OK. It’s time again for that killer blog series: My Favorite Part of A Wedding.

Today’s topic: Bouquet Toss

Ah, yes. That moment in every wedding, where single ladies either get way too excited about it or vomit at the shear thought of it.

Quick history lesson:
Tossing the bouquet is a tradition that stems from England. Women used to try to rip pieces of the bride’s dress and flowers in order to obtain some of her good luck. To escape from the crowd, the bride would toss her bouquet and run away.

First of all, this sounds AMAZING! More like this please.

Somehow, the toss has evolved into this thing that now guarantees that the lucky lady who catches it will be the next one married. Because you know… magic.

So even though it’s a bit corny, I do love this little moment when your girlfriends get a chance to go all Hunger Games during your reception.

I love when there are literally dozens of competitors.

I love when they stretch their arms like NFL wide receivers.

I love when the girl that does NOT catch it is more excited than the girl that does.

I love when the girl you think is going to catch it does not.

I love the taunting that is often performed by the victor.

I love when the girls trip over themselves trying to catch it.

I love it most of all, when a girl falls to the floor, and a bride is willing to meet her down there for their photo together.

I also love when a lady has so much swag and confidence, that she knows she can jump, hold her red solo cup in one hand, and snag the bouquet with the other.

But seriously. Here is the key that I have found after shooting hundreds of weddings: some people love it, some people don’t. But you know your girls better than most. If you think they will enjoy it, then by all means, go for it. If you know they hate the idea… punt it. Sure it’s your wedding, but these are your closest friends. The goal isn’t to embarrass or shame them because they haven’t found someone to file taxes with jointly.

And, sure it’s a glorious moment for the winning lady, but it’s not like catching your flowers actually empowers the girl with the ability to become the next one married.

Or does it?

Because you enjoyed this, I know you’ll want to see more in this series. Click here for more words and pretty pictures.

Get Excited!  It’s your chance to help someone win a 16×20 print!  Voting is open till midnight.  Tell your friends.

Today’s category: Wedding Rings

I always feel a couple’s ring photo should be a reflection of them.  You should be able to look at it and see a little glimpse into who they are and what they love.  Here are a few of my favorites form this part year.

Take a look at the entries then vote at the bottom of this post.

1. Green: Blake works in visual effects, I wanted him to be able to drop his rings into any film he made in the future. ;)

2. Chop: Gabby & Kendal met in Hong Kong.  This one was too easy.

3. Meds:  Right before the ceremony Jaime got a crushing headache.  These were the magic pills that saved the day.

4. Bible: Travis & Heather’s whole life revolves around the words in this book

5. Knot: Shelly & Caleb used this rope as a part of their ceremony.

6. Shades: Thy & Jonathan entered their reception rockin’ these shades.

7. Baseball: Alex played baseball all through college so Lauren gave him one with their name on it.

8. Bling: Krystle’s ring was kinda blingy.  I put it with more shiny things.

9. Yoshi: Tara & Lee love to play Mario Kart and these are their favorite characters.

10. Sword: Joe is in the Air Force.  That means he has cool weapons.

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? ;)

ashley & blake are fun people.  fun people have fun friends.  fun friends make for a kick butt mug machine.

i can’t say enough good things about ashley and blake.  they were just perfect.  i love them.  i loved their day.  i really loved their wedding venue.  take a look at the lovely howell family farms in arlington.

blake is a visual fx artist.  that means he makes tv shows look good/real.  if you watch boardwalk empire, you’ve seen his work.  and now,since i photographed their rings on a mini green screen i made, you might see their rings in an episode one day. :)

theses two started laughing during their first look and didn’t stop the rest of the day.

still laughing.

still laughing during the ring exchange and if you look you can see ashley smiling/smirking during the prayer!

even more laughter and bit of crying.

one of my favorite post ceremony shots i’ve ever taken.

nothing like facetiming a friend a few states over right after you said “i do”.

lots of dancing, lots of aggies, lots of cake.  it was a great evening.

thank you two so so much for letting me share this little part of you journey.  i loved telling your story.

(in other news, the mug machine was there in full force.  those images will be blogged soon.  stay tuned.)