Heather & Blake had a great wedding at Castle on the Lake in Jacksonville, TX.  Those of you who have never been there, it’s really one of the more unique wedding venues in the area.  It’s really worth looking into and you’ll learn more in the next week or so when I run their vendor interview.

I overheard Heather tell someone that her favorite thing about her ring was how you could see the “whole” diamond.  She really has one of the coolest rings I have ever shot.

This was a wedding first for me.  The groom was getting his hair done while the bride got her makeup done. :)

Designs by D’Anne did the cake and Flowers by Janae did the arrangements.

Blake had his son to keep him company while he waited on Heather for their First Look.

I finally got a shot of him without hair in his face.  (I’m sure his mom will appreciate it.)

We grabbed their boys for a few family shots.  It was so stinking windy.  That top hat flew off on it’s own and probably traveled another 10 feet before landing.

Boys + Canes = Sword fight.

As they started their first dance, it looked like it would be your “typical” stand and sway dance.

At the end they broke into a little swing routine and impressed all of us.

Come back tomorrow for some Mug Machine goodness.  (It’s gonna be good.)

Hey, just a quick heads up.  This coming Sunday, March 21, The I Do Bridal Show will be held at the Longview Mall from 2-6PM.  It’s hosted by the lovely folks behind VOW.  (Read their vendor interview here.)  Anyway, there will be all kinds of prizes and goodies to win.  (Vanessa McKellar will be giving away about 1,500.00 worth of video goodness.)  The Mug Machine & I will be there in full force as well. :)

Come on by, say hello, meet some great vendors.

See you soon.

AlexM

I had such a great time getting to know Angela & Spencer.  These two have great chemistry and style so photographing them was something I had been looking forward to for a while.  These two met a few years ago down in Austin.  Spencer works at a music institute that Angela’s sister was attending.  Soon, Angela started to come around and “check in” on her sister’s music.  Spencer decided to ask Angela out, and Angela said yes, but she wanted her sisters to come along.  Once Spencer left, her sisters pointed out to Angela that he was asking her on a DATE.  :)  After a bit a of clarification, the two finally had an “alone” date and they have been giddy and in love ever since.

If you know these two you know that music plays a HUGE role in their lives so the studio where they first met seemed like the perfect place to start the session.

Fun with piano reflections.

Next we headed out into Austin.

Fancy shiny limos are everywhere.  This is an Austin-style limo.

If you are in the Austin click here to book the Dirty Limo.

These two were a bit nervous in front of the camera.  I have no idea why.  They are naturals.

Angela hooked us up with private access to this football field in town.

Spencer accomplishes things Colt McCoy & Vince Young never did on the field.

One of my most-est favorite-est ever.

Thank you guys for an amazing time.  I’m stoked about the wedding.  See you soon.

I just got a new sample album in and wanted to show you a few images of it.  This is what my Linen album look like.  They are the same 12×12 size as my Leather albums only the pages are a bit thinner.  The print quality is the same and they are perfect for parent albums.

Here are a few images.

Again, just like the Leather albums, they have a seamless lay flat binding system.

To give you an idea on the thickness of the pages, here they are with a dime placed between them.

Here is the Linen album stacked on top of a Leather album.  (These two albums have the same page count, but the Leather ones pages are a bit thicker.)

And, just to prove that both albums are friendly.  Here they are giving each other a hug.

Most of my brides end up with a package with an album in it, but those of you who do not have one it’s never too late to add one. :)

Danielle & I have been married close to 8 years.  We have 4 kids.
We both absolutely love our lives together and could not imagine any better way of living.

Danielle & I have been married close to 8 years.
We have 4 kids.  It has been the hardest 8 years of our lives and never dreamed marriage could be this hard.

It may seem like those statements cannot co-exist, but the reality is that a good healthy marriage can and should be both of those statements from time to time.  Marriage is a process of unpacking and discovering the person you married.  The person you are currently dating is not who you will end up living with.  Little by little they will show you their true self and you will eventually realize you are living with a complete stranger who looks like the person you dated.  (I know I was on my best behavior as I “tricked” Danielle into marrying me.)

The thing that many people do not realize is that to have a healthy marriage you MUST change who you are, you  MUST change your behaviors and habits.  When you commit to live selflessly and give to one another it’s about a lot more than sharing a checkbook or mortgage.

You are committing to picking up the house when you would rather go out with your friends.

You are committing to staying up with a kid when you are tired.

You are committing to bringing in groceries when the game is on tv.

Marriage is a commitment that we commit to, but really don’t even know what we are committing to.  That’s why the preacher says through “good times & bad times.”  If he were to go into detail and describe every known marriage scenario to man, you would NEVER get a guy to stand up there and nod his head.  :)

OK, so you get it. But, why the buzz kill on this happy wedding photography blog.  :)  The reason is I want my couples to understand what they are getting into.  The BEST book Danielle & I read before we were married was a book called The Sacred Marriage.  It looks at marriage from the perspective of “What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy?”

I cannot recommend this book enough.  You can get it at Amazon, Barns & Noble, your library.  You can even be lazy like me and get the audio book from iTunes. In fact, because we liked it so much, Danielle and I have both started re-reading this book recently.
Get it.
Read it.
Work really really really hard.
Live happily ever after.