Hot Surprise - Every wedding day is full of surprises and one always hopes that the surprises are laughable.  Well this surprise could go either way depending on the person.  While this day was one of the hottest and driest on records in Houston it was going to (for a moment) get a little hotter in the grooms dressing room....the best man left the ring in his truck!  That truck just so happened to be a 20 minute drive in each direction and we were about 25 minutes from the start time.  After some choice words and a little chastising it was decided that getting that ring was out of the question.  So the search was one for a ring of equal beauty and size.  It was found and the wedding went as planned.  Luckily Kim is extremely easy going and it didn't seem to bother her at all....whew!  Here are a few of my favorites:








Ah yes...grandpa!  




I would love for someone to come up with a clever caption for this shot.  Okay sounds like a contest.  So, down in the comments section write your caption and when I have twenty comments I will award the best one with 10% off a location shoot package!





You guys were awesome and so easy going.  I am looking forward to future work with you and your wonderful family!

Sites Maternity

Fleeting Moment - To me motherhood is an experience that is cherished by all expectant mothers and it certainly showed with Anna.  She just seems so relaxed about the whole process and I am glad that I got to freeze this time in her family's lives to enjoy for an eternity.  She is a fan of the country setting and I always try to get a good feel of what a person's interests are when deciding a location for their shoot.  We met in Alvin, TX and explored a few locations in the area to find the right setting for this special event.  I hope you guys enjoyed our little adventure and I can't wait to work with you more in the future!

We found an abandoned farm house which was a little sketchy but seriously a great place with so many possibilities - here a couple from inside the main structure.



There was a monster train that came through in the middle of the shoot...we managed to escape tragedy!



I love a nice little field for some good backgrounds and depth.



A portrait is always timeless and certainly a necessity.

The Hidden Palms - What started out to be the hottest day on record for the year turned into a beautiful, dry and breezy evening.  The Hidden Palms is certainly great for entertaining and its a picture perfect location.  I never have a hard time finding a great background here and I am very grateful for their genuine hospitality.   Tiffany and Garrett have great families and friends surrounding them, which is certainly a nice thing to see.  You guys are awesome and I am lucky to have been apart of your wonderful day.  Garrett is a local hero (firefighter) and they just so happened to have borrowed the coolest old fire truck to ride around in after the ceremony.  I was told it was bought on an auction block many years ago and it was still running strong!  I hopped on it with them as it sped away allowing them to share their first moment alone together (see below).  I sure hope I get an opportunity to document this growing family in the near future!  Best of luck to you guys, D.



The guys had it together for sure....


I love the emotion felt in this shot of Garrett walking behind the minister on his way to the alter.


Tiffany's dress was amazing and her Dad face was lit up with pride.




Roses.....


This was taken during the toasting segment.  I know from experience that the ring sure can be felt those first few weeks.  It's amazing how powerful marriage is!


Not even close to being in focus but I love the shot anyways.  Backlit by a fire.






Uhhh, yeah this was a little scary.  Unbelievable strength of the guy in the middle spinning these two around!


And of course there has to be a couple of stand out dancers at every wedding right?!?  This guy was doing back flips and pop-locking like no other!


Remember the fire truck from earlier?  They rode away on it and I was able to get up on the side to capture a nice fleeting moment.

Yazmin is one of the most exotic looking brides I have been graced to shoot.  She makes my job easy and was always full of candid actions.  It sure is refreshing to see such a strong love for family and life!  I couldn't wait to see how this day unfolded as I knew it was going to be special from the moment I met these two!  Yazmin scheduled some time between the ceremony and the reception for us to go (with the entire wedding party) to a few locations for a fun shoot session.  Houston is such an enormous town and I had never ventured to this part of town so, I decided to scout out a few locations on my way to the wedding.  I found an amazing place for us to go....peep it below (about midway through this post).

Totally glam!!

These are the shots I spoke about early, I love the background here...downtown Houston!

I love the girls just not wanting to let her go.  They wanted to be in her shoes for sure!

Well this one was a no brainer....my wife and two boys (one in the womb)!  We have a great little hidden gem of a sandwich shop out in a little town called Alvin (it's where Nolan Ryan is from).   While driving out there to eat we would always pass this field that just looked so amazing!  We had always wanted to shoot this location and I figured why not use my three favorite people as my subjects...no really Voula wouldn't leave me alone about it and I finally found time in our busy schedule to get it done.  Believe it or not but she is 8.5 months pregnant at the time I took these.  I took so many shots that day but I picked a few from my favorite's folder for you to enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IKE, urgg!!   This wedding was originally supposed to take place in Galveston, TX, but thanks to a certain storm the venue disappeared!  That's okay because I think Carly picked a spectacular location for their wedding here in San Antonio at the The Witte Museum.  

Absolutely, hands-down these two are the most in-love couple I have ever been in the presence of.  The people, the family and the friends involved in their lives are truly blessed.  As the night grew it seemed to light them up more and more.

Carly and her dad had a chance to practice their moves before the day started.

I just love the stoic looks on their faces. 



The old saying...a pictures worth a thousand words.  It truly is the case for this one, my eyes just wonder all around this shot - from his cool little chuck taylors to the signs of traveling with the airline tag on the stroller.


Details (an easy one ;): The cake topper looks like a Tim Burton design.




I was picking rice out of my ears and hair the rest of the night.  I bet they got hosed real good, I don't think they were expecting such a pelting!

We always discuss options for locations with our subjects and base that final location on their personality and requests.  We collectively decided that Yazmin's style was more in-line with the architectural type settings and therefore decided downtown Houston was the best place for this shoot to take place.  Who new it would be freezing the day we scheduled (it freezes in Houston).  Wow it was a cold day, but Yazmin didn't let it phase her nor could you even tell from the glow of her face!  I had to bump the shutter speed a few notches to keep the shakes out of the camera...nah, just kidding.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

These two are absolutely in love and their families are the kinds you wish you were related to.  Jill called me one day to discuss setting up a meeting...whew we had a tough time getting together.  At the time I was floating around quite a bit and we decided to meet at a Starbucks between her's and my location.  To bad there are like fifty Starbucks in the area and we were both waiting for each other to show up!  I gave up and decided to call (not wanting to rush them if they were late), she was doing the same thing, ha-ha.  Anyways, long story short here are some of my favorites from their amazing day!

The ceremony took place at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church.  What a beautiful church, and historic as well.




I just loved the flower girl pulling the action from the camera.


My absolute favorite from the night!  This is such an emotional time in one's life and I hope that you can feel it from this shot.




Thanks for the great experience and I really wish you guys the best!

Derrick's brother is a very close friend of mine and I was very enthused to find out this beautiful couple wanted me to document the family for them!  He is a fire-fighter and she is a school teacher (wow, two brave professions I could never do).  Derrick has spent time in Iraq (serving the US Marines) and I was happy to give him the military discount!

 

We had planned an afternoon at the park and instead we got a very dreary rainy cold winter day....oh well, we made the best of it in their beautiful home! 

 

I love the look on LUKE's face!  Priceless for sure...

 

 

 

 

 

Liz is such a beautiful bride.  Everyone that has seen these shots so far has just been amazed by her striking appearance.  The whole family was so welcoming and I felt right at home within the first minute of being there.  The wedding took place at an old historical house in Conroe - Heather's Glen. This is the first time I've been here and I hope to come back soon as the staff and facility are very cordial to photographers.  Liz promised me it was a place you had to see for yourself to appreciate and she was completely correct.  Liz and Terry are great people and I wish them all the best in the world!  Here are some of my favorites from the day (bear with me as I had quite a few favorites).

We were all there pretty early and since Terry was no where in sight we decided to check out the chapel for potential lighting issues.  Liz just impromptu started twirling in the front of the chapel, she is just that kind of person.  Always bubbly and fun!








Terry disappeared and when he came out...whew I couldn't believe my eyes (she couldn't either)!  The place was on the floor.

I am at a loss of words on this one....isn't she stuning?!?  Wow, it sure makes my job easy to have such photogenic subjects, and I am going to let you interpret this yourselves.

Brendan just finished law school and Carly is a school teacher working in the private sector.  Carly knew exactly what she wanted for their special day and I hope  it is all that she expected (plus a little extra.....).

We had a super fun time together and we will travel to San Antonio for their wedding taking place at The Witte Museum....should be special.  For now here are a couple of my favorite shots from the engagement session:

Hmmm, lets see...Amanda called me one afternoon saying how much she really loved Jill's engagement shots (previous post).  We talked for quite a little while and she said something that I will never forget, "We are getting married in Napa next month." As my mind raced with excitement she asked if she could schedule me for an engagement session.  I of course accepted and after deciding on a date for the engagement shoot I asked her, "Well what about the wedding.  What is the date so I can see if I have it available?"  Man was I disappointed to find out she had already booked and placed a retainer for a photographer at the venue in Napa ("before I met you of course", she said).  

A few weeks later I had the pleasure of meeting Amanda, Todd and her son.  We had a blast out at Memorial Park in Houston (see the shots below).  I saw Amanda recently at Jill's wedding and she mentioned how she wishes she had known about me before booking the photographer for her wedding, and I responded loudly, "ME TOO!!"

Anyway, onto the photos:

She had very real expectations and I was honored to be apart of this great family gathering!  The wedding took place at the historic Galvez (http://www.wyndham.com/hotels/GLSHG/main.wnt).  The party lasted all night and the band was amazing.  The candid party shots are some of my favorite yet.  I hope I get the opportunity to document some more action at the Galvez as I really enjoyed myself and the creative options are endless.





You would have thought these two were the bride and groom!  What a gorgeous couple.




It's not what it looks like, I promise!!

These two rockers are such great people to be around and I am glad that they chose me to document this special time in their lives.  They really made it easy on me and I think these shots express their personalities perfectly.  I was a little nervous when Shawnna said that she was an aspiring photographer, but then I remembered that she chose me for a reason.






I really am glad to have met these two and I see a long lasting friendship in the many days to come.  For now here are some fun shots from the day:

It was funny when I received the first phone call from Arturo, he said, "Umm, I'm supposed to call you because my fiance likes your work."  My response was, "That's awesome!  Are you guys looking for a photographer?"  We laughed for a minute and hey here is their wedding day photos below!  

I was very honored to be able to document this special day for them!  The service took place at a historic chapel (St. Joseph Catholic Church) in downtown Houston.  It was my first "real" Catholic wedding...yes they are long and totally worth it to see the traditions involved!  

A good view of the massive altar area.



Melissa's dad was making sure Arturo didn't get to close to that window while Melissa waits in the background.


I love the look of anticipation on Melissa's face!


Arturo was able to steal his Uncle's cowboy hat but Arturo didn't get very far.  His Uncle grabbed him and started to dance with him....hilarious!



They had a real Mariachi band come to the reception and serenade the bride and groom (a Mexican tradition).



These guys were awesome!

I love doing family shoots because you get to see how much love is shared and the interaction with each other.  Also getting to see the glow of the mothers who know they are capturing a piece of history for their families.  The Cluxton's live on a big farm about 45 miles north of Houston (Willis, TX) and I felt very honored to be invited into their lives even if it was just for an afternoon.


I just couldn't resist cropping her facial expression out of this shot.  

Where to begin, well this was my first ever commission and I decided it would be fun to look back a this shoot.  One of my best friends is Roy (her Dad) and his wife really wanted some fun photos of Madeline for her fourth birthday.  She knew I was attempting to get a photography business started so we set it up at a local park.

Here are a few of my favorites: