If you don’t like having fun, you probably would not have enjoyed Melanie & Aaron’s wedding at Le Beaux Chateau in Flowermound, TX.  Seriously.  These two know how to have a great time and I think they only invited fun people to their wedding.

I walk into the guys room and find this: grown men playing video games.  Yes, please.
(I think I can now convince my 12 year old son to assist me on future weddings.)

The best thing is not that Aaron plays video games.  The best thing is that Melanie “gets it”.  Here are the cufflinks she gave him on their wedding day.

Cake toppers are better when zombies are attacking.

Every groom needs groomsmen who will pull out a knife and cut your shirt and pull out a comb and brush your stache.

Sometimes First Looks are full of weeping and holding.

The beautiful people.

Sometimes the beautiful people turn into the pouty people.

She was a bit bored with the whole thing.

Unity candle? Nope.
Unity Sand? Nope.
Unity Beer? Yes please.

Of course they made a Black & Tan.

With this ring, (and these bottle caps) I thee wed.

Melanie & her dad CRUSHED a dance song mash up.  So, so many good moves.

Speaking of crushed…. The bouquet toss went well. :)

Of course their grandmother did the Nae Nae.

Of course they preformed an impromptu “Shut Up & Dance With Me”.

Last dances in an empty room are the best.

You thought it was over?  Wrong.  Here are some of my favorites from the Mug Machine.
Featuring Melanie & Aaaron kissing poorly and the hair from that girl that got crushed trying to catch flowers.

Thank you guys for an amazing day of fun, love, and laughter.
Also, I’m still kinda mad that after you got married, you got to go to Disney World, and I had to come home and edit these pictures.

Right after I photographed their wedding, I mentioned that I had never seen a groom be more tenter towards his bride.  1 year later, Tim still holds the title belt.  I have such great memories of their wedding at Stone Oak Ranch and I KNEW they would be the perfect couple to check in on after their first year of marriage.  Enjoy.

What do you miss most about the single life?
Hahah, actually not a lot. Little things here and there; alone time, a different kind of freedom… But really we don’t miss it.

Give us your best cheapo/fun married date idea.
Build a fort in your living room, have breakfast for dinner, and watch a good movie (Tim always picks). We are the simple, stay home kinda people.
Getting ice cream and driving around looking at all the nice houses in our neighborhood and dreaming about one day…

What have you liked most about your first year being married?
Waking up together, supporting one another, always having “my person” I can count on, figuring things out together, celebrating together,praying together. We like that we are forever together.

Tim: What have you discovered about Beth this year that you didn’t realize before?
How gracious she is and how she is able to forgive me on my off days.
Beth: What is one thing super gross thing about Tim that you learned now that you are married to him?
I wish I had something truly appalling but Tim is a lot of things but gross isn’t one… Not for a good story here but it makes living together much more pleasant.

What have you fought about most and why?
Money! Because we both are independent and tend to want to control things in our own way. We have really had to work to understand each other and be on the same team when it comes to our finances and budgeting.

What was the biggest thing you were nervous about? How has it turned out?
Tim: I was anxious about the weight of responsibility and caring for my wife. It’s been a blessing to overcome selfishness and to learn (the beginning of) how to serve her and trust God as he leads us.
Beth: The first year being the hardest year of your life. It’s hasn’t been the simpliest year of life but we have really fought to have fun, give grace, forgive, and make memories together. We know more things will come but we have genuinely loved our first year of marriage.

What do you wish someone had told you before you were married?
We honestly have a phenomenal community and they did well to prepare us. I will say one thing that someone did say that I wish I heard more was that every marriage is different and part of the fun is learning and failing together to make it the best it can be.

Lacey & Cory’s story began way back in 2000.  Bruce, Lacey & Cory’s story began last week.

I’ll be honest… I’m not sure which one is my favorite.

These two have known each other since 6th grade.  They kinda grew up together in San Antonio and dated on and off for about 8 years.

Shout out to Lacey for throwing herself at Cory in typical 8th grade fashion.

Also, a very special shout out to Marcus for signing Cory’s yearbook with the phrase “Keep pimpin’ dim HOES.”

Me: “You guys just stand next to each other and Lacey, bring your hand up so we can see the ring.”

I mentioned Bruce earlier.  Bruce is the name that Lacey gave the “blemish” that appeared on her forehead a couple of days before our session.  He has been photoshopped out of history, but this image may be my favorite I have ever taken.  “Give Bruce a kiss.” I said.

Cory didn’t even hesitate.

Like all cool, hip, young people, these two love to get slightly overpriced, yet delicious beverages at Local Coffee.
(I can’t tell you if it was any good because they did not offer to buy me any.)

Fun Fact about Lacey.  She has an older sister.
One of the perks of having older siblings is that you can steal photography pose ideas from back when they were engaged.  (Like 150 years ago.)

Thank you guys for a great session.  The three of you were a blast to hang out with.

Kayla & David were married at St. Peter & Paul Catholic Church last August.  (With a killer reception at Centaur Arabian Farms in Flint, TX.)  So now that they are total pros at being husband and wife I thought it would be fun to hear form them on what their first year of marriage was like.

1. What do you miss most about the single life?
What I miss most about single life is being able to sprawl out in bed.. That being said, we just bought a king mattress last week…haha.

2. Give us your best cheapo/fun married date idea.
Cheapo fun married date idea: garage saleing and thrift store exploring is one of our favorite pastimes, David is the bargainer and I am the treasure hunter. We always have a good time and laugh with odd things we see at garage sales.

3. What have you liked most about your first year being married?
The looks on peoples faces when they find out I’m married.. Their reaction is mostly..”aren’t you like 12?!” Haha! It happens, I’ll be really smokin’ when I’m 60 and look 45 ;) but my most favorite part of our first year of marriage is the companionship that you feel with your person. Nothing beats the feeling of someone who has chosen and is still choosing to be yours everyday.

4.What’s been the hardest part about being married?
I would say the hardest part about being married right now is making future decisions such as when should we have kids?, should we buy a house?, should we rent?, where should we go?, which insurance plan is best for us?, what is a mortgage?  (Okay I asked that one)… What we’ve learned so far is don’t try to go it all alone, our parents have been our biggest supports and counselors. We don’t have all the answers and probably never will, but we are up to the adventure of figuring it out!

5. What have you fought about most and why?
What we fight most about with me is my phone habit. (Guilty).. What we fight most about with David is the he refuses to use the towel rack in our bathroom and will hang his used towel over the bathroom door so the door isn’t able to be shut, and I am not the tallest so it is difficult for me to get it down so I am able to close the bathroom door, also he is a nail picker..eww.

6.  What was the biggest thing you were nervous about? How has it turned out?
The biggest thing I was nervous about was the expectancy to be a “good wife” to cook dinner, have the house spotless, be dressed and picture perfect everyday for my husband and being able to maintain that. The reality is that I am not perfect and David realizes that he also realizes he is not perfect and this isn’t the Stepford Wives. I do however attempt to do these things for him because of course as his wife his happiness is extremely important to me, but also in turn he does things for me and helps around the house and cooks dinner and still calls me beautiful when I could pass for a gremlin. Letting go of that stereotype for me and figuring out what works best for us has really helped our relationship.

7. What do you wish someone had told you before you were married?
Your wedding will not turn out the way you imagined, things will go wrong: there will be a gathering at the church before your wedding and the floors will be covered is smashed brownies and you’ll walk out to see your dad and uncle on their hands and knees scrubbing the floor, you will get lost on the way to your own reception with no cell phone service, plan on not eating at the reception, your first dance song will get deleted off your iPod, and the forks you got personalized for the big day will go missing, but you can also count on the moments you never imagined happening such as: spontaneous bride and groom karaoke with the band to Don’t Stop Believing, you can count on a spontaneous break-dance dance off with your bridesmaid, husband, and usher so intense the usher will rip his pants (right in the crack..), and you also count on the band playing Miley Cyrus and all the guest on the dance floor surrounding you with a cup in the air and a smile on their face and singing at the top of their lungs, you can count on incredible photo booth pictures because your friends are awesomely weird like that.  oh and so is your photographer ;)) you can count on your bridesmaids and groomsman and family to go above and beyond their call to make your day one to remember, and most importantly you can count on going home with your newly wed spouse to start your life.

Thank you two for opening up to us.  Kayla you were super sweet to share your struggles.

And David…. come on man, use a towel rack, we are not animals.

PS. If you can’t get enough of these two, check out their super fun hot air balloon engagement session.

Kallie & Chase had an epic, Texas sized wedding at Pecan Springs Ranch in Austin.  If you like cake, or longhorns… you are in for a treat.

I mean I get it.  It’s your day.  You are excited… but.. “Best Day Ever!”?  You may be setting expectations pretty high for your guests at the sign in table. ;)

I love a quiet, super sweet First Look with a bit of tearing up.

Me: “You guys just stand there and act natural.”

We interrupt this blog post to talk about how much trust goes into hiring a wedding photographer.  I get it.  It’s a big day.  Some might say it’s the “Best Day Ever”.  So when a couple books me to shoot their wedding, there is a HUGE amount of trust involved in me being able to document and tell their story.  That’s why I love it even more when a family contacts me again for their second daughter’s wedding.  I photographed Kallie’s sister, Katie’s, wedding back in 2010.  I love seeing families throughout the years, and the fact that they trust me over and over again is one of the favorite parts of my job.

(In case you are wondering what the record is,  I have a few families tied with 3 weddings.)

Let’s give it up for Katie & Chance and their super cute little girl.

And let’s give it up for this little one.  She was a flower girl in Katie’s wedding, and now she is a Jr. Bridesmaid.  I expect to photograph her as a bridesmaid in 2035 and a bride in 2040.

This is the part of “here comes the bride” where Kallie decided to stop and take off her shoes.

The unity sand is a perfect depiction of marriage.  It symbolizes that no matter how much planning goes into something… the man can mess it up.

Let’s all stop and stand to our feet and give a slow clap for The Cake Plate.

This cake was close to 400lbs.  That’s a lot of cake.

Kallie and Chase then spent the first 15 minutes of their marriage in the best way possible: handing out ginormous oversized pieces of cake to little children.

Maybe it was the Best Day Ever.