.lonelyplanet.com.  Doesn’t it look pretty?  I’m sure I’ll have lots of my own photos to share when I get back!

Is anyone else frustrated at how long it takes to get to Trader Joe’s now that Hwy 40 is closed?  Since I live in Lafayette Square, the only thing I really go that far west for is TJ’s.  I have a serious love for their salsa, dark chocolate covered almonds, Greek yogurt…and of course that Two Buck Chuck.  I think they should open a location downtown.  They’d do that just for me, wouldn’t they?

Ok wishful thinking.  Guess I’ll just have to stock up… :)