Two Rings Bind Them: Ashley and Larkin at Green Pastures!

Ashley and Larkin were married at Green Pastures in South Austin. Shooting weddings is fun there and the food is quite frankly amazing. It's the place I shoot weddings the most these days. I've got several weddings there this year alone.

I don't know what time Ashley got there in the morning, but it was some awful time earlier than early. I didn't show up when she did, which was actually good because she only started to get ready when I showed up at 9 a.m. Thank God. I'm not a morning person so anything earlier that 9 a.m. is quite the stretch for me.

The ceremony was beautiful and simple and all happened before the sun got hot. Then it was inside for a wonderful lunch and dancing.







The flower girls definitely are some of Austin's most adorable flower girls. Their flowers were fantastic.

SENIOR: Megan!

We shot a couple of shots in the studio for Megan's senior portrait and then wondered on downtown to shoot in the warehouse district. These are some of my favorite senior portraits as of late. Of course since I am working hard to always push the envelope in the creative department my most recent shoot is typically my favorite.






We had a lot of fun shooting this shot after the sun had set in a parking lot across the street from the Frost Tower. Thanks to Megan's dad for being a light stand for this shot.

Bride on the Run: Emily!

I just kept thinking of Snow White while shooting Emily's bridal at the capital and downtown. Her dress was very unique in a very Disney Princess way. I liked it. It was certainly different from the every day dress.

Two Rings Bind Them: Claire and Jeremy at the Driskill Hotel!

It was very nice on Claire and Jeremy's wedding day. We started the day with Claire at the the Driskill Hotel in downtown. There were several familiar faces from weddings I had shot before. I appreciate referrals so very much! There is no better way to find new clients than having the old clients rave about you. YAH!

The ceremony was held at the St. Austin's Catholic Church then everyone rushed back to the Driskill for the reception. A wonderful meal was served, after which a DJ caused craziness by playing Sweet Caroline. What's up with that? Maybe I'll never now.










They all were very passionate about the song played by the DJ. It's hard to tell whether they are at a wedding or at a war protest.

Two Rings Bind Them: Jill and Josh!

Our flight left on Thursday evening to Portland. It was a nice flight but my ears plugged up before we landed and continued like that until the next morning. I couldn't hear anything. Christina and I rented a car and enjoyed the nicest day Portland had seen since the previous year. 70 degrees in April was unheard of and a shock for the locals. After Texas weather we were freezing.

We were in Portland, Oregon to shoot my wife's best friend's wedding. It had been many long years that her friend Jill had waited to find the right guy, but as soon as she found him she decided to get married. Jill was very particular about the man that she married and it just couldn't be any old guy so she waited and waited and waited. Christina was her matron (I use the word matron loosely, because there is nothing matronly about Christina) of honor so I was on my own to shoot this wedding.

The wedding took place at an old church which was no longer used as a church and was only used for events such as weddings. The lady who ran the place lived in the attic, though I'm sure it wasn't your usual attic with cobwebs and spiders. I'm sure it was furnished nicely. It was called the Old Laurelhurt Church.

Everything went well with one exception: The pastor was an hour late. His schedule apparently said 6 p.m. rather than 2 p.m. so it was a good deal of effort to find him, get him dressed appropriately and to the wedding. He showed up an hour after the ceremony was supposed to start.

I will say that Jill and her fiance, Josh, handled the lack of a pastor quite well. They displayed a tremendous amount of patience and grace until he showed up. Then everything ended nicely. I've never been to a wedding where the couple didn't get married.

I must thank my friend Josh from Los Angeles for assisting me on the wedding since Christina was otherwise occupied. Josh jumped in and saved the day again!



Christina is the second from the right.





This is the bride's father, Bryan, who found out that one of the exits from the church wasn't really an exit.

Senior: TJ!

TJ was one of the first people to be shot in my studio in Austin which was great! We went out to the Pennyback bridge overlook and shot some fun pictures off the cliff afterwards.





As far as senior photographs go I am always trying something new and I really liked the way the basketball looked in this shot. I like the have moon look.

Two Rings Bind Them: Allison and Trey in Houston!

Allison and Trey got married somewhere in the Caribbean and asked me to shoot their reception once they returned to the states. They had their reception at Blanco's in Houston, an old icehouse style bar surrounded by newer tall buildings. It was a a very colorful place with excellent food. I think the word is kitchy, but my spell check says that isn't a word so you'll have to trust that it is a word, though I am not certain. Trey had this thing for Tabasco and the Tabasco cake has got the be one of the coolest cakes I have ever seen. There was dancing, drinking and fun everywhere!

Two Rings reBind Them: Angela And Joe!

Okay. So this one was a little bit on the fun side. So today was a weird wedding. It was a ninth anniversary renewal of wedding vow kind of wedding. I drove up at a little before 2 p.m. and  started getting all of my stuff together and walked up to the church to find a hearse in front of the door. Uh........What's the deal? I walk in and take a look and there is a funeral, coffin and all the pomp and circumstance of a Catholic funeral mass with a good 100 people in attendance. A good number of guests for the wedding started showing up now and mulled around outside of the building including the groom. What?!

Freaky.

It turns out that the church double booked a wedding and a funeral at the same time on April 1st. The wedding did start immediately after the funeral. Yep, they hauled the coffin out, put it in a car and weeping and sad looking people streamed out of one side of the church while happy and cheerful people came in the other to prepare for the wedding. It was like nothing I have ever seen. The priest changed from his robes of sadness to his robes of happiness and the wedding renewal went off as if the coffin had never been there.

I suppose since it was April Fools Day, it probably looked like a big practical joke. It's not and now that I look back I think maybe it was all a dream. No. I was awake and  everything turned out fine!