Today marks the 9th anniversary of our families favorite made up holiday.

Snake Attack Day!

Short story: I heard Danielle scream. I ran outside. This happened.

Today we give thanks for surviving this close close encounter many years ago.

Eat a gummie worm & join us in celebrating our victory over the serpent.

Natalee & Josh met while they were at SMU.  They are totally getting married.  Their engagement session consisted of two locations.

Location 1: Give the parents photos that they will like.

Location 2: Give Josh a reason to tackle Natalee.  (Did I mention that Josh played football for SMU and is a super huge dude that could crush me with his left arm?)

Thank you guys for a fun afternoon and for sneaking/getting me into the stadium. ;)

Do you remember that time that Breelyn showed up for her bridal session and made my job super easy?  I do.

Of course she’s wearing mud boots.  What else would she be wearing?

Speaking of wearing… She’s wearing her mother’s wedding dress.  BOOM.

This outdoor shoot in a slightly muddy field was made possible by Breelyn’s awesomeness and by Roma, makers of fine mud boots.  (Giving poverty the boot.)  You should go buy some.

Sometime last year I came up with the idea of photographing couples who have been married 50+ years. I always love anniversary dances at weddings and feel like those are the couples we should be celebrating. It’s like 300 people come to cheer you on when you get married, but for some reason, the longer you are married, the less people celebrate or cheer for it.

(PS: If you know of a couple who has been married for 50 or more years, get in touch, I’ll take their photos.)

I don’t know if I could have picked a better couple to kick off this little series.

Vernon and Gwen were married January 16, 1965. That’s about 50 years and 4 days ago. ;) They were so so sweet and kind. Their relationship has such a security to it. One is not trying to outdo the other. As they tell a story they take turns handing off parts of the conversation to each other like olympians passing a baton. One of the first things that came up was the topic of movies and this was their exchange.

Gwen: “I love Cary Grant. How can you be so funny and look so good?”

(3 second pause.)

Vernon: “There’s only a few of us.”

I was hooked.

As I photographed them they told stories about their journey and what it means to share a life with someone. I felt my marriage getting stronger just by listening to them talk about theirs. I loved watching them flirt like a pair of newly-weds. I loved the little looks she gave him when he was about to cross a line. I loved that Vernon’s office has a photo of the Mona Lisa next to a photo of John Wayne.

At first my plan was to just do a few photos of them, but after about 30 seconds of hanging out with them, I knew I had to film them answering a few questions about marriage and life.

It’s not a LOL Instagram cat.
It’s not a dog riding a skateboard on Youtube.
It’s not even a super funny 21 random facts you didn’t know BuzzFeed list.

It’s just 2 people who have been married 50 years telling you what it takes to make that happen.

They may also give opinions on wedding budgets and saying yes to the dress. ;)

So, if you have 5 minutes to spare, you should watch this video.

Wow, last weeks Top 10 contest was the biggest ever. There were over 4,400 votes cast. (You people have a lot of friends.) The bridal category had close to 600 votes and was decided by only 1 vote. Anyway, here are the winners for this past year. Be sure and shake hands and say good game before you walk off the field. You couples that won, you can go to bed tonight knowing you are champions. You couples that lost…. you can go to bed tonight complain about the officials.

Engagement: Band
Marriage is tough.
Balancing marriage and work is tougher.
Balancing marriage and work when you work at the same high school is tougher-er.
Balancing marriage and work when you work at the same high school and both your jobs depending on how well the halftime performance goes is the toughest.

So glad that Katie & Joe trusted me to pull of this shot. I love it.

Rings: Tweet
Nicole and Tyson met on Twitter. Yeah. Twitter. 140 characters at a time they fell in love. I would love to be there when one day they have to explain to their grandkids what Twitter was.

Brides: Emily
I’m sure many an Aggie bride has dreamed of drinking a pitcher of beer at the Dixi Chicken in a wedding dress. Emily actually pulled it off.

Mug Machine: Hair
Amanda and her friend had a KILLER wedding reception. It only makes sense that one of their Mug Machine images won.

Random: Flower
This may honestly be my favorite “lucky” photo I’ve taken this past year. You can never predict what little kids will do. I never expected her to jump in the air as she tossed petals left and right.

Wedding: Hug
It’s a bit ironic, but last year’s winning wedding image was also a hug that took place shortly after the ceremony. That’s such an unscripted time. It’s always full of so much emotion. I saw this moment unfolding and was so so glad that I was able to do it justice. Anytime part of your day involves the rebuilding of a family, I’m all in. Thank you Caleb & Sarah for trusting me with your wedding.

Thanks again to everyone who voted. It was fun. Let’s do it again next year.