Wisconsin Bride Best of 2007

For the second year in a row Dave Watkins Photography has been nominated for Wisconsin Bride Magazine's Best of 2007 Awards! Woo Hoo! Val and I went to Milwaukee last night for the awards ceremony at the Eisner Museum and has some great food and drinks. We also had a great time chatting with all the other top wedding vendors in the state. It's so amazing to see all the different people who put their time and talents to work making wedding days great for brides and grooms. We all have different skills and gifts, but we all share a passion for what we do, and that's so cool to see.

I didn't win, but it's an immense honor for me to be nominated, especially since it's the readers who do the voting. I feel so blessed that I'm able to both do something that I love and do something that matters so much to others. To all of you who voted, thank you so much for showing your appreciation. You have no idea how special that is to me.

Kenny & Sara

I'm still playing a bit of catch up with the wedding photos - I've finally finished Kenny and Sara's pictures from their June 23rd wedding. They chose a Hollywood theme for their day, which meant that I got to play the part of the Paparazzi, and I did my best to play out my role. I even hung out the side of the car shooting photos of them as they rode in the limo down University Ave!
Most grooms aren't very lively on the dance floor, but Kenny is definitely one of a kind when the music starts up. He led a conga line out of the reception ballroom through the lobby and bar of the hotel! Crazy! It was a very fun day for everyone - enjoy the photos!

Renee & Jason's Wedding

I'll admit I've gotten a bit behind on my projects lately, so I'm really happy to finally have photos finished from Renee and Jason's wedding two weeks ago. Renee and Jason were great to work with - super friendly and all smiles! They're wedding was cool because between the ceremony and reception we stopped by Devils Lake State Park to shoot some photos. I don't normally get to take wedding parties into wilderness type areas, so this was a cool, unique opportunity for me. They were all real toopers for taking the short hike up that hill with the hot, humid weather and mosquitoes swirling around. I like the juxtaposition of the formally dressed wedding party with the natural landscape ... and the picnicers and swimmers in shorts and t-shirts. We drew a lot of attention when we strolled down through the beach area!

19 Hours Later...

We made it till the end - 6 pm finally arrived! It was very crazy at the store towards the end though. About 60-70 people lined up to get the iPhone and all three Madison TV stations were there doing live remotes. But we finally got to go into the store and see the iPhone. The funny thing was though that of the first 10 poeple to go into the store, Val and I were the only ones to actually go over to the display and actually see and play with the demo phones. Everyone else just went right up to the counter and bought it and left. Not that we weren't convinced that we were going to buy, but we just wanted to get a quick taste of them first.
Since we were numbers 2 and 3 in line, WKOW wanted to do a live interview with us for their 6 pm broadcast. So we hung out a bit longer after we made our purchase and did a short "post-purchase" interview. Normally I don't this excited about things like this - I've never stood in line after Thanksgiving to get a deal on a TV at dawn, or waited in line for tickets. We could have just waited a few days or a week and calmly walked into the store whenever we wanted and got the phone, but this was a pretty fun and definitely memorable way to do it!
We got home last night and I activated the phones, which was so simple and quick - it's AMAZING! We actually went back out and had some dinner after that, but then just came home and crashed. We were soo tired.
Today we're off for a full day with Angie and Jay for their wedding - with our iPhones in tow!
This all may sound like a bit much for a fancy phone, but just wait until you see it in person.

Camping ... iPhone Style!

So Val and I are both big Mac fans, and we've both been eyeing up the new iPhone from Apple. So last night we made a last second decision to have some fun and get an iPhone. We saw one lonley guy sitting outside the AT&T store on University Ave., so we decided to join him and camp out in order to be guaranteed an iPhone when they go on sale tonight at 6 pm. The night was perfect for sitting outside. It was a bit cool, but we had blankets and sleeping bags to keep us warm. We didn't get much sleep. The night went quickly, but time is slowing to a crawl this morning. At about 8 am we were joined by about 6-8 other people, and there will surely be more thoughout the day.
Having the iPhone will be really sweet, but the experience now is pretty cool too!