Savannah and Daniel

I did a photo shoot with Savannah some 4-5 years ago and like many of my clients she quickly became a lifetime friend of the family. She called almost immediately after she got engaged and that is truly an honor when someone says they have been waiting to use you as a photographer. I am honored. We will be shooting the wedding at the end of March in Chicago. This is an energetic couple. I don't have to do much work, they do all the work and I just photograph.

The above photo has a story behind it. Daniel forgot to bring a tie for some more formal shots so we went looking for a shop with ties downtown Salt Lake. I remembered a conversation with a man I had on an elevator around 7 years ago. I served an LDS mission in Italy and for some reason I figured he was Italian and we had a small conversation in which he mentioned that he owned the men's clothing store to the east of the SLC Temple. He was super nice. So on Saturday I said "Why don't we go to that little Italian store named Moda Italia?" I guessed that ties might cost $30 or something. So we enter to this warm Italian smile and he was so helpful and nice. Savannah used the dressing room to change and came out and Tony (store owner) was helping Savannah find a tie that matched her blouse. Daniel went to change and as we were walking to pay for the tie Savannah and I looked at the price tag, $135 for the chosen tie. We looked at each other in complete shock. I don't know ties could cost so much. I thought an expensive tie was $30. We were in too deep to pull out now. So Savannah and I said we had better wait for Daniel cause he had the deep pockets. We told him how much it was but Tony was picking up on the fact that we had no idea a tie would cost so much so he said he would let us name our price. Daniel says, "$30". Tony about fell off his chair, "Whata are youa kiddinga mea?" he says in a thick Italian accent. Daniel then says, "$45". Tony is still in amazement. He says," I am nota kidding with you when Ia tella you that I paid more than that just to get it here." Feeling partly responsible I leaned over and told Daniel that I would pay half. Tony settled on a price close to half of the price of the tie and mentioned under his breath that he felt ashamed because he has never sold a tie for so little. He made sure we knew that everything in the store was imported from Italy and was top of the line. I wandered around the room and was now aware of all the price tags in the room. The average suit coat sold for $950. I have bought cars for less than that. Come to think of it I have bought cars less than the cost of that tie. Nonetheless, it was a great adventure and Tony calmed down after Savannah put her arm around him. Italians just need a little love.