I love me some Legacy Venue! A few weeks ago I shot my first wedding at one of the newer venues in the area. The Legacy Venue in Jacksonville. I always love shooting at new places and this was no exception. The place is beautiful and Susan and her staff do a great job taking care of all the little details that you run into on the day of your wedding. You may remember Laura & Neal’s wedding from last month, but if you don’t here are a few reminder photos.

Here is the bridal room in action. You could probably fit anywhere from 10-15 girls in the room and everyone would have some mirror space. :)

These two were married indoors, but The Legacy also has a great gorgeous spot for an outdoor wedding.



A few shots from the reception hall.



In other exciting news the wedding was picked up by a great wedding blog called Hot Pink Brides.

You can see their write up about it here.

Anyway, I always think getting to know your wedding vendors is super important for a bride so here is a little interview I did with The Legacy Venue’s owner, Susan Jones. Enjoy.

How did you guys get started, how long have you been doing this?
We have always loved to host special events. We even held a few weddings at our home before we built the facility. We started building The Legacy in June 2008 and completed it by November 1, 2008



What is your favorite part about your job?
Sharing a very special day in someone’s life.

What is the craziest thing that has ever happened at your venue?
(This of course does not mean that you were responsible for the crazy.)
We had someone propose to his girlfriend at “The Legacy”. That was really neat and something we will always remember. 


What are some things brides should look for when looking for a venue?
I think having many options is very important because every bride and groom visualize something different for their special day. I also think it is important that when choosing a venue, that if they want to get married outside, you also have a chapel or a place inside just in case it rains. It is a lot less stressful if you have a plan “B”.
 


What is something unique to your venue that you are extra proud of?
We love the layout of the facility and the massive window in the reception hall. We also love the fact that the bride and groom have many options for the reception hall layout. The reception hall was built so the dance floor, DJ, Band, tables, chairs, food tables, cakes, etc… can be wherever they would like it to be. They can have any of these things wherever they would like and it looks great!


Anything else you wanna say?
We have a passion for what we do and enjoy sharing that special day in someone’s life. The vows and toasts are one of our favorite parts of a wedding because what is said comes straight from the heart.

The Legacy Venue
Phone: (903) 571-9644 or (903) 586-6463 

Email: info@thelegacy-venue.com

OK, I promise this is the last “family” post for a while, but I could not resist sharing this one. As most of you know we have 1 girl and 3 boys. However, if you had to guess our girl count based off of the number of barbies in the house, you would probably say at least 7 girls lived here. Sara LOVES her dolls and every time we turn around it seems we are tripping over one. That’s all fine and good, but the thing that freaks me out are the naked Barbies. They give me the heebie-jeebies. They are creepy and they weird me out. (Jo feels the same way and I’m sure Luke will be complaining soon enough.)

Anyway, Danielle convinced Sara that it would be great if they all had “swimsuits” on. Sara loved the idea because she too is not a fan of naked Barbies and Jo and Luke even got in on the project.

A few before and after shots of our Sharpie Swimsuit collection for your enjoyment.



Here is the whole set. We even did two of them to match Sara’s swimsuits.

Anyway who better to comment on this recent development in our house then my all knowing blog stalkers!

Brides, did your brothers get freaked out by your Barbies growing up?

Moms did you ever have your boys come screaming and running out of a room because it was full of naked Barbies?

Let me know in the comments.

In keeping with the whole thankful/family/vacation theme for the weekend I thought I’d turn the blog over to the kids.

A few months ago they got a camera of their own. Joseph and Sara, ages 6 and 4, are the only ones that really use it and I try my very hardest to not “coach” them in any way. It’s been fun to see what they come up with. Here are a few that jump out from the past few months.

It took Sara all of about 15 seconds to master the “Jr. High girl on a school bus” self portrait.

Jo shot this. He did not know there was a bug in the tree when he took the photo but was really excited to find it there later.

Sara’s second favorite subject is our TV. Of the 1,500 or so shots they have taken about 1400 of them are of our TV.

Alex: “Why did you take this one?”
Jo: “Because I wanted to see what my toothbrush looked like.”



NOT one of the toothbrushes photographed earlier.

Alex: “Why did you take this one?”
Jo: “Because roaches are my favorite!”


Remember how I said that the TV was Sara’s second favorite subject? Guess her first?

Jo: “You can see my buggers!”

Sara snapped this one of us on a family vacation. It gives me hope that I will soon start showing up more and more in the family photos albums. :)

To see more, take a look back at our fake vow renewal we did in our backyard with Jo as the photographer.
After looking back on theses I’ve decided to add Jo or Sara as a second shooter exclusively in my top package. What do you think? ;)

Seriously, for a much more interesting story about kids with cameras you should watch Born into Brothels. It’s a crazy good movie about a group of kids in Calcutta and how their life is changed by being taught a bit of photography.

Things I’m thankful for…. Jean & James. I’m pretty sure that I have the best couples around and Jean and James just prove that point. They were so much fun to work with. I’m already anxious to get to their wedding in May!

It’s almost impossible not to catch these two NOT flirting and laughing.

One of my new favorite shots.

They are both great musicians so we did a few with their instruments.

James had the brilliant idea to trade instruments.

I had the brilliant idea to record them without them knowing it. :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Alex – Contact Me!

As were were finishing up Jessica’s session at the Villa di Felicita they were putting up their Christmas tree. (Not with the style and flair we do, but still, it was fun to see.) In fact, with only 18 days to go till her wedding, Jessica had to be talked OUT of staying in her dress after the bridal session. Every time I would show her one of the images on the back of the camera she would let out a squeal of excitement. I am so looking forward to this wedding. :)

Sometimes Sara likes to sit in my lap while I edit images. She always has interesting comments and when this one popped up she said, “Uh… you can’t really see her very good.”

This one was in the back of her late brother’s truck. He gave it to her a day before he passed away. It is obviously very special to her and I was so glad we were able to got some images with it.

Thanks for a great session Jessica, see you soon!

Alex – Contact Me!