My Wedding Toast

I’ve been asked multiple times lately if there’s video of any of the wedding toasts from Saturday’s awesome event. Well, I haven’t found a complete clip yet, but I do have mine pretty much written out. Ben Lee (my best man) offered up the single greatest toast I’ve ever heard in my life. He is a goddamn comedian who made the entire ballroom erupt in laughter – for nearly ten minutes! His toast could be featured in a movie, and I feel so honored to have listened to him talk about me. I’ve never laughed so hard in my life.

Ever.

But, like I said, I can’t find any video. If anybody has one, please let me know!

That being said, while I did simply use the text below as an outline for my toast to those involved in the wedding, I’d say roughly 85-percent of the speech is here:

MY TOAST

First of all, thank you to my beautiful bride – you’re by far the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me, and tonight I simply cannot staring at you. You’ve always been the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen – tonight, you truly topped anything I could have imagined.

But right now, I want to thank the rest of you. To everyone who’s here and not here, you’ve all been part of our lives in one way or another. It’s your presence around us who’s transformed both Holly and I into the couple we’ve become.

For the lengths you’ve traveled – literally all corners of the country – thank you for joining us today! You’re making this joyous occasion a truly remarkable event.

Cathy, my new mother, thank you so much for your contributions today. This wedding wouldn’t be the beautiful day it is without you. But more importantly, thank you for letting me marry your daughter. She is every bit the woman she is today because of you.

And my mom, you’re the sole reason I am who I am today. Your struggles and strengths, your heart and your soul have impacted me more than you know. Thank you for the life you’ve provided me, and the mentoring I’ve received. You’re much more than a mother, but one of my closest friends. I’m sorry for the week we’ve had, but what better way to get over the lowest of lows than by the highest of highs.

While my grandma isn’t here and grandpa is here in spirit, I can only thank them for everything else. Every single ounce of the person I am - the good things, anyway – are directly related to my relationship with them. My grandma is my true second mother, while my grandpa was more of a dad and friend than a grandpa – he will be missed so incredibly much. I do feel better knowing that he’s most likely sitting in heaven telling God how to make things better, because if anybody can do that, it’s Euge.

So, before I move on, a toast to Eugene Matchett, my grandfather.

Now, these guys (groomsmen). Thank you all for not just getting me here today, but getting me everywhere I’ve ever been – I know I only have one brother, it feels like I’m always surrounded.

Ben, my best man, I don’t have enough time to talk about you. You are a unique and inspiring individual, and people are better for knowing know. Since playing video games at Oregon state, our fake fist fight before lake Shasta because the seniors thought it would be funny, our trip to Coeur d’Alene and everything since – you’re indeed my best friend and truly a best man. Thanks for being there every time I needed it.

Gene – you’re like an older brother, you’ve backed me up when others neglected, and you’ve always seen the best in me. I’ve looked up to since I was a kid, and I always will.

John – again, you’re more like a brother than a friend. Holly and myself have always loved you and miss you know that we live in Oregon. You’re one of those guys who dance around in my head when I’m about to do something stupid – I ask myself What Would John Do. Sometimes it actually works.

Zach – You are my little brother. I know we may be cousins, but I’ve always considered you my brother since we lived at Grandma’s a few summers ago. You’re a cousin, a brother and most importantly a friend. We’ve had similar lives growing up, and think we’ve both done something right if our Mom’s haven’t killed us yet.

Michael – finally, my actual brother! What can I say? From the time I was a little boy I’ve wanted to be you. You’ve always been inspiration to me. I wanted to go to WSU because of you, I wanted to join a frat, and most importantly, I wanted to marry a blonde. I think that’s the only one that really worked out in the long run!

Jeff- I’ve only said a bad word about you once – when you woke Holly and I up one morning by screaming your own name – the next morning I only laughed, as I showed up late to work and tried to explain myself. You’re a great friend, both Holly and I look forward to your wedding next year and a long friendship living nearby.

Aaaaand.

Garret – We weren’t best friends in high school, but since getting to know you after graduation I wish we would have been. You’re quite possibly the nicest guy I know, and I know a lot of people. Holly has always considered you a relative because of your friendship, and I’m happy to have you here

The bridesmaid’s: wow. You all look so beautiful and elogent. You’ve made Holly’s life so much easier, which in turn has made mine the same. Thank you to Holly’s sisters and my own, as well as Kathy and Emily.

But for the Bride. I cannot thank you enough. You are the most generous, loving and caring individual I know. I’ve loved you from the day I’ve met you, and I can’t believe we thought it was only a joke in high school when I said we’d get married one day.

But most importantly, thank you for saying yes. After all, when I proposed to you last year, all I got was an OK. Hearing you say “I Do” gave me all the confirmation I needed! If our lives are half as good as the past few have been, I will be the luckiest man alive!

Why I Love My New Bride

This was a complete and total wedding surprise. Holly bestowed the greatest wedding cake upon me the world has ever known! This wasn’t the main cake, but rather a supplemental “groom’s addition” accompanying her beautifully-decorated masterpiece.

I’m baaaack

OK, so it’s been over a month since I’ve shared with the world what’s been going on in Jakewood. But, with all due respect, I feel I should be granted a wee bit of leeway these past six or eight weeks.

In what’s quickly become the busiest time of my life, I never could have conjured up the sheer madness that has been my life lately. From coaching Little League during the regular season to taking on the younger All-Star Team in the post season (although my assistant coaches really did more work, thank you so much for all their help!), I was also involved in a little party yesterday, an amazing night over a year in the making.

You know, my wedding?

Holly and I got married yesterday evening, surrounded by friends and family who flew in from all across the country. It was indeed the greatest night of my life, a true event that will forever be ingrained in my memory thanks to those who attended. Pictures will be coming soon, thanks solely to the work of Ben Reed – by far the most amazing photographer anybody could ever ask for!

However, it hasn’t all been pure joy. Just less than two weeks ago my grandfather finally passed away following a short battle with lung cancer. The funeral was held on Monday, just five days before our wedding. But, like I said during my speech as I toasted my mother at the wedding, it was only fitting that we gathered soon after experiencing the lowest of lows to celebrate the highest of highs.

Grandpa, you will be truly missed. Rest in piece forever.

The days leading up to the funeral were obviously cumbersome, but even more so as I was charged with  writing the obituary. (You can read the entire obit here). Thanks in large part to my former journalism advisor Nils Rosdhahl from North Idaho College, I was able to work with my grandmother, mother, aunts and uncles to tailor the endearing article so fitting for the greatest man I’ve ever known.

Nevertheless, I’ve since learned the best way in dealing with these things is simply not to dwell on the fact that I’ve lost somebody so paramount in my upbringing, but rather celebrate the life of and memories of the incredible man who shall never be forgotten.

As cliché as it may sound, I truly believe that while one life has ended a new one is now beginning. The best possible way to honor my grandfather is simply to spend my life affecting those around me as positively as he did his.

And that starts with my new bride: Holly Beth Donahue:

Portland Golf Club

A friend of mine from high school is now the membership director at the Portland Golf Club. They needed photos for marketing materials, so of course a photos-for-golf trade was all I needed!

The lighting wasn’t perfect, but we still had fun. If anything, we scouted spots for next time. HDR brought out some locations better than others:

Brochure

I designed a brochure for somebody’s homework assignment recently, yet I went forward with it like it was for a $1,000 client. I' had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use this trick with the grassy typography, and voila, here it was!

So, while I essentially did the project for free, it was SO WORTH IT! Even if only for the fact that I spelled “Grow” with grass.

Here’s the cover (PS: There are a couple of typos, but I really wanted to share the design before I made my final edits!):

More Photos

Tonight Holly had her friend Kathy come over to help sew things for the wedding. Thus, I boogied outside and shot some more photos. Let’s just say the other day got me all excited to get out as much as I can nowadays, especially with the killer sunsets we’ve been having.

Here’s how I killed a few hours tonight down at the Sunset Transit Station where the Max Rail drives by:

My Photographic Evolution

I think it’s funny to look back at the “Edits” folder of my computer. That’s where I keep any photo I shot that I took a few extra minutes to make sure it looked good enough to share. Since it’s organized by date, it’s very easy to notice the trends I’ve gone through in just the past year.

You can tell just by stepping back and looking at the bunch as a whole where I first learned about Vibrance/Saturation in Photoshop CS4, as well as when I took the saturations to extremes. Then there was the heavy editing thanks to automated actions you could download from all over the web, followed by the heavy vignettes. There’s lots of panoramics and night shots, as well. Eventually came the HDRs followed by the use of Topaz Adjust to bring out single images into HDR-like fashions; not to mention long exposures, fast exposures and time-lapses.

Now, I’m into letterbox-style black borders. Why? I have no idea, aside from the fact that I’ve seen a few photographers (see here, here and here). Maybe it’s how they turn into a square. Perhaps it’s the contrast. Like I said before, I have no idea – I just like it.

…at least for now. We’ll see what happens next month.

Anyway, I’ve been busy playing with some older photos and taking some new ones this week and last. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

This little dandy was hiding deep in one of my Coeur d’Alene folders. Shots like this make me miss my drive to work in Idaho, all along Coeur d’Alene Lake Drive.

This was at sunset tonight. Holy friggin’ moly it was insane! I didn’t think I’d get it to look nice at all, and especially since I didn’t have my tripod handy. But I guess I was wrong…

I have wanted to shoot this photo since first moving to Portland, especially after seeing some awesome images of this same vantage all over flickr. Tonight was my night! This is actually an HDR of three separate 15-second exposures (+1, 0, –1).

From the same spot as above, overlooking downtown Portland from the top of OHSU. I had never been up here before until tonight, and I can’t wait to go back again! (Looks WAY better large!)

New edit of an old shot: This was from back when John came to visit. A little too dark for my taste, but I think that’s probably why I kind of like it, it’s not my normal edit.

And lastly, one of my favorite shots ever with an updated edit. This is probably my best “journalistic” shot, as I was on a police ride-a-long for a page design I thought might look nice. I borrowed a Canon from school and rode with a cop (who I actually went to middle school with, oddly enough).

Quick Break

Anymore it is far too easy to get my mind off track. I’m supposed to be working on a project I have due tomorrow, and it will likely take most of the day. So it makes total sense that I would get up in the middle of it all just to go outside and take a photo, for no other reason than to alleviate an urge that suddenly overwhelmed me.

And it wasn’t anything special, either. Just a panoramic down the road:

 
Click to view larger.

Little League, Big Win

So far this Little League baseball season I’ve been stoked with the potential my team keeps flashing. While moments of incredible brilliance often times rear their gorgeous heads when I least expect it, more often than not we screw something up. But since we’re just two games into the regular season (five if you count the pre-season pitching machine tournament – I don’t), that is to be expected.

Nevertheless, since we’re just a AAA team of 9- and 10-year-olds in a league not too obsessed with winning, I’m happy with our progress. We know what we need to work on now and what we’re pretty good at. We lost on Friday due to simple mistakes made by our own team, so our win yesterday was even greater when the players realized why they won – preventing those same mistakes.

But the greatest achievement so far this season has come in the form of one new player. At his first practice, having never thrown a baseball in his life, he only talked about his undying love for basketball and why baseball “sucked.”

Then a funny thing happened: He got better each practice, proceeded to take a greater interest in baseball, and now leads the team in hits, stolen bases and batting average!

In the middle of a recent game, after ripping a line drive into the outfield and then stealing third base on the subsequent play, he came bounding into third base with a beaming grin.

“Coach Jake!” he bellowed as he reached the base. “I LOVE baseball! I think I love it more than basketball! No, I love it the same. Ummm, no, never mind. I love baseball more!”

I’m chalking that one up as my greatest coaching success And like I said, we’re only two games into the season.

I love this sport.

Waiting for Heidi

A few weeks back I met my good friend Heidi downtown for pizza and beer at Rocco’s (more about that place in a bit). Nevertheless, since I had the afternoon off work and didn’t want to wait indoors for our meetup, I headed downtown an hour early with camera in tow.

Now, I’ve seen this elephant before, lastly when my buddy John visited over Thanksgiving, and we simply took a few shots with our Smart Phones. But this time I had my Canon S5, so I grabbed an HDR:

I’m fairly certain that this might be my greatest HDR capture yet. Especially with the blue skies and white clouds behind, thanks to Photomatix for helping me pop the colors and contrast (Of course, I cannot wait for Photoshop CS5, check out the new HDR file handling it boasts. Can I get a Boom Shakka Lakka?).

Here are the rest of the shots I captured while waiting. All in all I’d say arriving early was worth the wait!