Well, after all the craziness of the past week, where a spur of the moment photo caused just a little bit of news around here and around the nation, it's time to get back to some weddings. And two back-to-back affairs I photographed just before the election, which already feels like forever ago, are the perfect place to start.

Why, you ask? Because these two events once again prove the same point I've been basically proving for the last 11 years, both in my wedding photographs and in my writing. Yes,  tablecloths and linens, diamonds rings and vintage Bentleys, sea bass and expensive champagne (and even photographers!) are all swell, but in the end there's only one thing that counts at your wedding: the love of your family and friends.

I had the pleasure of shooting two weddings in a row, the marriage of Ilene Engel to Bob Arotsky and the marriage of Gwenn Rosenthal to Joel Davidow. To the best of my knowledge, these couples don't know each other, which is a shame, because, man, would they all get along. We'll get to that in a sec.

But first, let's deal with the obvious. The first thing you guys might notice about Bob and Ilene and Joel and Gwenn is that they appear to be a tad older than most of the wedding couples you've read about on these pages. It is also the first thing we need to dispense with. I may have been consumed last week with a certain president who currently resides in a temple at the far end of the Mall, but I'll instead quote here from Ronald Reagan, who, when asked about his age during a debate with Walter Mondale, said the following: "I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience."

There, done. The Gipper said it perfectly. And I'll go even one further. Every single bride and groom I've ever shot in the last eleven years could learn a thing or two from these two couples about throwing a great wedding. Every single couple. Here's what both days had in truckloads: laughter, dancing, elegance, food, and fun. And here's what neither day could muster an ounce of, even if it was being handed out on the street for free: stress.

A healthy ratio, if you ask me. It would be too easy to attribute this all simply to age, because that would somehow deny Joel and Gwenn and Ilene and Bob the immense credit they deserve for staging weddings that both couples sought from their first meeting with me: fun celebrations of their friends and family.

I'll start with Gwenn and Joel first. They began their weekend with a reception in their home, followed with a dinner at Mei Wah restaurant. (Guests opened fortune cookies that read things like, "Gwenn says dinner is best when served in bed. Right, Joel?")

And  I laughed when my assistant Matt said, "Boy, that Joel guy doesn't stop moving!" Well, that's an understatement. Joel is the closest thing I've ever seen to a human Energizer Bunny. He is a blur of energy, excitement and humor. And that's a neat trick, not just because he's a lawyer (I'm kidding, I'm kidding!) but because Gwenn is not exactly a slouch in that department.

In fact, I'd have to say that there aren't too may people I've met with a better laugh (Ilene, you're on deck), a more gentle spirit and with more positive energy than Gwenn Rosenthal. From the second she walked into my studio all those months ago, we clicked. She was so easy to work with that here's an excerpt from her last email before her wedding: "Give us “our marchin’ orders” and we will do it."

When I arrived at their suite at the Willard, Joel was doing the crossword puzzle and watching football, while Gwenn was in a bathrobe, laughing with her friend Karen. Downstairs, in the ballroom and the historic Crystal Room, friend and wedding planner extraordinaire Marylin Bradley was busy transforming both sites into fantasies. I may not be the most religious person around, but I've become fascinated by chuppahs, the Jewish wedding canopy, and the one that Marylin created for Gwenn and Joel was magical. It just seemed to descend on its own from the ceiling, like a lazy cloud on a fall day, and I found myself staring at it constantly.

After cocktails, everyone ascended the stairs up to the Crystal Room, one of Washington's most absurdly lush venues. The chandeliers in that room date back to the late 1800's and, like the ceremony chuppah, found their way into all the photos. So did Joel and Gwenn. From the moment they were introduced, they were never far from the dance floor. Joel took turns dancing with each of his four daughters and then went into Energizer Bunny mode, putting to shame dancers half his age. As I said, we can all learn a thing or two.

Which brings me to Ilene Engel and Bob Arotsky. Like Gwenn and Joel, these guys put on a master class in Family and Friends. Their wedding, too, was infused with the same sense of laughter, the same joy, and the same attention to detail and beauty. (My friend Allison Jackson, at Pineapple Productions saw to that.) That it also ended up being infused with a bittersweed coda only adds, in my mind, to the myriad lessons we take from weddings like these.

Let's start from the start: Ilene Engel is a hoot and everyone around her knows it. She has a crazy fun accent, a crazy love for her dog, and a crazy excitement for the news business. Many moons ago, circa 1988, when I was just arriving at USA Today, Ilene was working in the same building, on the big new TV show the Nation's newspaper was debuting. And just like me, Ilene loves talking about the good old days.

We had a great meeting in Old Town, Ilene and me, talking about everything, it seemed, except her wedding. We discussed journalism, the South, my brother's book and more. In fact, she sent me an email not long after that said the following:

Hi Matt.
First, we’re just back from Israel...and an amazingly small world. Our guide at Yad Vashem, a woman, mentioned she’d just read an incredible book and it was yours and your brothers. I was floored and told her our connection. I think she met you a few weeks ago when you were there too. I wanted to read it before, but now, I have too!!

The following week I met Bob, who reminds me of a young Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments, as well as the third wheel in their relationship, Gus the Dog. I'm still trying to figure out if Ilene and Bob own Gus or if it's the other way around. But as someone who loves his dog just as much, I'm not sure it really matters. It's the love part, right?

For the first night of their wedding, the rehearsal dinner, Bob and Ilene chose The Fairmont,  in downtown D.C. All the guests wore funny name tags around their necks and I had a quick chance to photograph the couple in the beautiful courtyard. I also had a chance to meet Ilene's dad, Joe, who at 92, was clearly overjoyed at the ongoing festivities. Toast after toast, each one funnier than the last, provided an easy target, even in a dark room, for any photographer. Just listen for Ilene's laugh, I joked to myself.

The next evening, it was off to the Four Seasons in Georgetown, where once again, I photographed a touching ceremony under a beautiful chuppah. For evey teary moment--the story of how Bob and Ilene met on a trip to Israel, both stopping to help a woman who had fallen-- there was a corresponding moment of laughter.

During the reception, though, something magical happened. Ilene's ninety-two year-old father Joe, though physically confined to a wheelchair, seeemd to grow younger by the hour. And as Ilene's nieces danced with him during the Hora and beyond, I remember looking at Nick, my assistant, and smiling. Those pictures will be something, we both laughed.

I started this post talking about the lessons every bride and groom could learn from the two couples I shot that weekend. But on that dance floor, Joe Engel was giving a lesson to anyone and everyone--to the busboys, to the band, to the photographers and, mostly, to his family. And the lesson was Joy.

I just learned that Joe Engel passed away a few days after the wedding. I spoke to Ilene yesterday and made sure it would be okay to post some photos. She said it would.

I don't want to overstep my welcome here, nor do I want to pretend to have more powers of philosophical thought than I actually do. I'm a photographer. So I'll stick to my own skill set, the ability to see moments of incredible value and record them. And watching and recording just how happy and content Joe Engel was on the night his daughter got married is something I won't soon forget. And I'm glad that through my photography I can help ensure that his extended family won't forget either.

Two beautiful weddings and one beautiful lesson.

To see a mini-gallery of photos from Gwenn and Joel's wedding, click here.

To see a mini-gallery of photos from Ilene and Bob's wedding, click here.

Take care,

Matt