ok people, time to get your vote on. the couple with the winning image will get a fancy big 16×20 print. pick your favorite image. you can only vote once, the voting is open for 2 days. winners will be announced january 21.

vote at the bottom of this post.

today’s category may be my favorite.  i love the random things that happen at people’s weddings.  these are not thing you can usually plan for, pintrest, or expect.  it’s just part of the organic day that is your wedding.  your wedding day is not made up from a checklist and timeline but all the tiny moments that happen along the way.  some of those tiny moments just happen to be more awesome than others. :)

ready set. go!

here are the entries.

i’m glad they had a first look.  if not this would have been the first time daniel saw rachel. :)  pretty magical eh?

a very well prepared father of the bride.

any bridesmaid who can jump, catch a bouquet and not spill her drink gets props from me.

no one plans for it to rain on their wedding day.  chesley did plan on smiling on her wedding day.

aggies.

i hear it gets hot under those dresses.

nothing says classy ring bearer like poopin’ in your pants.

the ceremony to reception shoe change is every brides favorite moment.

i’m not sure if he is holdin’ down the dance floor or if the dance floor took him out.

kids love me.

ok people, time to get your vote on. the couple with the winning image will get a fancy big 16×20 print. pick your favorite image. you can only vote once, the voting is open for 2 days. winners will be announced january 21.

vote at the bottom of this post.

ready set. go!

here are the entries.
i love telling the story of a couple with their ring shots.  it’s one of my favorite parts of the day.  sometimes i find elements from their wedding day, sometimes i have a plan going into the day from their back story.  other times i’m totally not sure what to do but by the end of the night the perfect location has appeared.  here is a little background on the ring photos you are voting on.

jessica likes fancy things.  nothing says fancy like jimmy choo.  (this one was too easy.)

christa and jeff read their vows from their phones and actually updated their facebook status BEFORE kissing as man and wife.

chesley and andy kinda have this thing for collecting pennies.now they can collect them forever.  together.  as man and wife.

i love how denise and josh worked so many elements of their journey into their wedding day.  it had to be a part of their ring shot. (plus aggies are always wanting more photos of their “real” rings.)

audrey actually won an old camp truck in a contest for cody.  this was part of the engine.

the girls at lindsey’s wedding got ready at a house with a fancy toilet.  it sprayed water.  the girls found it funny.  so did i.

kay and wayman had this guy named joe nichols come and sing at their reception.  he is kinda a country star.  we were all impresed.

ashley and chadd had these matchbooks at their reception.  (i didn’t ask permission to light the rings on fire.)

this is a page from karen’s diary.  where she wrote about the man she was going to marry.  28 years before she married him.  (this may be my favorite one ever.)

lisa and rory met at a hospital where both of them work.  they listened to their hearts and now they are married.  :)

I think Carrie & Aaron laughed more than any couple I have photographed in a while.  They just seem totally at home with each other so I am thrilled that  they are willing to share a little part of how their first year of marriage went.  Here are a few images from their wedding last year and then we will dive into what they have to say about being married for 365 days. (and counting)

What do you miss most about the single life? 
Being able to make plans or choosing to have no plans at all without checking with someone first.

GIve us your best cheapo/fun married date idea.
Cooking a fun meal and watching movies at home, going to random small county festivals whenever we see one, taking short weekend vacations just to get out of town.

What have you liked most about your first year being married?
Knowing that whatever kind of day I have had, I will get to come home to my husband/wife and everything will be ok.

What’s been the hardest part about being married?
Learning and accepting the other person’s living habits.

What surpassed you the most? (Either good or bad.)
We both knew that marriage takes work and that is certainly true. However, I think we were both surprised at how much easier and fun life is when you have a constant partner. Even a Tuesday night trip to
the grocery store can feel like a date when you are with someone who simply makes you happy.

What have you fought about most and why?
Deciding who will be responsible for what on a daily basis. We had not really thought about that before getting married and we have had to really work on determining who is in charge of each task in order to
make things go.

What was the biggest thing you were nervous about? How has it turned out?
We both knew that living together 24/7 would be a major adjustment and it has been. When we were dating, I did not notice that Aaron leaves little whiskers all over the sink when he shaves and Aaron did not
realize that I was “psychotic” about the house being spotless when there is even a chance of company coming over. We both have had to learn that we can get annoyed with these little things or just accept them.

Do you have any advice for couples about to take the plunge?
Do whatever you can to really prepare for marriage. We have truly benefited from taking a VOW class prior to getting married. The class gave us the chance to talk about things that we would never had addressed on
our own. It is easy to stress out about whether the tablecloths are the right shade of blue or if the bridesmaids all really like their dresses (they won’t) but try to stay focused on what really matters.

Thanks again you two for sharing some of your awesomeness with the inter webs.  And seriously people.  Take their advice.  Get on the WeVowNow website and take a class.

So marriage can be a really strange thing.  You get engaged and spend months planning this wedding where everyone is involved and giving you advice.  Then, once you are married, people just kinda forget about you and assume that you totally know what’s going on.  One thing I would love to change is how nebulous and unknown that 1st year can be for couples.  There are tons one great recourses and books out there on the topic, but let’s be honest, if you are on a wedding blog that means you are in full creeper mode right now.  Let’s seize this moment and learn a little from Becca & Brad who totally got married 1 year ago.  Take a peek at some of their images and then keep scrolling to hear what they have to say about the first year of their marriage.

1. What do you miss most about the single life?
Sharing everything. You no longer are just thinking about yourself in decisions.

2. GIve us your best cheapo/fun married date idea.
$5 fillets grilled on the grill from wal-mart (actually pretty good) and a $5 matinee show .

3. What have you liked most about your first year being married?
That through hard times and the good, your no longer having to do things alone!

4. What’s been the hardest part about being married?
Getting through the financial struggles…us both having good jobs at the same time to pay off our debts.

5. What surprised you the most? (Either good or bad.)
We have grown closer to the Lord together and have now finished a book learning about the other person’s love language so even though things are great now…we maintain meeting the other persons needs. If you both focus on the others needs, your both loved and happy. It’s an excellent book.
(7 bucks on Amazon.  Go buy it.)

6. What have you fought about most and why?
Every fuss usually originates from stress about money! I brought debt into this relationship due to college loans and neither of us seem to get our perfect jobs at the same time.

7. What was the biggest thing you were nervous about? How has it turned out?
To be honest …nothing, we were friends first and nothing has really changed for us after marriage!

8. Do you have any advice for couples about to take the plunge?
Best advice…put God first (the couple is never doing things alone) and always be always honest about how you feel. It may cause a fuss at the moment but getting through those, learning everything about the other person, and always being honest sets your future up for success and will keep you from having things build up. Those explosions are never good for anyone. Most of all love your partner and meet their needs.

Thank you two for begin brave, opening up, and letting us peek into your life.

So after having over 3,600 people vote these are the winning images you have chosen.  A few of these categories were super close and decide by only a few votes.

Here are the winning images!

The following images did NOT win, but they were my personal favorites from each category so I wanted to give them a little shout out not he blog as well.

Thanks again to everyone who voted and all you 2012 couple better bring your A game because I already have some serious entries for next year’s contest. :)