I’m not sure that I have ever seen Jennifer and TJ without huge smiles on their faces. They (and their friends and family) are the type of people who are always having a good time and enjoying life, no matter what the circumstances. Despite the dreary weather, everyone involved with this wedding was so joyful and full of life all day, and I’m pretty sure everyone involved had a blast, including a few superstar wedding crashers – 50 Cent, Fall Out Boy, and Pete Wentz! If you’re in Houston and are in the mood to starwatch, Hotel Derek is definitely the place to do it, not to mention that it’s one of my all-time favorite hotel wedding venues. Here are a few of my favorites from the wedding day:

After reading my blog post about making the garter toss a little more exciting, Jennifer decided to add a hundred dollar bill to her garter.  Wait until you see the results of that!













Jennifer and TJ’s wedding easily wins the award for most paparazzi.. The photo below doesn’t even come close to showing you how many digital cameras were trained on the wedding party.. These are obviously my kind of people! :)







Nothing gets the party started like group shots on a trolley!


Luckily the rained cleared up for just a few moments before the reception and we were able to get some amazing shots around the hotel!












Jennifer’s Maid of Honor and TJ’s Best Man gave some of the most heartfelt, hilarious, emotional speeches I have ever heard – I’m pretty sure the crowd enjoyed it!

I think every reception should get started with a massive group hug :)







So remember how I mentioned that Jennifer pinned a $100 bill to her garter?  Whereas at most weddings the single men would do anything to avoid catching the garter, at this wedding, we almost had a few black eyes as the guys fought their hardest to snag the cash!

Jennifer and TJ, thank you both for being such a joy to work with and keeping a smile on my face all day. I loved working with you guys! Enjoy your lives together :)

Wow it feels like forever since this wedding!!  I am such a bad blogger these days :(  The upside of that is that I get to relive these wonderful weddings all over again as I post them on the blog, and this was definitely a wedding I’d love to relive.  You’d be hard-pressed to find nicer people than Carrie and Jim.  They instantly put you at ease and treat you like an old friend, something that is evident from the number of friends and family they had with them on their wedding day.   As is true with so many of my clients, they are really beautiful both on the inside and the out, and I love that I got to work with them!  Couple that with the perfect weather we had that day, the grand and fabulous venues, lovely decor, and a wedding party that definitely knows how to have fun, and it was pretty much a perfect wedding.  And of course I can’t forget little Ella, who is probably the cutest little girl I’ve ever met and loves being in front of the camera.  Here are some of my favorite images from their wedding day!

I just finished photographing Rebecca and Erik’s wedding, which I have been very impatiently looking forward to since the first time Becca contacted me, and it definitely did not disappoint!  Until I can show off the wedding (which was the epitome of “Southern elegance”), here are some of Becca’s bridals!

Notice something cool about Rebecca’s bridal ensemble? She read my T4B Straps and Wraps post and decided to add some tulle straps to her dress! I think it completely transformed the outfit, it added a touch of romance and sweetness to the dress that fit both Becca and her wedding perfectly. Plus it kept her from having to do that terrible dress tug all night long!

Stay tuned for an vintage-inspired country wedding and a Wal-Mart engagement session coming up soon!

Carrie and Preston are two of those people who you can’t help but enjoy being around.  They’re always smiling and laughing, the life of the party.  You pretty much know that if these two are going to be there, you’re going to have a great time!  I remember the first time I met Carrie and Preston, I immediately called my boyfriend and said “I can’t wait for this wedding, these guys are a blast!”  Of course, it didn’t hurt that they were flying me out to NYC to shoot their engagement session, either!

I was also really excited about their wedding venue – a gorgeous Italian themed event hall with statues, fountains, arches, and beautiful greenery everywhere.  I know Carrie was in love with the venue as well, so when she found out that they had gone bankrupt and had no money left to refund the deposits of the brides who had booked their weddings there, we were both devastated – and pretty angry, too!  Preston, on the other hand, wasn’t too torn up about it.. because their replacement venue was Minute Maid Park, home of his beloved Astros!  It all ended up for the best, the new venue was stunning and everyone had a fantastic night.  Here are a few of my favorite images:

Check out all of these bridesmaids.. Carrie has some hot friends!!  The really cool part about this wedding is that Stacy Bilnoski, another one of my brides, got married at the same church a couple of months later, and had most of the same bridesmaids, so I got to shoot all of these supermodels TWICE!  We had a little down time before the ceremony so I got some fun, sexy shots of each girl individually.
One of my favorite aspects of Carrie’s wedding were the flowers.. She knew she wanted white flowers, so she asked each girl what their favorite flower was, and got them each a bouquet of their choice.  It was so beautiful, and allowed the girls to get a bouquet they loved while still sticking to the wedding floral theme.  I definitely recommend this!







This was one of the more difficult weddings I have shot in terms of formal photos.  The wedding took place after sunset, and Carrie and Preston chose not to do a First Look, so we had to take most of the formal group photos at night.  It isn’t the way I usually work, but it was actually kind of nice to be forced out of my routine and have to do something completely outside of my comfort zone.  I adore this wedding party shot!



If you couldn’t tell from the size of their wedding party, Carrie and Preston’s wedding was a BIG affair, and Union Station at Minute Maid Park was perfect for them.  The room was large enough to feel comfortable and spacious, but not so big that it overwhelmed the wedding.  Carrie’s team did a wonderful job decorating it and making it feel cohesive and inviting.

Klockwork performed at the reception, and they were GREAT!  They kept the party going strong all night.

Oh Stacy Stacy Stacy…  As I’ve mentioned before, my bride Stacy B. is the epitome of a total package.  She’s smart, funny, stylish, and of course so beautiful she just takes your breath away.  John Matthew is a very lucky man – and he knows it!  I could not have been happier when Stacy hired me to photograph her wedding (which is this weekend!), and the fact that she flew me out to New York City for their destination engagement session certainly helped.  I’m so excited to get Stacy (and several of my past brides!) in front of my lens again this weekend, but for now, we’ll all just have to sit here and stare at her amazing bridal session at the Omni Houston.

On a side note, back in January for Stacy’s session I rented a Contax 645 and purchased some Fuji Pro 400H 120 film just to try it out.  The majority of the photographers I admire shoot film, so I thought it might be worth my while to give it a shot.  The results gave me quite a bit to think about, but I’ll post about that some other time.  For now, try to guess which of the images below were shot digitally, and which were shot with film.

Okay, I know I say this a lot… But really.. This was one of my favorite weddings ever!! From Jaclyn’s soft, ethereal gown to Charlie’s heirloom button covers to the gorgeous church to the intimate reception, everything was so elegant and lovely. It truly felt like the perfect wedding – not in the sense that nothing went wrong, but in the sense that everything fit these two to a T, and nothing could have stopped them from having a great time. I have so many fun stories to tell about these images!

Jaclyn’s dress was by far one of my top two or three favorites ever… The fabric was incredibly soft and light, you serously just wanted to curl up with it and use it as a blanket.  It had to be the most comfortable dress ever, and it looked like it, as I didn’t see Jaclyn tugging or adjusting or straightening it the entire day.



Okay, talk about bad luck.. Not only did Jaclyn break a finger and have to wear a cast on her hand.. She broke her left hand RING FINGER!!  Of all the digits to break!!  It didn’t seem to phase her one bit, though, and she pulled off her satin-ribbon-wrapped cast with complete grace.











I couldn’t be happier that Jaclyn and Charlie chose to do a First Look.  It allowed me to get a *TON* of beautiful images of them and their wedding party, which I wouldn’t have been able to do normallydue to their post-sunset-ceremony.





After the ceremony, they ran to the ball tower and began ringing the massive bell to let everyone around them know they were finally man and wife!
Okay this is something I definitely DON’T recommend for everyone.. Typically we try and get all the wedding guests out the door as quickly as possible so we can get through the family formals ASAP.  However, because they chose to do a First Look, because of the layout of the church, and because they kept family formals extremely short, we were able to get a photo of all the wedding attendees in one place.
Note:  All the formals below were taken BEFORE the ceremony, during that beautiful golden hour right before sunset.















Easily the highlight of my wedding season so far.. Charlie performed at his own reception, singing a couple of his own songs, including one he wrote for Jaclyn early on in their relationship, aptly titled “I’m 100% Not Gay”

J&C, your wedding was such a fun experience for me, and I couldn’t be happier to kick off 2009 celebrating the both of you. Your love for each other and your warmth for all your friends and family has been so evident in everything, and I really do feel honored to have shared this experience with you both!!

Now that Carrie Alexander is officially Carrie Short, I am very happy to be able to publish her bridals. Carrie’s session will always be one of my favorite bridals ever for a few reasons.. It was definitely one of the coolest locations I’ve ever had access to. Due to an unexpected bankruptcy at her original reception venue, Carrie was left without a location for her reception a few short months before the wedding. Although this might have ruined the wedding experience for some brides, Carrie made the most of it by finding a new reception hall that her baseball-loving fiance Preston was very very excited about – Union Station at Minute Maid Park in downtown Houston, home to the Houston Astros baseball team. She even threw in some Astros-themed surprises for Preston, but you’ll have to wait to see their wedding pics for those!

Another thing I loved about this session was Carrie’s long veil. I’m such a sucker for long veils, they’re such an amazing prop for the photo session. Something about the long, cascading blanket of tulle blowing in the wind is so graceful and lovely. I actually have several long veils that I own, so if you are one of my clients and you plan on using a short veil (or no veil) on your wedding day but you would like to borrow a long one for your Bridal or Day After session, let me know!






Another thing I really enjoyed about this session was Carrie’s attitude. Carrie is such a naturally friendly, upbeat girl, but it really shined through on her bridal session. The weather was freezing and gloomy and the rain made it difficult to maneuver around in a bright white satin dress without ruining it, but she was up for anything and kept a smile on her face the whole time. I always tell people that I am *SO* lucky to have never had a Bridezilla (knock on wood!) but it goes further than that.. I truly have had the nicest, sweetest, most positive brides I could have ever hoped for, without exception.. I am incredibly lucky!

I just finished Carrie and Preston’s wedding photos, so I can’t wait to get them back on the blog soon.

Tomorrow I have a big surprise – the long overdue return of Tips for Brides, Tips for Photographers, and Humpdates!!