I seriously love After Sessions. Love them! How much better does it get than to spend more time with fabulous couples after their wedding. When all of the pressure if OFF. No one is standing around checking the time wondering when they get to go drink. I mean, let’s face it. You could be the best, most amazing, fun, rockstar wedding photographer out there and you don’t stand a chance against a nice drink after a year of planning, picking, chosing and writing checks. So no matter how much fun I have with my couples on their wedding day, it doesn’t even come close to the fun we have at the After Session.

Paige + Joel were a prime example of this. We had a blast hanging out in Gruene, Texas (which is like one of my favorite places on earth) on a smouldering hot June evening. Summer in Gruene is insane anyway. So many people roaming through. Since Paige + Joel are just beautiful they were not lacking in attention. They also brough along their gorgeous Weimeriener and you gotta just love dogs + brides + grooms.  We were having so much fun, but it was so hot that Joel suggested we kick back, have a beer and hang out at the Gruene Dance Hall for a while.  Yes, this is my job.

It just doesn’t get better than this.

Another giant thanks to Paige & Joel! Best wishes always!!!!

Shine On!

Wanted to post a little sneak peek of Paige & Joel’s wedding. I know they are dying to see their images. We shot their After Session this past Thursday in Gruene, Texas and Paige and I decided to wait to post the full gallery all together but I know she was so anxious to see a few images so I promised I get some up for them.

I’ll post full details on the wedding in next few days with more images to come. These are just a few that stood out to me right away that I loved. They are the most laid back couple and just completely fun to hang out with. I mean, when we shot their After Session it was still in the mid 90’s (at 7pm) and Joel just decided we needed to take a break and have a beer in the middle of the session. Yea, that’s pretty much an ideal client!

Thanks again guys! You two are the best! Here’s your sneak peek! Enjoy!!!!

I loved loved loved that during the cake cutting Paige & Joel had requested milk as their drink of choice.

You’d be hard pressed to find a wedding photographer that said they shot weddings because they actually just loved running around on their feet 10+ hours a day in uncomfortable shoes ( yea, I still haven’t found any cute comfortable shoes that I don’t have to sacrafice my sense of fashion for).

You’d be hard pressed to find a wedding photographer who loved  schelpping around heavy equipment, running from one venue to the next making sure they’ve remembered all that heavy equipment, that they didn’t leave a battery charger plugged in with extra batteries in the brides room at the church and that they’ve gotten all the pertinent addys programmed into the GPS.

You’d be hard pressed to find a wedding photographer that loved it when they are getting ready to fire off a shot and Uncle Bob steps right in front of them to fire his own shot and you’d be hard pressed to find a wedding photographer who adored the tremendous amount of stress that actually comes with knowing you are the one solely responsible for capturing one of the most important days of a couple’s lives.

I would bet money that if you asked any wedding photographer why they shot weddings and not flowers they would tell you they did it for the “emotion”.

I do it for the ugly comfortable shoes AND the stress.  Oh, alright. I do it for the emotion too.  If you know me, you know I’m a crier. I cry at anything and everything. And 9x out of 10 I will cry at the weddings I shoot.  I mean, I don’t do the ugly cry but there will be tears in my eyes at some point during the day. I’ve learned to deal with it. And when you have a big black camera in front of your face people don’t really notice. That’s a good thing.

Photographing Valerie & David’s wedding was no exception. There were so many tender moments dispersed throughout the day. Knowing how much hard work was put into the day I knew it would be an emotional day…for everyone.  From the presentation of the “Irish Penny” from Valerie’s mother to the moment her father first walked into his own bedroom and saw his daughter ready to walk down the aisle to the first glimpse David got of Valerie as she surprised him before the ceremony during his portraits. It was an amazing day filled with special moments and special details. I was happy to be a part of such an amazing day for Valerie & David.

They were married in the back yard of Valerie’s parents home in an intimate dusk ceremony. The weather was perfect. It was a beautiful night. Here are just a few of my favorite shots from the night.

I love these next 2 shot of Val as she wrote a little card for David before the ceremony. There were lots of little surprises throughout the day.

This next shot is one of my favorites of the day. When Val’s dad came in to see her for the first time. It was PURE luck that I got the shot and noticed later that the portrait on the wall behind him is Valerie when she was a little girl. ahhh…more emotion!

We had planned out a “moment” shot. Valerie wanted to surprise David before the ceremony breaking the tradition of not seeing the bride until she’s walking down the aisle. He was a little afraid to turn around and see her…I think he was thinking he was going to get in trouble. It was so cute!

And he won’t see her again……

until……………

Look at how happy Valerie is when the pastor announces them husband and wife. You gotta love that emotion!

A few formals of the happy couple.

David wrote a song for Valerie and he performed it…just him..and the guitar….in front of the entire reception. It was so cute. He claimed he couldn’t sing but he did pretty stinkin’ good if you ask me.

Valerie seemed to like it too.

After it was all said and done…they shared their last dance of the night.

Congrats to Valerie & David! Thanks for asking me to be a small part of your big day!

just a quick post this evening to share something i’m so loving right now:

seriously, i’ve got mad love for this idea. you can totally set up a wedding registry through justigve.org. so basically your guests can check out your justgive.org registry and make donations to the charity you wish to support. but even better than that…as the bride & groom you can give your wedding party gifts or create your own favors! so lovin’ that. so.lovin’. that.

psst…..pass it on.

There are certain people in the world that when you meet them you know instantly that they have a good soul. I’m not just talking about the kind of people who are “nice” or that you can have a “nice” conversation with. I’m talking about the kind of people you meet, and not that often, who genuinely have good souls. You know, with out a doubt, they are good to the very core of their being and that all they really want is to live a decent life and to enjoy the beauty that they have been blessed with and surrounded by.  I was so fortunate to meet two such people.

Alex & Klaus.

I will admit very early on, I was pretty excited to shoot this wedding.  It was the chance to work with Stacy at Bleu Print again which meant things were going to run smoothly and on time. Two of the most important things to a wedding photographer. I also knew that Stacy had helped Alex & Klaus line up some amazing vendors so the details were going to be nothing short of fabulous.

As important as all of that is…and let’s face it…it’s important. What I was even more excited about was the fact that Alex was choosing her vendors based on their passion and their vision and very much relying on her gut feelings when choosing these people.  I felt incredibly honored to be a part of it.

However, before we even got to the wedding part we had to shoot an engagement session. I’ve actually been holding off on blogging their e-session purposely because I’m using their photos as part of an entry I’m working on about the importance of the engagement session and how that makes such a huge difference in the comfort levels of everyone come the day of the wedding…..so you’ll actually see those after you see these.

After the engagement session I was completely jazzed about shooting the wedding.  They were amazing at the e-session and I knew we were going to have a great time at the wedding. And of course, I was right.

We had perfect weather, an amazing location at the Southwest School of Arts & Craft, the amazing Bleu Print team of Stacy & Jackie and of course Klaus & Alex had amazing friends & family to celebrate their big day with them.

Ok, so I’ll stop rambling now and just show you the darn pictures already. (no you didn’t say that out loud…i’m capable of reading minds)

Jana came along that day as my second shooter and as always she handed over some amazing shots. The one on the left below is hers and it’s one of my favorites from the day. All of the little flower girls and the jr. bridesmaid hanging out in the court yard before the ceremony. They were adorable.

Two more great shots from Jana of one of the flower girls.

Melissa with Botanika  nailed another knock out with the flowers. They were a-may-zing. 

Alex had her dress custom ordered from Julian Gold and here she is giddy immediately after the ceremony when Klaus commented on how incredible the dress is.  This is one of my favorite shots from the day.

Here are the favors that Stacy & her team helped design which were a hit with the guests and a shot of the beautiful cake by Cakes by Cathy which according to Stacy’s husband, Scott (pictured above kicking up his heels with Alex’s mom) it was the best cake he’s ever had in his life….which explains why he may have had a couple more pieces than the rest of the guests. j/k Scott!

I’m working on a serparate post for Alex & Klaus’ After Session at HemisFair Park. Another amazing session but far too many faves to include here. It definately warrents it’s own blog post.

Thanks again Alex & Klaus for including me in your amazing day. It’s not one I will soon forget!

Vendor List

Planning & Execution: Bleu Print Events by Design
Floral:  Botanika
Catering: Page Barteau
Venue: Southwest School of Arts & Craft
Ceremony & Dinner Music: Allegretto Music
DJ:  Timovation
Brides Dress: Julian Gold
Pastor: Jim Berrier

Hoping to play catch up a little around here and post some of my favorite bridals that I’ve done this past year. 2008 was full of great brides and it’s always hard for me to remember to post the bridals since I always have to wait until AFTER the wedding. I wanted to be sure to get these up before too much time had passed.

We shot Lindsay’s bridals at the Japanese Tea Gardens here in San Antonio and I had forgotten how beautiful it is there. It’s really come a long way from the mid 90’s when it was just …. a little blah. I was pleasantly surprised. It was a marvelous day.

Here are some faves:

For six months you’ve heard me talk about changes and updates and new sites, blah blah blah. Yet nothing has happened. I will admit that for 4 months of that there just wasn’t time. After some initial problems with the new wedding and senior sites I was finally able to begin working on them and loading all of the content. Well, I should rephrase that. I was able to begin work on the wedding site. I’m still waiting to begin the senior site because of a few *cough cough* technical problems that are out of my control (trying to resist the urge to bash openly here though I totally have reason to).

at any rate, you will be noticing some serious goodness around these parts of the blog as well. thanks to theresa at blogs for photogs who did the original design and set up of this blog. i’m supa happy to be working with her again on some updates and really, when i say we’re working on it I mean, rockstar theresa is working on it while i rattle on and on about ideas and colors and she does all the technical amazing work.

the new wedding  site will launch without the senior site because i can’t wait any longer and as soon as the technical stuff gets ironed out Studio 423 will have three total sites and a new blog.

happy days are just around the corner. woot!

Hello Blog! I have missed you!

ok, now on to the good stuff!

Michelle & Jon! woot! What an INCREDIBLE wedding. I was so happy when Michelle & Jon asked me to photograph their wedding. Not only was it going to all out ROCK….It was extra meaningful since Michelle is such an amazing woman and I have felt honored to be able to work with her on some spectacular Bleu Print events that she & Stacy have put together.

As expected no detail was overlooked. The location was amazing at the Southwest School of Arts & Crafts. This was my first of two weddings there and it was incredible. The Bleu girls completely rocked it.The RK Group catered and this was one of the few weddings were I actually wanted to sit down and eat. People, all I’m gonna say is Mashed Potato Bar. Seriously…life doesn’t get any better than mashed potatos in martini glasses. The flowers were amazing, the guest book, the favors, the cake…the game table for the kids. It was an incredible night. The best part…..

Michelle & Jon. Completely just all about everyone else. They went above and beyond to make sure everyone was taken care of and having a great time and in the midst of it all you would see them and they were radiant and beaming and just HAPPY! It really was all kinds of goodness!

So….here are some of my faves from the night.

Thanks to both Jon & Michelle for inviting me to be a part of their incredible day.

VENDOR LIST:

Bleu Print Events
Southwest School of Art & Craft
Botanika
Page Bartow
RK Group

Remember Lindsay & Logan?  Their beautiful wedding was last week at Los Encinos here in San Antonio. I’ve known Lindsay and her family for almost 7 years now. We first met at church where Lindsay worked in the nursery and our lil’ Hudson dude was younger than lil’ p-diddy is now. He was probably about 4 months old. He got VERY attached to Lindsay. So much so that when it was time for him to “graduate” up to the next room when he started walking Lindsay had to ease him into the whole transition by staying with him for a little bit. He loved her. And now, she takes care of lil’ p-diddy Parker man on Sundays (when we actually make it these days).

I then started working with her mom, Traci at church and we became super good friends. Traci is the kind of woman that is a role model not only for her daughters but for other women. She loves to share her wisdom…um, with everyone. She has made me a better woman, a better wife, a better friend, a better Christian and a better mom and I was honored when they asked me to shoot both Tara & Lindsay’s weddings this Spring and Summer.

Like I mentioned before in the engagement post Lindsay is …very….very…organized. She made my job very easy. So I had to defiantely get a shot of the schedule she posted in all of the dressing rooms at the venue. No one was ever wondering what time we needed to start the next task.

We were pretty good in keeping with the time too. I wish I would’ve gotten a photo of Lindsay’s watch that she wore until the last possible second. I made her take it off once when we went out to shoot a few of her but she put that sucker back on so fast.

Here are a couple getting ready shots. Her cute little ballet slippers. Gotta love a girl that goes for comfort.

And a lovely shot of her mother tying up her ribbons.

She’s a pink girl. So naturally her colors were celdon and pink. The bridesmaid dresses were so cute. I loved that they were short and sassy…a little flair for the girls.

And here are a couple of my favorite shots of Lindsay. We did a full out bridal last month and I’m excited that I’ll finally get to share those too. We’ll get to those later though.

I always love doing detail shots and this time was no exception. The cake was so beautiful. Lindsay has impeccable taste when it comes to the flowers. They were gorgeous.

Logan’s father had passed away several years before but I was so glad to see him there. It was so touching to look over and see this photo of his father looking on and blessing this amazing day for them.

And Hudson’s best buddy Cole made another outstanding appearance as the ring bearer. Totally cute lil’ dude. Loved this sweet detail shot of him prepping for the big walk.

and here he is again after the ceremony flirtin’ with the girls.

And obvioulsy we can’t leave out the bride and groom.

I loved this group family shot of Lindsay, her two sisters, Niki & Tara and her parents. This was after the father daughter dance and they all cut in and danced as a group.

and i love this shot of the single guys participating in the tossing of the garter. i’m guessing that there were women involved in the cohersing them up there to begin with. Take a look at how they are all just standing there looking at the lonely garter on the floor in front of them. Even Cole didn’t want to pick the darn thing up!

Cole ended up with it in the end but we all know John is next on the list!

And this next shot is quite possibly one of my favorite shots ever. Lindsay had arranged for a special dance for her mom & dad. They will be celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary in September and she wanted to make sure they were recognized for such an amazing accomplishment. This was am amazing moment for me to witness. As I looked on and watched Traci & Jess dance I got so emotional at one point I couldn’t even see out of my viewfinder. I watched as their 3 amaingly beautiful daughters and their newly extended family watched them from the sidelines. Each of them admiring the love they witnessed before them. I wondered what they each thought. Each of them so young, so in love and so ready to live their lives together. I thought about my own marriage and how one day I hoped and dreamed of such a moment in my own life. A moment where I would stand dancing with my husband as our 3 children and their spouses stood on and watched.

Celebrating and rejoicing in LOVE.

Congratulations Lindsay & Logan! Thank you both so much for allowing me to be a small part of your great big love!

you might remember Lindsay’s sister Tara.

Tara was my rockstar bride from March. She was the first of two weddings for this family.

Now it’s Lindsay’s turn! She & Logan will be exchanging vows on June 6th. Isn’t it nuts that June is now right around the corner?

And while the two gorgeous blondes share some obvious similarities (that’s Lindsay on the left)

They are so polar opposite it’s amazing.

Tara was pretty “hey, cool…I’m getting married. i should probably get a dress” kinda gal.

Lindsay had her engagement photos picked out and had emailed me her order within 6 hours of their debut. And I finished editing those babies at like 2am! by the time I woke up at 8am and checked my email she had already viewed her images and picked out her favorites to be printed. now there’s a girl that’s on top of things.

i shot she & logan’s e-session at the botanical gardens and i was so excited that there was finally some color peeking out after a long winter. they came ready to have fun and full of ideas! always a nice change of pace when your clients give you a little direction and have ideas of their own. i love that.

here are a couple of my faves from their session.

We did her bridal session last week and she rocked it. i wish i could share but some things must remain a secret before the wedding!

Congrats Lindsay & Logan! I can’t