One Month Anniversary

Today is my husband and my monthiversary. I have friends who claim that it should technically be called a mensiversary, but that just sounds too bloody to me. So yes, Craig and I have been married for a whole month. It sounds like we are just starting out, even though we have been together for over 5 years. Somehow all of that disappears as one starts counting post marriage.

So what has life been like after the wedding?

I feel old. Having a husband just makes me sound so much older than having a fiance. There is a strange mix of comfort and serious maturity with having a husband. A fiance is a much flightier creature. A fiance has not yet really committed, though he might help pick out wedding colors. A fiance is the sexy stage of almost getting married. It's all about buying diamonds and using French words.

Somehow, husband doesn't have the same effect. It's not a bad thing. I feel much more mature telling people about my husband. I am still slipping and calling him my fiance. After all, we dated two years and then were engaged for three years. He's been my fiance a damn long time.

The rest of life has been on the process of settling down. The initial insanity of the wedding was over. (Still thinking of an excuse to rent another water park.) The honeymoon was a fantastic trip. Kids just started school, there were no lines for anything. There were a few wedding and honeymoon mishaps, but that's another story.

Life if a lot similar to life before. This is true despite people who would try to convince us otherwise. I have heard from some that marriage will lead to the guy saying less stupid things (and from more reliable sources, the opposite tends to be true.) My new husband and I got an article a very religious family member thought we'd like. It basically said to cut out all your external relationship. Craig and I feel outside friends and space is key for any healthy relationship.

The biggest change is my new job, but that didn't come from being married. We still go out. We watch TV and dote on our pets, especially Buttercup. We make each other laugh a lot and cry a little. Marriage has not fixed any, but that wasn't really the point. We do work on things, but we don't need to be fixed.

We are celebrating our monthiversary by seeing the photographer tonight and getting the wedding photos. I am excited. They are truly lovely. And it's a great way to remember that big party we had, not to improve our relationship, but to celebrate and confirm a rad relationship we already had.

It's been a good month. I love Craig, my fiance... I mean husband.

Zombie Wedding Followup

Over weeks of planning, 14 hours on set, and a lot of fake blood- and we had an awesome zombie wedding!  Check out a followup article on the Examiner by our favorite zombie-reporter/zombie (he was also in the shoot) here.

We had an amazing cast and crew.  Everyone worked really hard and weren't afraid to get into the shoot and get dirty (well, bloody).  We took over 2,000 pictures, so stay tuned for the finished video, as well as behind of the scene photos of "That Special Day."

Zombies Attack Wedding!

For those of you that read my other blog, this will be posted there as well. But you don't have to read it twice. But you can if you. After all, this covers my life, my art, weddings, and zombies.

I've decided that what this world needs is more zombies attacking weddings. So my production team, Junebug Media, is going to make this dream a reality!

We also gotten some great press on NBC LA:

A local artist is looking for zombies to help ruin a wedding in Sherman Oaks.

The undead mayhem is the brainchild of artist Brandie June Chernow. The idea began as a photo shoot to document a staged wedding dissolving into chaos (Imagine spilled wine, bad toasts, perhaps a few awkward moments).

Chernow and her production team at Junebug Media started brainstorming ways to up the ante. One of her coworkers suggested a Bridezilla vs. Godzilla theme. That's when things got interesting.

"…and that led to me thinking that zombies would be a great way to worsen a bad situation. Zombies attacking a wedding it became. Because when you think things can't get worse, that's when the zombies attack," Chernow said.

Chernow is now accepting applications for zombies. The project is on a tight budget, so all undead work will be pro bono. Not all applicants will score a role in the Sept. 13 photo shoot. Those interested can reach Chernow at junebugmedia@gmail.com.

Ideally, Chernow says, she'd like the photos displayed at an appropriate venue, such as the Downtown Art Walk.

"But mainly we think it'd be fun. Art for art's sake. Or zombies for art's sake. Or art for zombies' sake," Chernow said.

And the Examiner also ran a story:

On September 13th in Sherman Oaks, zombies will be busting up a wedding, and you have a chance at getting involved in the mayhem!

Junebug Media, founded by Brandie June Chernow in 2008, is putting together a still photography shoot and slide show-style video of the events, which Brandie described in an email as being "about a wedding that starts sweet and then goes wrong (think passed-out drunk groomsmen, bridesmaid making out with groom)," but quickly turns into a bloodbath when zombies attack. With her team rounded out by Ray McCoy, Damon D. Brown and Craig Johnson, Brandie has a group of experienced TV production folks at the helm of this project, and they have already put down some hard-earned money on the zombie makeup that will be used for the event.

Anyone and everyone can get involved by contacting Brandie at junebugmedia@gmail.com and showing up to the event. Although there's no pay -- this is an ultra-low budget event -- Brandie says that she can get people copies of the photos, and will be shopping around the slideshow and photos to be displayed locally, such as at the Downtown Los Angeles Art Walk. As Brandie puts it, "mainly we think it'd be fun. Art for art's sake. Or zombies for art's sake. Or art for zombie's sake." How can you beat that?

If you've never heard of Junebug Media, they have completed several short videos, and have won second place at the UCLA Anderson School of Business and Management video contest with a mock 1950s parody PSA. Additional team members support them on various projects. This may very well be an outfit to watch out for in the future.

And by the way, is anyone else reminded of Adam's (Jeremy Sisto) short film in May?