Lindsey is the type of bride I live for: head over heels in love, overjoyed to be getting married, practically glowing with excitement and happiness, and wanting everyone around her to be as blissfully happy as she is. You just can’t be around Lindsey without feeling that infectious joy yourself, which makes photographing her a super fun experience. Not to mention that she is a stunner! I just love her gorgeous bone structure, her face is so unique and defined and every time I look at her I think she belongs in a high fashion magazine is some brilliant piece of haute couture. Here are some of my favorites from her bridal session at George Bush Library in College Station:
Follow the link below to see more!
Click to continue reading “Lindsey’s College Station Bridals”
It has been crazy long since I posted an engagement session – May, to be specific – so I thought it was definitely time to add some new ones to the blog! Jessica and Charlie asked me to go to the home of our alma mater, Texas A&M, for their engagement session, and I happily agreed. I’ll take any excuse to return to Aggieland, especially when I get to photograph two gorgeous people while I’m there. Here are some of my favorites:
Follow the link below to see more!
Click to continue reading “Jessica and Charlie’s College Station Engagements”
Thanksgiving in my world is about three things: food, family, and football. Every year we all gather together and feast on a buffet of turkey, corn, mashed potatoes, stuffing, hominy, cranberry sauce, and warm fresh rolls. After we stuff ourselves, we waddle over to the couch and flop down to sleep off the tryptophan and wait for our two annual Thanksgiving football games to begin. The first, naturally, is our home team, the Dallas Cowboys. Every year our ‘boys play on Turkey Day, and every year we don our blue and silver pom poms and cheer for America’s Team. The second game is a recent addition to the Thanksgiving roster – my alma mater, Texas A&M. Traditional my Aggies have played t.u. (what Aggies call the University of Texas) on T+1 (the day after Thanksgiving) but recently they moved the game to Thanksgiving proper, so we got a double dose of football. Although my Ags came out on the wrong end of the game clock this year – Aggies never lose, we just run out of time, and that couldn’t have been more true than this year – we played an amazing game and fought valiantly until the very end. In honor of the hard work of my Aggie boys this year, I’m dedicating this week to the Aggie Family. To start with, I’ve got an engagement session that happened in the same place as the Thanksgiving Day game – College Station!
Marcy and Kyle are a favorite in the Reeves-Gulledge household. We love Kyle because he’s a real American hero, serving our country in the United States Army. Having attended A&M, which was once a military school and continues to have very strong ties to the armed forces and civil service, I have a special place in my heart for all the people who sacrifice years of their lives to serve America, and Kyle is a true hero in my eyes. Marcy is a meteorologist for KTBS in Shreveport, LA, and she happens to be the person that Jason’s family watches every night on the news to get their weather report. I’m so pumped to be able to work with these guys on their wedding photos, and even more pumped that we got to shoot at one of my favorite places on the planet! Here are some of my favorites:
We began the day at the Academic Building, a gorgeous old building that is the traditional favorite for photos.
No Aggie photoshoot would be complete without a trip to Northgate, the bar district of Aggieland, where every good Aggie spends his Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.
Finally, we took a chance on a dream.. Kyle and Marcy were desperate to get a few shots at Kyle Field, but that’s much easier said than done. Luck was on our side, and we managed to slip in for a few quick shots! I’m pretty sure there are going to be some very jealous Ags after this post!
We finished up at Fish Pond, another Aggie Tradition. During every Aggie’s senior year, they take part in Elephant Walk, where all the seniors link arms and walk through campus together to get one last view of their alma mater. Elephant Walk concludes with a hop into Fish Pond, and Marcy and Kyle were brave enough to relive the moment!
Next up, I’ve got the most Aggie wedding you will EVER see, complete with over $35,000 worth of Aggie Rings!
As promised, here are the second half of the images from Darby & Mark’s wedding day.. Starting with Darby’s gorgeous ring! Darby worked at Zales for awhile, so you can only imagine the pressure Mark was under to get the PERFECT ring. I think he did a great job:
As I mentioned before, Mark and Darby incorporated some parts of their background and relationship into their wedding. One part of that was meeting on the Texas A&M campus and doing their First Look under the Century Tree. Aggie tradition says that if you walk under the Century Tree with the guy you love, you’re destined to get married and be together forever. Looks like it’s working so far!
I adore this photo! I think it really embodies their wedding day.. Darby couldn’t keep that smile off her face, and Mark was being his usual goofy self. I love it when a photo goes beyond a nice pose or pretty background and really captures a special moment or an aspect of someone’s personality.
Their reception was held at the College Station Hilton, and also incorporated parts of their personalities. They had an adorable slideshow of photos running, as well as photos from throughout their relationship, and lots and lots of Aggie paraphernalia (my favorite was the KD paddle, but I am a little biased).
Shooting weddings full time has allowed me to see some pretty neat wedding traditions, but the Grand March always takes the cake, and this one was particularly fun. Led by Mark’s relatives, the entire wedding group marched throughout the hotel, dancing and clapping and cheering on the newlyweds. It was the first time in my career that I have seen literally every single wedding guest get out of their chair and join together in celebrating with the bride and groom. I wish every wedding did this!
This was a really cool moment, and the first time I’ve ever cried at a reception. Mark and Darby sat at the front of the room while the DJ told the story of their relationship. The story was mostly full of laughs, but when he began to talk about how Mark stood by Darby’s side when she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room. Be sure to check the end of this post for more information on how you can help Darby and others with MS.
Another first (this wedding was full of firsts for me!) was the opportunity to join my sorority sisters for the sorority songs. I’ve photographed lots of sorority traditions, but this was the first chance I’ve had to actually take part in one, as well. Here are several of my sisters serenading our KD Lady!
Group hug!!
Darby and Mark, I am so lucky to have had you both in my life all these years, and I’m so honored that you let me be a part of your wedding, as well. You are two of the most fun, entertaining, outgoing people I know! Thanks for letting me experiment on you for the engagement session, and for introducing me to so many cool and unique wedding traditions. I had a blast!
Because I adore Darby so much and I want to see her MS-free, all profits from the sale of Darby & Mark’s wedding photos will be donated to the National MS Society. If you were a guest at the wedding, or you just want to do a good deed, head on over to their online proofing gallery and buy some photos. It’s a win-win – you get some great photos, and MS gets more money toward finding a cure. Thanks!!
Many years ago, Darby and I were sisters in Kappa Delta sorority at Texas A&M. We participated in something called Songfest, where a sorority was paired up with a men’s group (in this case, a group of fun, outgoing guys called One Army) and had to perform a song and dance routine. For weeks, we gathered at the Kappa Delta House to plan our skit to a medley of Beauty and the Beast songs. That was definitely one of the more fun experiences I had in college: goofing off in the Kappa Delta dining room, reliving our childhood through Disney songs, trying to figure out how to make a candelabra costume. It’s amazing to think of what came from that simple activity.. I met Corey Oliver, who would later become one of my best friends and the husband of my college roommate, and Darby would meet Mark, who would eventually become her best friend and husband. Their wedding was a real treat for me because I knew so many of the weddings guests, plus the light was perfect all day (which makes SUCH a difference in the photos), and Darby and Mark really went out of their way to infuse aspects of their personality and background into the wedding. This wedding was completely “Team Z,” from beginning to end.
Because there are SO many photos that I love from this wedding, I’m going to break it up into two parts. Here are the pre-ceremony and ceremony favorites:
Darby is one of my favorite people to photograph because she completely wears her emotions on her sleeve. She’s so outgoing and expressive, and it seems like she’s got a huge smile or a hilarious expression on her face in every photo I took that day.
After Darby got dressed, we headed to the Texas A&M campus to get some fun photos of the wedding party. We just happened to run across a guy in a shirt with a big Z (Mark’s last name is Zahradnik) on it – talk about luck!
The ceremony was held at St.Mary’s, the catholic church in College Station. What a gorgeous church! There was so much beautiful light streaming in through the windows, and the church pretty much gave us free reign to shoot wherever and however we want, which is incredibly rare. Ironically enough, it seems like Catholic churches are the least strict when it comes to photo rules, at least in my experience. Go figure!
Tomorrow morning I will post the second half of this wedding, including their First Look under the Aggie Century Tree and the INSANELY fun Grand March at the reception!
Since my beloved Aggies BTHO Colorado this past weekend (whew!), I think this is the perfect time to show off Beth and Jim’s engagement session that I shot on the A&M campus awhile back (right before another Aggie victory vs. Army – whoop!). Beth and Jim are not only beautiful, but they are also awesome tailgaters, and masters of tailgate golf. Here are some of my faves from their session in Aggieland:
Beth and Jim, thanks for giving me a great excuse to come back to my old stomping grounds, and for entertaining us before the big game. You guys are definitely redass!! :)