the muck

"There's something dead in there," she said, pointing to the manufactured stream.

"I'm not going to take a picture of a floating dead thing. Unless you want dead things in your wedding album," the photographer said and snapped a picture of the bride pointing to the muck. "We should probably go. Don't you need to get married?"

The bride laughed, peered in again, and continued on her way to the ceremony. She lifted her skirt to save it from the pool water, turned to the photographer and grinned. She turned back again and took another step. "I'm getting married," she said.

"It's about time," said the photographer and briefly moved her camera away from her eye to smile back at the bride.