Destination Wedding: Ocean Springs, MS

My son married his love last Saturday on the beach at Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Isn't Sandy's hair pretty? She had a hairstylist and makeup artist come to the beachhouse to prep her for the wedding. Ooh la la!

We had a long road trip with them and their two year old that included lots of adventure and fun. Because we were traveling with a toddler we divided the road trip each way into two 5-6 hour segments, stopping for the night just past Birmingham, Alabama each way. We made one side trip into New Orleans, and two forays into Biloxi just down the road, but otherwise mainly enjoyed the lovely beach house we had rented for the week.

My calligraphy was limited to the save the date envelopes and the invitation envelopes. I helped assemble the centerpieces and the arch, and I helped with some of the pre-planning, but mostly I tried to keep the sand swept from the floors, washed a lot of dishes and cleaned a dishwasher load full of hot water from the floor when it unexpectedly gave out on us, cooked a couple of meals (one a triumph, one a disaster), babysat and played with my grandson and his cousins.

I brushed up on my chess skills (or lack thereof) as I tried to teach Devin the game. Steve taught him pointers for beating me and pronounced my skills to be not very good, but Devin and I had fun anyway. Chloe and I played a two-person version of Cranium. She has no idea that I wrote an article about the game for the (Louisville, KY) Courier Journal newspaper many years ago, pronouncing it to be the best family board game. We spent a lot of time on the beach - medication I was taking gave me a hyper-sensitivity to the sun, so I didn't get out too much when it was shining brightly. Poppy caught many blue crabs, but he reintroduced them to the sea at the end of each day, deeming them too small to eat. He enjoyed the pursuit. The kids and I combed the beach daily, finding an abundance of hermit crabs.

I saw more seabirds on this trip than I have ever seen. This was a daily sight from our deck.

I captured both a very pink sunrise and a pink sunset. I loved watching both.

Photo credits: Laura Roberts for the image of the bride and groom's kiss and the Best Man seated on the stairway. BlackBird Photography for the ceremony and wedding family pix and the reception flowers. The rest are mine. (The pink sunrise and sunset are not retouched. The sun was a brilliant pink in both.)