The Pictures That Almost Never Were

About a month ago I received an invitation to a friend's baby shower back in New Orleans. Ordinarily I would have just sent a gift as a 16 hour round trip drive is kind of long just to attend a baby shower. However, around that same time I had also been looking for a photographer in our area to take some family pictures. I had been searching and searching and I was just not happy. You see, for over 3 years now I have been drooling over Becky's pictures. I love everything about the pictures she takes- the lighting, the way the colors pop, how she can capture candid moments and they are the best pictures in the world (unlike when normal people take candid shots and it ends up being pictures of people taking bites of food, or have their eyes closed). Anyway, all the photographers in our area charge at least triple the amount Becky charges, and their pictures are nowhere near as good. Back to the baby shower invitation- when I got the invitation, the wheels in my head started to turn. IF we didn't have a soccer game that weekend, and Becky was available for a session, THEN I could justify going down to New Orleans for the shower. So I quickly checked our soccer schedule- no game. I sent an email to Becky- available! Yay! I was so excited!

So, on the 22nd we headed out after work for New Orleans. We didn't get to our hotel until 3:30 in the morning. We then woke up really early to meet Jeremy's mom, sister, and nephew and walk around the Quarter. Beignets at Cafe De Monde, walking around Jackson Square, muffaletta from Central Grocery. Mmmm. Then it was off to get ready for the shower for me. As soon as I got back from the shower we left for our pictures. Here's where things got hairy.

First off, I don't know what Jeremy was thinking. I guess he had been away from New Orleans too long, but he decided to take the interstate to get to City Park. He actually Google Mapped it. Again, I don't know why. Long story short, Jeremy was wrong (hehe), and we had to take an exit to turn around and get back on the interstate going the opposite direction. Well...at the exit we took, there just happened to be some music festival going on. We were in the ghetto, hundreds of people in the street...we were moving at a snail's pace. I was getting more and more flustered. On top of that, because it was late afternoon and we were in the car so long, Shelby fell asleep. By the time we finally got to City Park, Shelby had been asleep long enough to really be in a deep sleep. Deep. She DID NOT want to be disturbed. For the first 30 minutes of the shoot, Jeremy and I were PLEADING with her to stop being grumpy and just cooperate. Becky was amazingly patient with us, and somehow managed to finally get Shelby to smile.

That was a crazy weekend- 27 hours in New Orleans. It was so worth it though when I saw our "sneak peek" of the pictures. I love them all and can't wait to see the rest. Becky- you are amazing and I am so grateful you were able to squeeze us in and were so patient with us. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!