Every photographer relishes a chance to shoot something different, so when Rebecca’s mom Lisa asked me if I would be interested in photographing Rebecca and Victor’s very unique wedding, I absolutely jumped at the opportunity.  Rebecca and Victor live in Chile, where they both work as architects and live with their son, Sam.  They decided to get hitched during a trip back to the States to visit Rebecca’s family, but they did it in an intimate, special way.  So special that the wedding was just featured on Style Me Pretty!

First up on the docket was a trip to the Justice of the Peace to make things official..

Next we headed to a Fort Worth landmark, the famous Joe T. Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant, which has quite possibly the most beautiful grounds I’ve ever seen at a restaurant (perfect for a rehearsal dinner or a small reception!). Luckily we managed to squeeze in a short Day After-style session before the guests arrived.

I love that Rebecca chose a fun sundress instead of a traditional white dress.. I think it really fits the couple as well as their wedding, and who doesn’t love a splash of color?

Their son, Sam, was celebrating his birthday that week as well, so they had both wedding cake and birthday cake!

This was a really cool moment.. Rebecca and Victor read special messages to each other written in the other’s native language.  Even though I couldn’t understand a word Rebecca said, I still teared up a little.. I’m a sucker for toasts!!

Rebecca, Victor, and Sam – thanks for allowing me to experience your fabulous wedding, and I hope the three of you are safe and sound in Chile right now!

I try really hard not to play favorites with my clients… I’m extremely, EXTREMELY lucky to have some amazing clients that are kind, friendly, understanding, appreciative, and generally awesome in every way.  I’m proud of the fact that I’ve never yet had a bridezilla – knock on wood – and I’m blessed to really enjoy every wedding I shoot.  That said… When a couple tells you they want to fly you out to Paris and Venice to do some portrait sessions, and they happen to talk your boyfriend into coming along and proposing while he’s there.. Well, that’s a pretty tough act to beat.  Abby and Zach will always have a special place in my heart, and I truly loved getting to know them more during our travels throughout Europe.  You can’t ask for two better friends than these guys, something I’m sure their bridesmaids and groomsmen would echo in a heartbeat!  I’m also very thankful that they’re both completely gorgeous and photograph so well!  Here are some highlights from their Paris and Venice Day After sessions.

We got started at the Tuileries, a garden near the Louvre, and eventually made our way through the Louve courtyard and to the Arc de Triomphe du Carroussel. It was absolutely freezing but Abby was a total trooper in her little strapless dress and high heels!











As the sun set and the temperatures plummeted we hopped on the Metro (followed by more than a few strange looks) and managed to snag a few quick shots at the Eiffel Tower before the snow and wind got the better of us.



We finished the session on a high note and headed back into the warmth of our hotel. After a few days of sightseeing and a very interesting overnight train ride, we rose at the break of dawn to get things started in St. Mark’s Square in Venice.





















I love Abby’s accessories in these shots. She had actually picked them up the previous day at Murano, a tiny island off the coast of Venice famous for its glass (which they use to make incredible and very pricey stemware, jewelry, chandeliers, and statues).



We finished the photos off with a really neat tradition. If you ever travel to the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, you’ll see hundreds of padlocks along the river, with initials scribbled onto the sides. As legend goes, if you write your initials and your beloved’s initials onto a lock, attach the lock to a city fixture, then toss the key into the river, you’re destined to be together forever. Abby and Zach loved this romantic idea, so they incorporated it into their wedding by handing out locks to their guests as favors. They also brought along padlocks for every city they were going to visit. As we stopped by a bridge on the Grand Canal, they decided to attach their lock there and toss the key into the famous waterway!

A & Z, Jason and I will always love you guys for giving us such a great opportunity to be your honeymoon paparazzi and for being part of such a special event in our lives. I’m so happy to have you as clients, and we’re both thrilled to call you both friends! Congratulations on your fabulous wedding, we know you guys are a perfect pair!

It has been killing me to hold on to this wedding but I’ve been patiently biding my time, keeping these images quiet. Now that I finally have the go ahead from Style Me Pretty (where the pics will be featured this afternoon), I can show them off! Abby & Zach’s wedding was an awesome one for many reasons. Abby is a photographer herself, so she and I were completely on the same wavelength when it came to many aspects of the wedding day, and she really put a lot of thought into every detail of their wedding. From the tiny ceramic squirrels (Abby and Zach’s favorite animal) to the heart-shaped locks they gave away as favors (a European tradition; both Abby and Zach have lived abroad in Europe), to the clever play on their initials (A & Z) to the vibrant use of purple (Abby’s favorite color), this wedding was all about the couple and the things they love. Here are some of my favorites:

Because it was a morning ceremony, the day started EXTREMELY early (I arrived about 4:30 AM and the girls were already up and running).


















Zach is the Vice President of DJones Tailored Collection, a company that makes custom-tailored suits, so naturally all the men are clothed in swanky DJones suits! Sharp!




Abby was inspired by the proposal scene in Pride and Prejudice where Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy meet up in the early morning glow, so she and Zach chose to do a First Look at the crack of dawn to recreate that feel. I love how soft and glowy the light is in their shots! You can see more of their First Look photos a little later on in this post.

This is by no means the end of Abby & Zach’s photos. I also have some incredible shots from their Day After sessions in Paris and Venice, but you’ll just have to wait a little longer for those!

However, I do want to give some major kudos to Piazza in the Village. They have done an incredible job of building a wedding venue that is beautiful AND functional. The bridal suite is a woman’s dream, with several vanity stations that are perfect for hair and makeup and a bridal pedestal with a three-paneled mirror for the bride. The groom’s suite has a large leather couch, a big screen TV, and video games. They also have a system of video cameras throughout the property that record various points-of-view of the ceremony so not only can the bride and groom watch their guests arrive from their separate suites, but the wedding can also be streamed on the internet so that friends and family who couldn’t make the wedding can watch it via webcast on the internet! Never have I seen a venue that has put so much thought into providing the best wedding day experience for their couples. If you’re still looking for a venue, I highly recommend Piazza in the Village!

Ceremony & Reception Location: Piazza in the Village
Event Design & Lighting:  Signature Productions
Cake: Opulent Cakes
Wedding Gown: Anjolique from Pre-Owned Wedding Dresses
Bridesmaids Dresses:  Alfred Angelo
Menswear: DJones Tailored Collection
Hair and Makeup: Les Hill and Amanda Pogue at One Fine Day

Stay tuned – Abby & Zach’s AMAZING Parisian and Venetian Day After sessions will be live sometime today!

It’s always odd to shoot the engagement session of someone you’ve never met… I can’t lie, there are a lot of questions that go through my mind as I drive to the shoot. Will they be supermodel gorgeous, or hideously deformed? Will they be outgoing and zany, or will they be shy and introverted? Will they be comfortable in front of the camera, or awkward and stiff? Will he be two feet taller than her, or the other way around? Although I can work with any couple, it’s still comforting to know what you’re getting yourself into a little earlier than, say, five seconds before you start shooting! Luckily, Kelly and Alma were quite the pleasant surprise. They’re so comfortable with each other, comfortable in front of the camera, fun to be around, totally photogenic, and just good people in general. Here are some of my favorites from their session at the fantastic (and HUGE) River Legacy Park in Arlington:

Sommer is my complete kindred spirit, aesthetically speaking. Her style is so romantic, feminine, classic, with just a touch of vintage. Her wedding, which I just shot this past weekend at Butler’s Courtyard near Houston, had some of the most beautiful florals and general decor I’ve ever seen. I wanted to steal all of her centerpieces and bouquets and take them home! Sommer herself is such a classic beauty, it’s pretty much impossible to take a bad photo of her, so this bridal session was easy as pie. Here are a few of my favorites:

So if you’re on Twitter, more than likely you’ve heard about this awesome new website called Formspring.  It’s a simple site that allows people to ask you any question they want, and allows you to respond to them whenever you’ve got time.  It’s a brilliant idea and it’s incredibly useful for photographers, because this way we can answer questions as we are able, and the best part is that the answers are public, so everyone can benefit from the knowledge-fest, instead of just one person.  If you’ve got a question that you’ve been wanting to ask (or did ask and never got an answer for), head over to my Formspring page and ask away!  Also don’t forget to check out the previous questions to make sure yours hasn’t already been asked.

And because every post is better with photos…  Sneak Peek!!

I get asked a lot by my brides, “What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned from all the weddings you’ve seen?”  The answer to that would be a pretty close race between two tidbits:  splurge on great lighting, and hire a good coordinator.  It’s unbelievable how much a wedding coordinator can change the tone of a wedding.  Coordinated weddings are smoother, calmer, more on-time, and usually much more well-decorated.  They also tend to result in better photographs.  Why?  Well, in the absence of a coordinator, the photographer usually fills the position of the wedding “point person.”  When I shoot a wedding where there isn’t a coordinator, I know that I’m going to be responsible for finding the bride and groom, corralling their attendants, making sure the bride and groom don’t run into each other, helping the bride put on her dress (by this point I’m an old pro), keeping everything on time, getting guests out of the ceremony spot and onto the reception, finding the bouquet for the bouquet toss and a chair for the garter toss, lining everyone up for the exit, and on and on… And all of the time that I’m doing all of those things, I’m not taking photographs.

Most brides think that they don’t need coordinators for three reasons.  The first argument I always hear is “We don’t have room for it in the budget.“  Ironically enough, many times having a full-service coordinator means that you’re actually going to save money overall.  Coordinators know which vendors are overpriced and which vendors will make you a great deal, and they’ll be able to point you in the direction of vendors who will give you the best prices.  They’re also experts at managing budgets, and they can help reign in your spending when you’re getting too close to going overboard.

The second argument that I often hear is “Our venue provides a coordinator for us.“  The thing you need to remember there is that the venue coordinator is there for one reason and one reason only: to serve the venue.  Their primary job is to make sure you are in and out of the venue at your specified times and you don’t break any rules while you’re there.  Yes, many of them are super sweet, care a lot about their brides, and are willing to go above and beyond to take care of the couple.  However, some of them are the exact opposite, and are more likely to be a source of stress than a source of help.  Many a time I have seen a bride either fuming with anger or on the verge of tears because of a “church lady” or “on-site coordinator.”  As a bride, it’s important for you to have someone “on your side,” so to speak, to deal with any issues that might arise so that you can relax and enjoy your wedding day.

Finally, the third argument I hear quite a bit (and probably the most understandable) is “I want to plan the wedding myself.“  For many brides, planning a wedding is a fun experience that they want to soak up completely, and they don’t want to pawn off the experience on someone else.  These brides often tend to be the DIY-type and make their own invitations, bouquets, centerpieces, and other decor items.  However, even the most involved bride can’t run her own wedding day (well, she might, but she’ll regret it for the rest of her life because she will have spent her wedding day stressed out and running all over the place instead of relaxing and enjoying her day).  For brides like this, most coordinators offer what’s called “Day Of” or “Month Of” services.  This is a bit of a misnomer because most packages like this actually start a couple of months prior to the wedding, but essentially, you’re hiring someone to come in and help manage the last-minute details of your wedding.  They’ll get to know your vendors, help you set a timeline, remind you of any last-minute details you might have missed, and most importantly, they will run the show on the wedding day so you don’t have to.

I also want to recommend a three of the coordinators I work with most often.  They’re all so different and unique, and each company has its own personality and strong points.

If the wedding industry were a high school, DFW Events would be “The Prom Queen.”  Everyone loves them because they are super-nice, everyone wants to know them because they have so many friends and connections, and everyone envies them because they do some of the most lavish, high-end, gorgeous weddings you will ever see.  Peruse their blog and you’ll see what I mean – their events are unforgettable.  I know that when I shoot a DFW Events wedding, my camera will be on overdrive because there will be beautiful things to photograph everywhere I turn.  DFW Events is headed up by the incomparable Mary Frances Hurt, who is a legend in this city.  She knows everyone, she’s worked with everyone, and she’s at the heart of the wedding network.  She has assembled a group of stellar ladies – Alison, Mindy, Karen, and Stephanie – and one insanely talented design and decor guru, Nelson.  If you want your wedding to be jaw-dropping, DFW Events should be your first call.  Here are a few photos from some of the many events I’ve shot for them:

Along the lines of the high school analogy, Coordinator Extraordinaire Tara Wilson would be a mix between President of the Art Club (for her artistic prowess) and President of the Drama Club (for her ability to turn every event into a fabulous production).  Tara’s brain works like no one else’s – the incredible details she comes up with never cease to amaze me.  She ’s a master at creating the most surprising decor ideas that will bowl you over with their cuteness and cleverness.  Her weddings are unique, sophisticated, and as we say in the industry, “very publishable” because of the incredible details.  I spoke with Tara recently about her goals for next year, and she said that what inspires her are weddings that are different – unique venues, unique color palettes, unique design – so if you want your wedding to stand out from the crowd, look no further than Tara.  On a side note, Tara is also a press darling – you may recognize her from her various spots on the CBS 11 News where she’s the resident event expert.   I’m not quite ready to publish our New Year’s Eve wedding, but here are just a few of the stellar details she created:

Last but certainly not least, we have the Social Butterfly of the Wedding Industry High School, Kelly Simants of Sweet Pea Events.  Kelly is a recent transplant from Seattle, where she was a star in the wedding scene, and hit the ground running when she arrived in Dallas.  Kelly takes “networking” to a whole new level.  I can only imagine what her calendar must look like because every time I turn around she’s telling me about a fabulous venue, caterer, photographer, or other wedding vendor.  She runs our monthly wedding industry networking events, Thursday Therapy, and she’s also one of the geniuses behind The Simple Plan, a workshop that helps small business owners get their business plan and business goals in order.  When it comes to networking and business smarts, Kelly is unparalelled.  As a bride, this is invaluable to you, because a coordinator who knows no one (or only knows a small subset of vendors) is pretty useless.  It’s a coordinator’s experience and network that provide the real value to their services, and Kelly’s got that in spades.  She’s also probably the nicest person you’ll ever meet in your life, which is a big bonus. Here’s an inspiration board Kelly created for one of my brides that I pretty much want to steal for my own wedding:

There are lots of other fabulous coordinators in Dallas (Paige Chenault and Jordan Payne are two that me and my colleagues revere), Houston (Claudia at A Day to Remember is a life-saver in times of stress for her brides and a fountain of great information), and San Antonio/Austin (Jennifer at A Regal Affair is known for her A-list events and her gorgeous wedding decor and Katherine at Elegant Events did a fabulous job with Kristyn and Chris’ wedding, which will be featured in the next issue of The Knot).  Every coordinator has their own unique style and personality, so it’s important that you pick the one that’s right for you!