we knew we had to start the session in the stands where it all began.

it was such a great day for a baseball game we decided to play 2.  next up, the ball park in arlington.

thanks random ballpark employee for taking their photo.

are they really on the wall of fame?  nope.
will their great grandkids know this in 75 years when they see this photo?  nope.

meet the boomstick. 24 inches and 3 pounds worth of nolan ryan beef.
(you know a hotdog is a big deal when cnn money is talking about it.)

thanks for a great afternoon.  let’s hang out again…. how about october 5th?

UPDATE: ALL THE MINI SESSION SPOTS ARE SOLD.
THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO SPREAD THE WORD.

Last year I had the honor of traveling to Haiti. It was an amazing trip and one that confirmed so much of what Danielle and I have been dreaming of since we were first married. It was my first overseas mission trip and I knew the minute I landed in Haiti that I needed to come back. Over and over. But coming back alone was not enough, I needed to bring my family along on the journey. This year we are hoping to take one step closer in that direction by having our 10 year old son join me on the trip. We are both super excited about the possibilities and can’t wait to see what God has in store for us.

(This is the part where you come in.)

We are funding the trip ourselves and are still a bit short of the full amount. So I thought, why not see if anyone out there is interested in contributing?!? As a little thank you for your gift, I’ll come out and shoot a mini-session of your choice. Family, baby, maternity, senior, kittens? You pick it and I’ll shoot it. I’m only offering 10 of these so get em’ while they last.

10 mini-sessions, $100 bucks each. All proceeds go to getting Jo & I to Haiti.

Two more things…

1. If you don’t need photos, but still want to donate. That’s allowed. (Email me here: alexmphotography@gmail.com)
2. If you don’t need photos, and don’t want to donate. That’s also allowed, passing this post along to others would be a HUGE help.

Ready… Go!

(Email me here: alexmphotography@gmail.com if you want to book a session.)
Here is a little video I put together from my trip last year.

If you wanna see photos from last year’s trip take a look here.

can we all agree that la tee da flowers is amazing?

there was so much gorgeous light filling first presbyterian in tyler.  i loved it.

so many many vintage goodies provided by prairie sage vintage rentals.

clayton busted out the biggest face of awe when he saw amanda during their first look.

their daughter was as perfect as a flower girl could be.

i adore this image.

clayton was so kind to give alexis a little necklace.  she felt so so special.

the only thing better than vintage props at a wedding is vintage snacks!
they were the first couple ever to have their reception out on the church lawn.  it totally felt like anne of green gables.

thank you guys so much for letting me be a part of your perfect day.

unless you have been living under a rock the past year you’ve heard of one direction.  just another in the seemingly endless line of boybands that pop up every other year.  their song “what makes you beautiful” is super catchy and my family may even have had a dance party to it from time to time.  but there is always something that seems shallow when 14 year old boys sing about true love & beauty.

the premise of the song though is spot on.  so many times it’s hard for women to see themselves as others do.  people look at you and see one thing but when you look into a mirror you ignore the good and focus on what you perceive to be a “fault”.  the songs speaks to that idea and hopes to remind ladies of their beauty.

dove is on a little campaign of their own to remind women of their beauty.  the past few years they have made commercials, websites, and print adds that back this idea.  their latest one is so great and totally captures the issue i see almost ever weekend.  i’ll take a gorgeous photo of a bride, show it to the bridesmaids and other ladies in the room and they will just go nuts over how great it is. then i’ll show it to the bride and she’ll say something about her nose, or her chin, or how her left ear ALWAYS looks taller than her right.  :)  take 3 minutes, watch the video and the next time you start to be overly critical of your looks, remember the boys from one direction and the lovely folks at dove may not agree with you.

blake is a visual fx artist.  that means he makes tv shows look good/real.  if you watch boardwalk empire, you’ve seen his work.  and now,since i photographed their rings on a mini green screen i made, you might see their rings in an episode one day.

theses two started laughing during their first look and didn’t stop the rest of the day.

still laughing.

still laughing during the ring exchange and if you look you can see ashley smiling/smirking during the prayer!

even more laughter and bit of crying.

one of my favorite post ceremony shots i’ve ever taken.

nothing like facetiming a friend a few states over right after you said “i do”.

lots of dancing, lots of aggies, lots of cake.  it was a great evening.

thank you two so so much for letting me share this little part of you journey.  i loved telling your story.

(in other news, the mug machine was there in full force.  those images will be blogged soon.  stay tuned.)

one of the ways we celebrate are with crushed up oreos and gummy worms. your family is free to start their own tradition. i’m also doing my best to lobby congress to make this a national holiday so stay tuned.

“USE THE CHOPPER!!!!”

nothing says “i love you” more than crushing your lady friend in a little go kart race.

look, just because you are engaged does not mean you need to find an open field at sunset.  having said that, if there is one next door, you should absolutely frolic.

ok, back to the real session.

i love couples that can make anything look & feel like the best day of their lives.  jaime & nolan totally have this going for them.

nolan should watch out because jaime might have hit the punching bag harder than he did.

what does one do with over 180 tickets?  one buys rings and takes cheesy photos.

you guys were great.  i’m kinda wishing you were getting married at six flags now.

i’ve known gabby since she was this little.

i met her because i thought her oldest sister was hot.  (i later married her oldest sister.)

more than any other bride i have followed gabby’s journey towards marriage and been there for the ups and downs.  it was so special to be there on her wedding day at bella sera ranch.

gabby and kendal met in hong kong where she teaches english.

gabby gave me her shoes like this.
i said can i take them out of the bag?
she said do whatever, i trust you.
this is what i did.

nothing like having twin daughters help you get ready.

sara, my 7 year old, loved having aunt gabby fix her hair.

petal’s florist did the amazing job they always do.

gabby was so so nervous leading up to her first look.  i loved seeing kendal melt those nerves away as he held her.

i typically don’t post many “formals” but this bridesmaid was too attractive to pass up.  (the little boys aren’t bad either.)

jo loved getting dressed up.  he kept channeling his inner tony stark.  (his words)  he loved it until the bridesmaids started telling him how handsome he was.

fine! fine! since you asked, i’ll show you all 4 of my kids.

gabby & kendal had a herd of nieces and nephews walking down the aisle.

it was about a billion degrees below zero outside and some of the inside cowards were taunting the faithful of us who endured the cold.

i love this photo of them after the ceremony.  gabby has the best laugh.
kendal’s brother in law dropping the perfect out of focus photo bomb.

the toasts were perfect, they included stories of them making out and bible verses that morphed into 3 sisters rapping.

before returning the get-a-way car my kids and i decided to give it a little test drive the next day.

gabby, i’m so so proud of you.  i love you dearly and know you and kendal will make me many many glorious nieces and nephews to spoil.