I started doing this last month and got a good little response so I think a tradition has been born.  It’s time to jump back to May of 2009 and take a look at some of my favorite images from the month.  It’s crazy for me to think that I shot these frames last year, some of them only feel like I took them 3 months ago.

:) Past couples, this is your chance to leave a nice comment about me and how much fun I was to work with. :)

By now I’m sure most/all of you have heard that Apple came out with this iPad thing.  Some people love it, others hate it.  My family falls into the category of “love it”.  Here are a few photos of the kids in action with it.

Since I got it about a month ago I have had about 6 client meetings and each of those couples has almost been more interested in it more than my photos.  I get all kinds of questions about it and basically the meetings end up with me talking about the wedding with the bride while the dude just looks at comic books on my iPad.  Hey, as long as they’re booking right? :)

The most common theme seems to be “It’s basically like a big iPhone right?”  Let me answer that question with a little story.

Imagine all you knew as a child were bath tubs.  Then one day, someone explained and told you about a “big bathtub”  it’s like 10 times the size of a bath tub.  No big deal right?  I mean, we’ve all seen bath tubs and know what they are.  The thing is, once you actually get into a swimming pool you realize this is nothing like a bath tub.

That’s exactly what owning an iPad is like.  The photos and technical specs don’t begin to do it justice. I can’t even begin to express just how much our kids love this thing.  They are constantly reading, watching movies, or playing games on this.  This will be the only computer they grow up knowing.  It’s amazing just how “strange” a keyboard and mouse seem to a 3 year old, but every kids just “gets” this device.  It took Luke, our 2 year old, about three minutes to figure out everything he needed to know about it.  This is the future of computers, education, books, movies, and wedding planning.  That’s right, I said wedding planning.  You know that ridiculous binder you have full of pages, phone numbers, lists, and photos.  They will all be on this device within the next year.  Now you are interested right?

If you are a parent of younger kids, you HAVE to really consider getting this for your family.

If you are a student, you should totally convince your parents to get you one for school.

If you are a bride, you and your fiance will fight over who gets to keep this till you get married.

If you are thinking about booking, call me up and I’ll give you a free demo at our meeting. :)

Danielle & I have two types of dates. The first is called a “Fake Date”. Those happen once a week after the kids are down. Around 8:00 or so, I’ll go out and grab some food and we’ll sit down and watch a movie or play a card game.

We also have “Real Dates”. Those happen every other week when we we drop the herd off at our friends’ house, and head out on the town for a real live sit down and have dinner date. We go to a place where people bring us food and water and take care of the dirty dishes. It is refreshing and wonderful. One of the things we love to do on our “real dates” is spot couples who are also on dates. I snapped these two photos in the past few weeks.

I had to go into spy mode to capture them. So I’m not sure if you can tell or not, but BOTH the husband and wife are on the phone. I’m sure you have noticed this trend. As we all fall more and more in love with our phones, sometimes we forget that they don’t love us back. The next time you are out on a date, or home for the evening, try this crazy idea:

Turn your phone off. Talk to each other. Look into each others eyes.

Then, log onto Facebook and update your status. :)

If you are still considering a venue for your wedding then you are going to love today’s post.  Here are some of my favorite venues in the area.  They are all slightly unique.  Some have things that others don’t and I’m pretty sure that if you take a look at each of these you’ll end up having a hard time deciding on just one. :)  Anyway, here are a few photos with links to recent weddings as well as contact info for each of them.  Happy Friday.

Villa di Felicita | (903) 597-0002 | (Click here for a recent wedding there.)

Castle on the Lake | 903-721-3593 | (Click here for a recent wedding there.)

The Legacy Venue | 903.571.9644 | (Click here for a recent wedding there.)
The Belgium House | (903) 660-0125 | (Click here for a recent wedding there.)
Elmwood Gardens | (903) 724-5619 | (Click here for a recent wedding there.)
Roseland Plantation | (903) 849-5553 | (Click here for a recent wedding there.)

Hunt Villa | (903) 597-0002 | (Click here for a recent wedding there.)

Typically when I meet with brides or chat with them at the engagement session, I like to ask how the planning is going and what “phase” they are in.  More often than not, when the topic of “The Guest List” comes up, a discouraged look comes over their face.  This seems to be the most dreaded part of the planning process.  Well today I have great news for you.  I am adding guest lists to all my packages.  That’s right, I will contact all your friends and family and get their pertinent information and pass it on to you. :) It will not cost anything to my current brides and….

OK, so maybe I’m lying about that.  But, I do think I may have a solution for you.  Most of you are users of the internets. (Assuming you read this on a computer and do not have someone print it out and hand it to you every day.)  In fact, most of your guests are computer savvy as well.  Pretty much everyone is on Facebook and can do a bit of E-mail, so this is something that should work for the majority of your guests.  It’s a short little video on how you can use some free Google sites to organize and put your whole list together.  It’s 2010 people.  Work smarter not harder. :)

Sign up for a Gmail account here and get going.

Get started with Google Docs here.