Jenn and I both got ourselves a learning experience on Saturday; shooting our very first wedding.  And it was, as I said, a definite learning experience in more ways than one.

We started at 11:00 A.M. (very chipper and excited!) visiting the groom and his best man getting shaved and manicured.  We drove over to a salon where the bride and maid of honor were getting their hair done.  We drove over to the church and reception area and took pictures of the outsides of both venues while homeless men hit on Jenn.  The janitor unlocked the church at 1:30 and we went in to take pictures of the sanctuary before anyone else was there.  When the bride and her mom, sisters, and maid of honor got there, we shot the dress, the flowers, and them getting ready.  We shot her dad’s “first look” at his daughter and then we set up outside for the groom’s “first look” at the bride before the wedding.  (Lots of pictures!  Getting tired.)  Then we did formal shots outside the church, then across the street, it started raining so we moved inside the church for some more formal shots and then some specific (balcony) shots the bride and groom wanted.  We took pictures of the guests arriving, the groom waiting, the bride’s walk down the aisle, the ceremony, the kiss, the  candle lighting, the procession, all the instrumentalists and instruments, and the bride and groom “dismissing” everyone from the pews.  We went outside for some candids of people waiting for the first announcement of the bride and groom where everyone throws rice (or in this case, blows bubbles.)  and then took pictures of everyone blowing bubbles at the bride and groom.  Before the reception, we took more formal shots inside the church with the grandparents.  (Feeling very tired now; both our feet are aching, Jenn has a gross blister on her foot.)Over at the reception, we were told that the bride, groom, and bridal party were walking over from the church with a bunch of red balloons and they would like pictures together with the balloons, so we shot those. (Those are my favorite pictures from the entire day.)  Inside the reception, we got the pictures of the tables, the settings, the menu, the (3) toasts, the announcement of the bride and groom, the first dance, the mother/son dance, the daddy/daughter dance, everyone dancing, the DJ, the bartender, the bouquet throw, the museum from extremely high looking down, the cake, the cutting, the kissing, the friends, extended family, more dancing, and finally… at the very end of the night… when all the guests had left, (and Jenn and I seriously felt like we were going to die at any second) we went on top of the roof with the bride and groom and took their pictures in front of a glowing City of Harrisburg skyline.  By the time Jenn and I walked back to the car and drove back to my house, it was around 10:25…and Jenn still had to drive an hour to get home.

Needless to say, the day was exhausting and the next day I hurt EVERYWHERE.  We both now know why wedding photographers charge thousands of dollars, and then some 500, 600, 700 for post-processing.  Together, not knowing really what we were doing (ISOs, FStops, inability to use a flash, focal lengths, capturing movement, etc) we shot around 3,000 photos.  And yes, professionals, we are well aware that is A LOT of photos.  But I think it was going through both our minds to JUST GET THE SHOTS, take 57 pictures of everything, and make sure everything was in focus and pretty much set for color.

It’s now 3 days later, and I have just BARELY looked at these photos.  I did sort them into folders, but I haven’t started any editing, pretty much due to the fact that I’m not sure if the bride and groom are under the impression that I would do this for free, or that it was included in the money they gave us at the wedding, but that just cannot be the case.  It can’t.  I can’t do another 40-60 hours of processing without being compensated.  I don’t think they know how long editing takes, or how many pictures we need to weed through.  If this was a misunderstanding, I feel somewhat bad.  I wanted to do this as a favor, I wanted to help them out, I wanted some nice pictures for a portfolio…(quite frankly I have no interest in ever doing this again, so I don’t need pictures for my portfolio) but I don’t want to be taken advantage of either. 

The Church from the Altar

Aside from that, the wedding was beautiful, the bride looked gorgeous, the dresses were awesome, and the church was HUGE and beautiful (see above) and I felt significantly akward being in a church, so much so that Jenn and I kept whispering instead of talking like normal people.  I think the most amusing moment from the wedding was when Jenn I were photographing the sanctuary. I put the bride’s wedding band on a large bible for one of the photos, trying to circle it around the word “love.” Not knowing ANY bible passages, I just put the ring over the first passage I saw with the word love. Unfortunately I then read the passage and it was about being barren and having no children.  Maybe that, or when I drank water too fast and threw up in a glass.  That wasn’t so amusing, but the look on Jenn’s face when she realized what was about to happen was priceless.  Yay, gastric bypass buddies!

Hello and welcomes to all the new people reading this from Fat Mum Slim’s Photo a day group.  ♥   I really appreciate your visit, and hope you frequent the site!  I swear, sometimes I’m interesting.

Mother’s day was Sunday.  I slept in until around 10, then was greeted by my husband and daughter both giving me cards.  Sophie made me one, bought one, and Austin bought one.  Super sweet.  then Austin went out and got my “specialty girl coffee” from Starbucks for me.  This proves his love for me  since I was a former barista, my drink is pretty long and complicated and girly.  Around one, I took Sophie over to my mom’s and gave her the painting I made for her.  She loved it.  Nailed it.  We hunted around in her basement for a bit looking for my hoards of old music boxes, to no avail.  But I was gifted a tahitian wood bowl, 2 cookie sheets, the coupons from the Sunday paper, and a mixing bowl.

Afterwards, I took Sophie to get new shoes… because her feet really really stank up her other ones, and they were too small.  Of course she had to have “Twinkle Toes” which light up when you walk, and were probably the most expensive shoe at Kohl’s.  Luckily, I had a 20% off coupon and a $16.99 credit, making them JUSTBARELY worth the price.  Okay, maybe it was worth the price to see that smile.  Plus, her feet don’t stink anymore and these shoes actually fit.

We went to an Asian Bistro afterwards, for which we had a gift certificate.  They were really really busy because they were offering mothers 50% off their entrees.  That would have been great, but I ate half my soup and half a spring roll in the restaurant, and was full.  I requested my dinner to go.  When I got home, I opened it and the entire contents of the box were grilled onions, and maybe 2oz of steak.  I’m not usually one to complain, but did I seriously pay $15.95 for onions??  I called, got bounced around for about 15 minutes, found out that nobody spoke a speck of English and gave up. Empire Asian Bistro is not a place I will be frequenting.

Also, what is it with these restaurants requiring “proof” of these alleged food atrocities lately?

About a month ago when a coworker got raw chicken in their chinese food.  I mean straight up bloody, pink chicken.  They told us that we needed to drive over and bring the dish as proof in order to get a refund.  We also ordered a very very large order from a pizza place down the road yesterday, and we wound up missing a sub.  When we called the place, they told us to “look harder” in the box because the cook was “positive he made it.”  Honestly, how many italian subs do you think a busy pizza joint makes in a day?  What happened to customer service?  I mean honestly.

Why did news of a CEO openly admitting to catering his clothing line to thin people surprise the US?  Wasn’t it already  blatantly obvious that clothing brands, many more than just A&F, cater to the waif thin and “beautiful?” 

No, i’m not defending Jeffries, and I think his comments were douchey, just as  I think his brand and the people who wear it are typically douchey.  But this is the norm of today’s society. Should it be this way?  No… but it is.  Most brand marketing just does is far more subtly than Jeffries did.  Does anyone even watch television?  Target, Kohl’s, Department Stores, Victoria’s Secret? Show me one “popular” clothing company that advertises with models that are a size 14.    Walk into a Limited, or a Gap, or an H&M and pull a size XL tee-shirt off a shelf.  You can’t.  I’ve tried.  They’re usually conveiently out. 

If someone even mentions Old Navy to me, I’ll kick you.  Yes, they sell up to 18 in store.  But beyond that, you can only buy their plus size clothing ONLINE.  I guess it’s a little different than not even carrying size XL for women, but I sincerely believe they don’t want fat people shopping in their stores.  Yet nobody scrutinizes their decesion because their CEO hasn’t come out and publicly said that they don’t. 

Even the manequins in PLUS SIZED stores are far below the average woman size 14.  Lane Bryant manequins are actually a size 8 and the clothing that lays on them is pulled and pinned to conform to the shape.  I guess they can sell “plus sized” clothing, but clearly don’t want to advertise with plus sized women.  Even their models are barely on the cusp of plus.  Companies that sell plus clothing rarely use models that are beyone one or two sizes into their plus sized lines.  And you will never, never see a mainstream retail store advertise with a model beyond a size 18/20.  Because anything above that and people cry that they are promoting an unhealthy lifestyle. 

Plain and simple, people don’t WANT to believe that discrimination is out there.  they don’t want to believe that sexism, racism or any other -ism is still rampant in our society…yet you can’t have it both ways.  You can’t promote, endorse, and buy from all these retailers that are doing the same thing that Jeffries is doing, then cry size-ism and exclusionary tactics for a single name-brand clothing chain.

Now that tax time is over with, the hustle and bustle of the office has died down.  Summer is our slow time, and with that in mind, I’ve decided it’s time to re-visit my Series 7 licensing for work.  I’ve spoken about this test before (when I failed the first time) and anticipated getting back in the saddle quickly, studying more, and retaking the test.  Life doesn’t work like that all the time. 

I took the test in December of 2011.  Then I had a bunch of health issues, then I had my bypass, then I was out of work (which in hindsight, could have been the perfect time to study) then we bought a house and moved, and only now, over a year later, is it the right time to start studying again.  That was stupid of me because now I have to relearn everything on the test.  That includes hauling my ass back to Philadelphia for the grueling 5 day review I did in 2011. 

What, you may ask, is on this test?

Well, it’s a 6 hour test with 250 questions.  The 7 is the most comprehensive of all the securities tests.  In our firm, in order to do a wide range of customer activity, you need to be licensed.  If I ever want to GIVE investment advice for profit, I would need to complete 2 more investment law exams which I believe are the Series 66 and the Series 33.  The Series 7 test covers a lot of material… the book from the STC training company is approximately 450 pages front and back.  The test breaks down into the following:

The parts I had trouble with last time were the suitability/investment strategies questions and the packaged products part of the test (mutual funds, limited partnerships, trusts.)  I actually surprised myself by doing decently on the part that required math (options and derivatives.)  Suitability, however, was a bust.  These were questions that were ridiculously worded similar to “If John S. is long a 123 stock and the NYSE closed 2 basis points under the NASDAQ and John S. holds 4XYZ May Calls and 2ZYX June Puts, and anticipates that XYZ stock is going to suddenly decline but usually John S. is a bullish investor, then what was the name of John’s 4th grade teacher?” 

I know everything is connected.  If you know that x+y=z, then you know that z-y=x.  Same with investment accounts.  If you understand derivatives and margins and then you eventually learn the strategies that are suitable for your potential customers.  

 The worst part about taking it the first time is that they break it down into the above categories, but questions can blob their way into other questions, so you really get no knowledge of which questions you got wrong.  They just print out that you answered 38/58 correct in the category “Provides Customers with Information on Investments and Makes Suitable Recommendations.”

There is no real point to this.  I’m just nervous because I really want to pass, but frustrated because the test is insanely difficult, there is a TON of information to memorize, and the information I’m learning is difficult to retain because quite frankly, it’s just not that interesting.

Anyone out there have any study strategies?  I know through high school what worked for me was writing things out.  When I wrote something out, even if it was the same thing as I was reading, it somehow stayed implanted in my brain.  But any other suggestions would be welcome.