So, last month I was at the Thesing wedding – pronounced “Tess-ing”…
Did you guys know that we’ve all pronounced Aaron’s last wrong for ten years and he never bothered correcting us?! I’m completely serious. Aaron NEVER corrected us… ten years… TEN years, guys. Joe and I couldn’t believe it.
Seriously. We – as in “all of us from lifeguarding” – have pronounced it THES-ing… apparently the “H” is silent. Ha! Joe and I, in shock (TEN!!!) asked Aaron why he never said anything. Aaron laughed and said “Well, how often do you guys really use my last name… and it’s not like you don’t know who I am. So it didn’t matter”.

Just wait til my wedding, guys. You’ll find out that you’ve pronounced my name wrong all these years, too!

So a little back story for those of you who don’t know much about me and my past. I lived and worked in Florida briefly during college. While working as a lifeguard and lifeguard trainer for the Disneyworld Water Parks I made some of my closest and best friends that I still keep in touch with and visit to this day. The choice of going to Florida during 2003 was easily one of the most significant impacts on my entire life.

Above: Ryan, Me, and Aaron – somewhere on Disney property. I’m fairly sure it’s at Disney Quest. 

Anyway, because of that decision I have friends scattered all over the country. Most of them I still keep in touch with to this very day. And quite a few of them I’ve even done photography for.
But the coolest part, for me, is the amount of weddings of these great friends I’ve been able to attend. When Aaron proposed to Danielle and then invited me as part of a very small list of friends and family I knew I would have to figure out how to get out to Florida for what would be my second of three trips to Orlando in 2013. It didn’t take long for me to convince myself to just put the trip on my credit card and go have a great time with my friends out there. I’ve been to pretty much every wedding of all my Disney friends that have invited me (in Texas, Boston, Oregon, Calif., etc.).
I wasn’t about to miss Aaron’s.

While working as lifeguards in ’03 Aaron and I were carpool buddies for several months. It worked out well since Aaron had a car in Florida and I’m punctual and always wake up on time for work. So, I would knock on his door at 6:45 each morning, and he’d wake up grab his things, and we’d leave for work at 7:30 at Blizzard Beach. Haha! He’s also been a great host to me over the years when I would visit Florida on Spring Break or during various trips. I crashed with him at his place two or three times – including during my move to England for school when I stayed at his place for several days before leaving the US.

After seeing Danielle and Aaron in March when I was in town to photograph the American Le Mans season opener race I knew I had to solidify plans for the weekend of the wedding. Danielle gave me permission to bring Joe as my date since he’s another Disney friend of Aaron’s and I don’t have a girlfriend/wife to bring anyway, lol. The week that I went out to Orlando – and eventually Clearwater – for their wedding I spent most on my laptop working and doing email.
But regardless of how busy I was with email/calls on the weekdays leading up to the weekend, the actual ceremony and two days in Clearwater with Joe, Aaron, Danielle and their families was a blast.

I had permission from both Danielle and Aaron to take some photos during their wedding, too! Which to me, is great. I’m all for enjoying the ceremony, however photography is enjoyable for me. And, more importantly, I want my own photos of such an important event in my friends lives.

So I’ll stop rambling and reminiscing about Florida, Disney, and all my great memories with my friends there. Click past the break for over 150 photos from the Thesing wedding!

 

Joe and I, sitting and waiting for things to start.
Pro tip, people, use your fill-flash on a sunny beach wedding.

Aaron and his groomsmen, waiting for things to start

Deep breath as the music starts playing

Aaron was holding it together pretty well…

And then Danielle turned the corner with her father…

Danielle, being escorted down the aisle by her father

Mr. Alagna, handing off his daughter

It was actually much brighter out than my other photos may lead you to believe. haha. Check out everyone shading themselves

Danielle looking gorgeous in dress

Deep breath before exchanging vows. They each wrote their own

Aaron laughed that he had to write his down

Danielle wrote hers down, too! Haha! Honestly, it’s smarter I think… that way you don’t forget

“Uh oh… who has the rings…??”

There was a brief period where it was hard to tell if Danielle was in on the joke or not… I’m still not certain if she was.

The super-sly behind the back hand-off

Exchanging of rings

Awe! First kiss, I was able to get a clear shot, too

While I do like this shot of me and Joe, I can’t help but laugh that this is the shot I got back when I handed my pre-set camera to one of the photography crew that was working that day… a little un-level

Selfie!

Danielle and Aaron practicing their dance in the hall.
I actually got questioned by the coordinator who I was, why was I taking photos, and do I belong there after taking this picture. Yikes!

Emotional first dance as husband and wife.

Then the beat dropped…

They had a whole routine worked out!

Then Aaron’s brothers came out for a scene from Night At The Roxbury

then Jump On It

Everyone was cheering and laughing

Then the girls broke out a little Backstreet Boys? I think? Did I remember that right?

What was awesome is that after that they cut back to the original song and finished their first-dance, together

Daddy-Daughter dance was up next

All the boys sitting and watching, haha!

Aaron dancing with his mother for the Mother-Son dance

Danielle, a bit emotional herself as she watches her husband dance with his mom

Cake time!

I’ll give you a hint at what bothers me about videographers… Haha. Zoom, homie! I can see your screen, you’re shooting wide from two feet away!

Probably one of the funniest photos of a cake cutting I’ve shot…
Aaron’s there like “Hey hon, you need to cut it in…. uh… cut… um… cake… what?”

Danielle’s It’s-my-wedding-I-do-what-I-want face

Whoops, it fell!

“It’s ok, I’ll get it”

Some more dancing later that night.

One of my favorite dance photos of the Thesing’s that night

Aaron’s brother was awesome at pulling all their family members out to the floor to dance, too!

Garter belt time

Aaron, pretty sure your hands aren’t supposed to be up there, too, bro!

Me, Aaron, and Joe

And we had to get a shot with both the bride and groom!

And a funny one for good measure

One of the last slow dances of the evening

Breaking it down during the final song

 

So that’s it! Those are my shots from Aaron and Danielle’s wedding. It was great to be able to be there and be part of it. The next day we all got together at the beach for a BBQ and drinks and just to hang out, which was awesome because that was the first real chance that we had to catch up with Aaron on life. So him and I were were able to spend a while talking and hearing what each other has been up to recently.

The next night Joe and I stopped by Aaron’s restaurant that he bartend’s to talk a bit more and hang out before I left town.

It was awesome to be part of Danielle and Aaron’s wedding weekend to even a small degree. And I’m very happy that I went back to Florida to be there, even if it was in the middle of other trips all over the US in May. I would have really regretted it had I not gone.

Thank you to both Aaron and Danielle for having me.