*** MINI CHALLENGE #785 *** “Celebrations”

The theme for this Challenge #785 is: “CELEBRATIONS!”

This week I will be traveling to my hometown to perform a wedding ceremony for my 87 yr old mom. We expect a great celebration and I hope to post a few photos of the celebration. Some ideas for you…celebrations of religious or cultural festivals, personal milestones like birthdays and anniversaries, and social events like weddings, baby showers and parties. Parades, processions, etc. They can be large public events or small, intimate gatherings, and could involve specific traditions, rituals, and customs. Anything that is considered a celebration. A little explanation of your celebration would be appreciated.

This mini challenge starts now and will end at 10:00 PM PDST on Saturday, July 5th.

Maximum of three entries and/or unlimited exhibits per member. 1st, 2nd, 3rd Place Winners will be selected only from Entries. Honorable Mentions will be selected only from Exhibits. As usual, coveted Dishonorable Mentions will be issued as necessary to keep your judge amused.

The photo must be taken by you and only you (you pressed the shutter button, self timer or remote shutter release).

DPREVIEW rules regarding propriety apply. Any equipment and any post-processing may be used. I'll allow the use of AI as part of processing the final image, but if you used AI, that must be disclosed and it must not substantially alter the image content and message.

Please submit your pictures as a REPLY to this post.

Please indicate clearly whether your image is an Entry or an Exhibit. An undesignated post will be considered an Exhibit.

Comments on others' photos are also strongly encouraged!! These mini-challenges and the weekly Show, Tell and Critique thread are some of the ways we on the forum can get to know and learn from one another.

Before posting your Entry or Exhibit, please take the time and comment on someone else's image. By doing so, you may encourage more forum participation.

I'll try this again: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE consider making some of your posts Entries. We seem to cycle through the same few hosts of these Challenges. New and different hosts would help keep these Challenges fun with new and different ideas, and you can make as much or as little work of the hosting as you like. Thanks!

The 1st place winner will host the next Challenge, selecting the theme. If the winner does not respond within 3 days or declines to host, the 2nd place winner becomes the host. If the second-place winner declines, the 3rd place winner becomes the host.

I look forward to seeing your submissions!!

Ontario, CA. 4th of July Celebration Concert







Mission Inn, Festival of Lights, Christmas Celebration. Riverside, CA.







Wedding Celebration in the Mojave

RLBur said:

The theme for this Challenge #785 is: “CELEBRATIONS!”

This week I will be traveling to my hometown to perform a wedding ceremony for my 87 yr old mom. We expect a great celebration and I hope to post a few photos of the celebration. Some ideas for you…celebrations of religious or cultural festivals, personal milestones like birthdays and anniversaries, and social events like weddings, baby showers and parties. Parades, processions, etc. They can be large public events or small, intimate gatherings, and could involve specific traditions, rituals, and customs. Anything that is considered a celebration. A little explanation of your celebration would be appreciated.

This mini challenge starts now and will end at 10:00 PM PDST on Saturday, July 5th.

Click to expand...

That is very specific timing for soliciting celebration photographs. After all, July 4th happens to be my father's 91st birthday, and he fondly remembers the parades in his honour when he was working in the U.S. as a postdoc.

Interesting, my wife says the same thing since her birthday is also on the 4th of July.

Best regards,

Randy

Here are my entries:

My son's wedding


Entry #1 David & Connie tying the knot

Halloween yard decorations


Entry #2 Boo

Corpus Christi Celebration in Cusco Peru


Entry #3



--
Jerry

Here are my exhibits:




North Carolina Apple Festival




Bill Z in his decorated golf cart in our neighborhood July 4th parade.




Festival of lights (Chanukah)




Mardi Gras, New Orleans




Beverly's 80th birthday celebration.



--
Jerry

St. Joseph celebration on Malta

--
Ab

In June my stepdaughter got married. In advance of her register office service at home near London she organised a small family gathering in a part of Wales she has often visited for her triathlon training.

We all arrived on Thursday evening. The afternoon outdoor unofficial ceremony was due on the Saturday followed by an indoor evening party but the weather forecast for Saturday was dreadful (rightly so, torrential rain and thunder turned up). So, as all had arrived at various hotels and airbnbs, she switched the "ceremony" to Friday.

And then the location. They wanted this to be in part of a local slate mine but on scoping out exactly where and how they discovered this public space was actually shut, the latest series of House of Dragons was actually being filmed there at the time.

So we ended up here at late 12th century Dolbadarn Castle which was absolutely fabulous and perfect and we all agreed it was far better than the original choice. Lucky us.



I really like this photograph, it is exactly what I wanted to get, clever camera. When I visit such places I almost get a sense of those who have been there before.

And family, my lot on the left of the photograph.



And the bride and groom although though they weren't officially married until the following Tuesday).



And sisters



Regards,
David
***************************************
Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened - Anatole France.

at a wedding celebration in Kuldiga (Latvia)

--
Ab

First, congrats to your 87 year old mother for getting married!! I thought I got married late in life at 76 after losing my first wife. She has me beat by a mile.

I'm not too big on festivals and the like, as they involve crowds, so my images of such things are a bit sparse.

Entries:

#1: Grandson, TJ, when he "crossed over the bridge" from Cub Scouts to being a Boy Scout - seems like yesterday:



It wasn't yesterday. TJ with his girl friend on the beach in Florida as I write this. (this is neither an entry nor an exhibit).



#2 My firm did the legal work for a huge outdoor country music concert. I was given two free VIP tickets to the concert. I did NOT want to go, because I knew I'd be packed into a crowd! But, at the time, Nancy and I were just getting to know each other and I wanted her to think well of me, so I invited her to the concert and we went. Turns out we had a good time and I actually enjoyed the experience. There was a fellow wandering around naked. I got a pic of him just as the security guys caught up with him. They asked him i he had been drinking. He said he "may had had a taste or two..." You think???!!



Each year on Memorial Day my little community holds a Memorial Day parade to honor the memory of local people who were killed in military service. The parade itself is a fun, happy event with fire trucks, the high school band and cheerleaders, police cars, teenage beauty "queens", tractors, K-9's, Scouts and pretty much anyone else who wants to participate (see below in Exhibits)

But the real purpose of the even is quite somber. I go to honor my good friend Mike Mangelardo, who was killed along with his entire squad in Quang Tin on 1/31/68 defending a bridge with his M60. He never got to be married, have a career, know his kids and grandkids; and live a long life like I have somehow been privileged to do. (this is neither an entry nor an exhibit).



#3 Anyway.. the parade ends in the local cemetery; and it's not uncommon to see tears streaming down the face of a veteran. This year, a fellow, about my age, wore a faded, battered First Cav hat. He stood silently at the grave of a vet (all vets' graves are marked with flags) for a long time. I wonder what was in his mind and what his relationship was with the deceased veteran.



Exhibits:

This was Brad Paisley on stage at the aforementioned massive concert:



The aforementioned Memorial Day parade:





Youngest granddaughter at a sports festival in Maryland:



One and only (so far - there is soon to be another) great-grandson's first birthday - he got this tractor as a present:



Nancy's 70th birthday with some of the grandkids and some of the granddogs:





Greg

--
Check out my photos at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/137747053@N07/

Hi Jerry,

Thank you for your entries. You can always be counted on to support the MC with entries and exhibits.

You gave us some great examples of celebrations with the wedding of your son being a highlight. The second photo of "Keeping up with the Boneses" brought a smile to my face.

Best regards,

Randy

Wonderful variety of celebrations, crowned by your wife's 80th birthday celebration!

Thank you,

Randy

In Mexico, a girl's 15th birthday, known as a quinceañera, is a significant coming-of-age celebration.


In San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

And some wedding celebrations on the street:


In Amalfi, Italy


In San Miguel de Allende, Mexico


In Madeira Island, Portugal

--
~George

Hi Ab,

I was not familiar with the specifics of the celebration, therefore, google again, provided information. Nice photo and thank you for sharing this as an entry.

Kind regards,

Randy

Hello David,

I very much enjoyed these photos...so very well done and with the backdrop, made even better.

We certainly have nothing like that here in the Mojave of California!

Best regards,

Randy

Tomorrow, Canada Day is celebrated, Ending with fireworks behind the Parliament building.















--
~George

Nice, Ab,

Was anyone in the wedding related to you?

Thank you for your 2nd entry,

Kind regards,

Randy

Hello Greg,

My dad passed away 14 years ago...seems like yesterday. I never imagined my mom would remarry, neither did she. She lives in a very small rural community in the eastern delta of Arkansas with hardly any activities for senior citizens. Someone invited her to a senior citizen center in a little larger community about an hour away. She was bored with nothing to do, so she accepted the offer. They play all sorts of music from 30s 40s to oldies and country and even do line dancing. She met a widower who asked her to dance and as the saying goes, the rest is history. I'm happy for her. I've not yet met John, but I will soon as I will officiate the wedding.

That's a little info about my mom.

Thanks for your entries and exhibits. All are appreciated, especially the stories with them.

The photo of your grandson going from Cub Scout to Boy Scout has invoked a special memory.

Just a couple of months ago, my wife and I were going through some boxes we have stored trying to downsize. In one of the boxes was packed my old Cub Scout Uniform patches and all. It was hard to believe I was ever that small!

Best regards,

Randy

Hello George, thank you for your participation in our MC.

I'm very familiar with Quinceanera's and have attended quite a few. You have some very nice photos and I'm glad to have viewed them.

Thanks for sharing them.

Best regards,

Randy

Wowsers!

Great job with the Celebratory Fireworks! Beautiful.

Randy