The Greatest Thing You’ll Ever Learn

I honestly couldn’t wait to hang out with my friend, Samantha, before the Metuchen High Prom last night. From the getting-ready phase through senior pictures at Roosevelt Park, I had a great time!

More pictures below.

Above, John’s boutonniere, and the dancing shoes. (Or not — since if those were my prom shoes, they’d have been sitting at the edge of the dance floor watching my dancing bare feet.

Makeup by Dana. Great job, Dana!

For future reference, when taking pictures of girls in long dresses, get them to move around a little to show off their figure and the fabrics of the dress! I love this shot!

I love Sammie’s headband.

She went to the front porch to wait for John, her prom date.

He’s here! Yay!

Wow — he’s cute! Good going, Sammie!

I was told to edit the pictures of Sammie’s mom pinning the boutonniere on John’s lapel, but nobody told me I couldn’t write about it. (Probably nobody reads these captions anyway. LOL!)

I started taking some headshots of John, and I didn’t like his hair. Honestly. I swear it’s the truth. So I asked his mom to come down and muss it up for me. She thought I was just trying to get her in a few, you know, mother-son shots. I swear that’s not why I asked her to come muss his hair.

Really.

By the way, this shot is so beautiful. John’s mom — you look GORGEOUS! So, here’s my advice for parents in the pre-prom phase. You KNOW people are going to want to take a picture of you with your son or daughter, so, like John’s mom did, wear something nice! Awesome!

Doesn’t his hair look nice now? Great job, mom!

So, if you saw the sweet little slide show, you might have noticed the Moulin Rouge reference. Can you guess the answer to this blog post’s title? Leave a comment finishing the rest of the thought, word-for-word, behind, “The Greatest Thing You’ll Ever Learn” and you’ll get lots of blog praise!

Love this one. (That’s kind of a hint, by the way.)

Pre-prom pictures don’t all have to be straight-on, smile-at-the-camera shots.

That’s a sweet shot. I love it.

We get another chance to try for cute pictures again today because John doesn’t go to Sammie’s school and HIS prom is tonight!

Some of Sammie’s friends came by. Awesome dresses and tuxes!

I truly believe that pinning flowers onto lapels is a learned skill. I never learned. By the way, I love her dress!

They coordinate so well!

Maryann is my Footlighters connection for next year. You look beautiful, Maryann! I love how your dress subtly compliments your date’s tux.

Maryann is a fabulous dancer so I asked her and her date to pretend there was music playing.

Wow! I absolutely adore this picture. In black and white, it looks like it could be from just about any era since the 1950s. That tells me the clothes, hair, makeup, everything about it, is simply classic and will never go out of style.

The same picture in color tells a much more modern story. Love the pink tie!

Sometimes it’s fun to think of different poses for prom pictures.

I love this picture. It shows off so many details of Lauren’s look — sequins of her dress, the hair style and coordinating barrette, her gorgeous flowers, her perfect makeup, her earrings, her clutch, and you can even see a hint of her high school ring. Lauren, whoever did your hair should be directed to come see this picture because they did a great jobl It’s beautiful, classic and sooooo Audrey Hepburn!

A little layering goes a long way in a photograph.

“Grab your date.” Cracks me up what happens when I say things like that.

Once we left Sammie’s house, we went to Roosevelt Park, where all the seniors had agreed to meet for lots of group shots with lots of parents and friends.

While we were there, I did a few headshots for Maryann to show off her hair and the cutest smile-dimple ever.

I love all the fashions! Wow!

Now check this out. Mariah really knows how to hit a pose for a picture. Love it! And wow! I love that hot pink dress!

I love Olivia’s look in this picture. The way she’s standing really shows off her goddess look.

Love love love this one!

I’m always looking for little details that make our lives special and our relationships memorable.

Jen, you look fabulous! I love how your dress coordinates with your date’s tux! Beautiful!

I was just walking around the chaos looking for people I know. Eric’s mom came up to me asking if I would take a few of him and his date. I love when people do that!

I don’t know the girl in the brown and green dress, but I adore that dress!

I could not get everyone in one shot because the parents standing on each side of me wouldn’t move back far enough so that I could back up enough to fit everyone into one shot. Eventually I gave up trying to get the parents to move (parents never listen) and figured I could try meshing two shots together.

iTunes card to your snail mail if you can figure out where I cut this picture in order to create the full composite. The shot is only available as a 5×10 or a 10×20. Even at that large size, I bet you wouldn’t see the cut. (But you could probably guess anyway.) Click HERE to see it larger.

Hope you had a good time at the ball, Cinderella!

Another classic shot that will never, ever go out of style. Please thank John for me for being such a great sport with all my picture-taking. See you both tonight for John’s prom! I love you, Sammie! (And what’s the greatest thing you’ll ever learn? I bet you’ve figured that one out by now.)