By now I’m sure most/all of you have heard that Apple came out with this iPad thing.  Some people love it, others hate it.  My family falls into the category of “love it”.  Here are a few photos of the kids in action with it.

Since I got it about a month ago I have had about 6 client meetings and each of those couples has almost been more interested in it more than my photos.  I get all kinds of questions about it and basically the meetings end up with me talking about the wedding with the bride while the dude just looks at comic books on my iPad.  Hey, as long as they’re booking right? :)

The most common theme seems to be “It’s basically like a big iPhone right?”  Let me answer that question with a little story.

Imagine all you knew as a child were bath tubs.  Then one day, someone explained and told you about a “big bathtub”  it’s like 10 times the size of a bath tub.  No big deal right?  I mean, we’ve all seen bath tubs and know what they are.  The thing is, once you actually get into a swimming pool you realize this is nothing like a bath tub.

That’s exactly what owning an iPad is like.  The photos and technical specs don’t begin to do it justice. I can’t even begin to express just how much our kids love this thing.  They are constantly reading, watching movies, or playing games on this.  This will be the only computer they grow up knowing.  It’s amazing just how “strange” a keyboard and mouse seem to a 3 year old, but every kids just “gets” this device.  It took Luke, our 2 year old, about three minutes to figure out everything he needed to know about it.  This is the future of computers, education, books, movies, and wedding planning.  That’s right, I said wedding planning.  You know that ridiculous binder you have full of pages, phone numbers, lists, and photos.  They will all be on this device within the next year.  Now you are interested right?

If you are a parent of younger kids, you HAVE to really consider getting this for your family.

If you are a student, you should totally convince your parents to get you one for school.

If you are a bride, you and your fiance will fight over who gets to keep this till you get married.

If you are thinking about booking, call me up and I’ll give you a free demo at our meeting. :)

One of the things that really makes weddings fun is getting to share your day with your closest friends and family.

One of the things that really makes wedding planning NOT fun is deciding who your closest friends and family are.

Time and time again, when I meet with couples and talk about how the planning is going, the thing that constantly brings the most stress is the guest list. Whether it’s the addresses, narrowing it down, or licking and stamping the envelopes, the guest process seems to be one of the more stressful parts.

Erika & Phil took a slightly different approach when it came to planning their wedding.  They only invited immediate family.  :)  Thats right, the 11 people you see in that photo are all that were there to witness their vows.

(Actually, myself and super cool wedding videographer Vanessa McKellar were also witnesses, but you get the point.)

Phil’s comment to me was he “didn’t want to be introduced to anyone on his wedding day”.  Not a bad way of looking at it.  Erika told me they wanted a smaller wedding, but as they started coming up with the guest list it kept getting bigger and bigger til they decided there was only one way of doing it.  Just family.  I have photographed weddings with hundreds of guests and a wedding with less than a dozen guests.  There is no right or wrong way to do it.  My advice to you is invite who you want.

It’s your wedding.

If you only want 50 people there, invite 50 people.

Trust me, your friends and acquaintances that do not get invited will not stop being your friends.  They may be confused at first.  But if they are truly your friends, then they will understand.  They want you to be happy.  If having 50 people at your wedding makes you happy, then they will support you.

Side Note: You may end up getting less gifts this way, but we’ll assume you’re OK with that.

If you want to see more images from Erika & Phil’s September 9, 2009 wedding click here.
I’ll give you one more shot to entice you click that link.

Leishia saw the sister session I did a few weeks ago and contacted me about doing one with her sisters.  The carnival heard we were looking for a location so they came in to town to help us out. :)

Here they are doing what they do best. :)

Admit it, you totally want a funnel cake now. :)
Becca STOLE these glasses from some 3D movie so we did a few shots with them as well. :)

Thanks ladies for a great session.

I LOVE my couples.

They are far and away the coolest people getting married week in and week out in East Texas. :)  Just a few days ago I got Christina & Josh’s final payment for their wedding in a few weeks and she included this little note.

Look for their Dallas wedding soon, and the little code at the top is a sneak peek at some of the fun we’ll be having at her wedding.

When Heather mentioned that her and Rusty loved heading to the lake, I knew right away where we would be doing their engagement session.  Before we got our sea legs under us we did a few on dry land.

Free Boat Ride for 3!

Flippy Floppies. :)

At this point of the session Rusty started pretending he was James Bond and started referring to Heather as “Moneypenny”.
Disclaimer:  T-Pain was also on the boat, but his publicist would not allow us to show him in any of the photos. :)

Come back in July to see their Elmwood Gardens wedding!