Justine & Karl are my new best friends.  (I just need to double check with them and make sure that’s ok.)  I loved hanging out with them and love their story so much.  I’ll try to do it justice, but you should just take my advice and become best friends with them, too.

They met in the rainforest of Borneo while they were studying abroad.  Not a bad start, right?  Anyways, after a few months together there, they knew they were perfect for each other.  Eventually, Karl would move to Texas for medical school and Justine would continue her education in North Carolina.  They have had a long distance relationship since then and have made it work.  (With a few flights back and forth to see each other in real life.)   Well, this past weekend Justine was in Dallas so the three of us headed down to Klyde Warren Park for their session.

True Story: Justine did not know how to play checkers.  So Karl taught her while we were shooting.  How great is that?

Both of them have huge giant brains that are extra smart.  Justine’s is just a tad bigger.

When I asked them what they like to do when they hang out, Justine mentioned that they like “old people things”.  A few months ago they were on their way to take some archery lessons and instead ended up learning to play pétanque.  How perfectly random is that?

Justine is not a fan of diamonds so of course Karl designed her a custom engagement ring with her birthstone and favorite color.

Justine is a bit of a geek.

OK, “a bit” might be selling her short.  Let me try again.

Justine kinda invented her own strand of DNA that can trace if water in wells has been contaminated.  BOOM.  Just like that.

Anytime she talks about it, she gets really excited and I get really confused.  So I may not have described it 100% accurately, but you get the idea.  So of course we had to hit the Perot Museum of Nature & Science.

They could have spent hours in this place.  I kept having to pull them away from the exhibits so I could do my job. :)  When I was done shooting I left them in the museum.  They might still be in there right now.

Super cool exhibit that tracks your body movements and replicates it in 8-bit format.  Here is an 8-bit version of them making out.

Thank you guys for spending your July 4th with me.  Nothing says “America” more than an Army doctor dude and a lady scientist from L.A. falling in love.  (Go Lakers!)

It’s really rare to be able to start an engagement session at the location a couple first met.  Especially when they first met over 20 years ago.  With Audra & Brian we were lucky enough to do that.  We went back to the place it all started.  We went back to the house Audra grew up in.

Sometime around 1985 or so Audra & Brian’s fathers were coaches together for Texas ATM. (Whoop!) I’m sure this led to many family get togethers and team functions where little Audra & little Brian would spend hours playing together. That’s were they fell in love. OK, not really. They were like 5 years old or something, this isn’t a Disney movie. Anyway, They did hang out at Audra’s house so that’s where we went to start their session.

There were so many memories at this house. It was neat to see Audra back in that setting and hear her talk about how different yet familiar it felt. We were doing a few shots on the porch and I noticed a wasp’s nest in the corner. She told me a story about when she was little and her mom was stung by them and she almost ended up calling 911. I thought the wasps deserved to make the blog.

Then, like all good Aggies, we headed onto campus.  Some of you may be familiar with this tree.

The thing is though… Audra & Brian didn’t go to ATM together. Audra’s dad took another coaching job a few states over and moved away, Brian’s dad did the same and that normally is how the story would end.

Brian did end up coming back and becoming a full grown Aggie so at least he gets credit for that.

Fast forward to 2012. Audra’s dad is still a college coach and he’s filling out his new staff. He know’s a former college of his has a well qualified son who is looking for a job so he decides to give Brian an shot. Well, one thing led to another and one day he’s doing his new boss a favor and picking up Audra from the airport. Well, one thing led to another and now they are getting married. Because that’s how awesome their story is.

Multiple states, multiple campuses, multiple teams. Their journey started together, went thousands of miles apart, then led them right back to each other.

i met lauren & alex way back in 2010 when i photographed his brother’s wedding.  i love shooting multiple family members weddings and i can’t wait for this one.  speaking of love… i think these two may have one of the best “how we met” stories ever.  they were on the same campus at northwood university in dallas for a few years but did not meet until their senior year.  alex was a pitcher on the baseball team and lauren & him had started dating.  on game she was sitting in the stands and this lady asked her who she was there watching.  she pointed to alex and it turned out the lady also knew alex.  (she was his mother.)  alex had not yet introduced lauren to anyone in his family, so all he could do the entire game was watch form the dug out and mound as she “met” his entire family while he played his baseball game.

we knew we had to start the session in the stands where it all began.

it was such a great day for a baseball game we decided to play 2.  next up, the ball park in arlington.

thanks random ballpark employee for taking their photo.

are they really on the wall of fame?  nope.
will their great grandkids know this in 75 years when they see this photo?  nope. :)

meet the boomstick. 24 inches and 3 pounds worth of nolan ryan beef.
(you know a hotdog is a big deal when cnn money is talking about it.)

thanks for a great afternoon.  let’s hang out again…. how about october 5th? ;)

unless you have been living under a rock the past year you’ve heard of one direction.  just another in the seemingly endless line of boybands that pop up every other year.  their song “what makes you beautiful” is super catchy and my family may even have had a dance party to it from time to time.  but there is always something that seems shallow when 14 year old boys sing about true love & beauty.

the premise of the song though is spot on.  so many times it’s hard for women to see themselves as others do.  people look at you and see one thing but when you look into a mirror you ignore the good and focus on what you perceive to be a “fault”.  the songs speaks to that idea and hopes to remind ladies of their beauty.

dove is on a little campaign of their own to remind women of their beauty.  the past few years they have made commercials, websites, and print adds that back this idea.  their latest one is so great and totally captures the issue i see almost ever weekend.  i’ll take a gorgeous photo of a bride, show it to the bridesmaids and other ladies in the room and they will just go nuts over how great it is. then i’ll show it to the bride and she’ll say something about her nose, or her chin, or how her left ear ALWAYS looks taller than her right.  :)  take 3 minutes, watch the video and the next time you start to be overly critical of your looks, remember the boys from one direction and the lovely folks at dove may not agree with you.

jaime & nolan are like my favorite couple ever.  (after lauren & brent, or ashley & blake, or megan & mitch, or gini & charlie, or audrey & cody) ;)  anyway, i love them.  we met for the first time about 10 minutes before their session and were bffs by the time it ended.  i could not have been more giddy when she told me her preferred location for the session.  ladies & gentlemen, i give you party central in bossier city.

nothing says “i love you” more than crushing your lady friend in a little go kart race.

look, just because you are engaged does not mean you need to find an open field at sunset.  having said that, if there is one next door, you should absolutely frolic.

ok, back to the real session.

i love couples that can make anything look & feel like the best day of their lives.  jaime & nolan totally have this going for them.

nolan should watch out because jaime might have hit the punching bag harder than he did.

what does one do with over 180 tickets?  one buys rings and takes cheesy photos.

you guys were great.  i’m kinda wishing you were getting married at six flags now. :)