I’m getting married in January, and so my girlfriends decided to surprise me with a “bachelorette” trip to Maine! Yes, not the typical place for a bachelorette trip, but we are not typical women! My photographer extraordinaire friends Diana Lott and Stacy Sodolak planned the trip along with my good friend and wedding planner Gina Whittington Wilson, and with the help of our non-wedding industry friend Jenny Isenberg. We had an a-MAINE-zing (Stacy came up with that!) time. The weather was perfect, the hurricane decided to go in the other direction (thank goodness!), and the leaves were just beginning to change. And best of all, there was lots of lobster to be had! I had steamed lobster, lobster caesar salad, lobster risotto, lobster chowder…the list goes on. I heart lobster! Now back to the treadmill!

 

 

 

Jenny (aka Jenny by the book) looking cute!

 

 

A Maine self portrait

 

 

 

I am in love with all of the fall colors in Maine!

 

 

Stacy took this shot first, and I copied her But I said I would have seen it anyways, she just got there first!

 

Jenny, Stacy, Gina, and Diana…

 

Gina’s perfect fall leaf

 

 

 

 

This is the bay in the town where we stayed, Camden. It was perfect!

 

We took a sunset cruise (freezing cold!) on this boat, the Appledore.

 

 

Gina looking pensive. (and cold!)

 

 

Gina trying her first whoopie pie. You can see she loved it!

 

 

 

 

 

Mmmm lobster.

 

 

 

Joanna and Javier held a beautiful ceremony and reception at the Stephen F Austin Hotel in downtown Austin last month. They were so much fun to work with and I loved it how they included their beautiful daughter Clara in the festivities. This was the first wedding ceremony held on the balcony at the SFA, and thought it was tight quarters, I think it was lovely with the city in the background. Joanna and Javier walked up the aisle together to get married, which I thought was so sweet! Everyone had a great time at the reception and really cut it up on the dance floor.

Best wishes Joanna and Javier (and Clara)

LOCATION AND CATERING stephen f austin hotel

CAKE pecan street cafe

DJ Byrne Rock

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just wanted to share the save the date cards I recently designed for my baby brother and his fiance Emilie. I was honored to be able to take their photos when he proposed a few months ago, and I also was able to take their engagement photos for them. I’m really happy with how they turned out, and I can’t wait for their wedding (and lucky me, I get to go as a guest!)

 

Bethany and Rick had one of the most memorable ceremonies I’ve ever photographed!! They were married at Horseshoe Bay Resort - it was a cloudy day and just when the ceremony was getting ready to start there was a small rain shower, so the wedding was pushed back. When it looked to be all clear, the ceremony began - and the moment that Bethany stepped out from under the awning it began raining. Not a drizzle, but a steady rain! She proceeded up the aisle and after a few moments of stunned looks and confusion, they decided to continue the ceremony and get married! All the guests stayed and watched with towels over their heads - one guest even held a chair over his head! Some onlookers who were guests of the resort even brought large table umbrellas over and held them over the bridal party during the ceremony. I don’t think Bethany and Rick and all of their guests will soon forget their wedding! The rest of the wedding was great and fun - the guests put the rainy weather behind them and had a great time. The newly married couple played a fun newlywed game at the reception which was fun to shoot - see photos below of them holding their shoes in the air! Congrats Bethany and Rick!

VENDORS

CEREMONY AND RECEPTION Horseshoe Bay Yacht Club

FLORALS Carman’s Flowers

CAKE Brother’s Bakery

MUSIC Tunes Across Texas

COORDINATOR Sandra Chavez, A Moment in Time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last month, I traveled to Georgia and North Carolina to photograph Laura and Michael’s wedding. I photographed Laura and Michael’s good friends wedding (Meridith and Todd, which was featured in The Knot Real Weddings Texas magazine) and so when Laura and Michael inquired about by ability to travel out of state for their wedding, I jumped at the opportunity! Being able to leave Texas and travel to such a beautiful place with amazing weather for that time of year was so great and I was so appreciative! We made it a short weekend vacation and I brought along my fiance Mike, and my good friend and amazing photographer Stacy with SMS Photography as my second shooter.

We flew into Georgia and had some time to explore the Blue Ridge mountains before we started shooting for the weekend. On Friday before the wedding - we took a drive to view the scenic waterfalls of the area, and went toboganning (normally done with snow - this was improvised with fake grass and inner tubes!) A pulley took us up the hill and then we slid down. It was really fun to act like we were 8 years old again - and now I can say I am one of the few who has been toboganning! We also went panning for gems - and this was much more of an eventful experience than we would have thought! We didn’t really expect to find much of anything, but we found tons of gemstones including rubys, amethysts, aquamarine, emeralds, topaz, etc! It was sooo much fun - so much in fact that we did it twice

Laura and Michael’s wedding was gorgeous and the change of scenery and cool breeze was so nice! Laura and Michael let us spend lots of time taking advantage of the beautiful scenery for portraits, and then everyone at the party had a great time and it shows in the photos. Congrats Laura and Michael - thanks for having us out!

VENDORS

CEREMONY Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, Highlands, North Carolina

RECEPTION Old Edwards Farm, Highlands, North Carolina

COORDINATION Ann Tate

FLORIST Dutchman’s Designs

CAKE Aimee Silver

BAND Kingsized

 

 

 

This is Stacy panning for gems, finding something great!

 

Here I am looking very surprised!

 

We had to take a touristy photo in front of the view. My fiance Mike and I…

 

 

That little spec on the righthand white slide is Stacy! I wish I could add a sound byte, she was giggling the whole way down!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stacy volunteered to wear Laura’s veil so we could take it off for a few photos. I think she just wanted to wear a veil

 

 

 

 

Stacy again, wearing the veil. I think she would have worn it all night if no one objected

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kristen and Ian had a beautiful wedding ceremony at the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd and then celebrated at Lakeway Resort and Spa. They are such a sweet couple and their guests seemed to have a fabulous time at the wedding! Their band was amazing - Blind Date Band. They are one of my favorite wedding bands and they are so interactive - they really get the crowd going. You’ll see a few photos below where the band is in the crowd singing, on the floor, and standing on tables serenading the crowd! The wedding couldn’t have went so smoothly without the assistance of Barbara Hearne with Barbara’s Brides.

 

Congrats Kristen and Ian!

 

VENDORS

CEREMONY Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd

RECEPTION Lakeway Resort and Spa

COORDINATION Barbara’s Brides

RECEPTION MUSIC Blind Date Band

FLOWERS Exquisite Petals

VIDEOGRAPHY Elite Video

CAKES Amazing Cakes

CHAIRS AND TIES Marquee Rents

HAIR Kate Hicks at Bob Salon

MAKEUP Mandy Hernandez

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve got some awesome, modern, and unique new options in the studio that I wanted to share.

First, custom designed proof boxes - featuring your wedding colors, graphics, favorite photos, etc.

 

 

 

 

Next, really cool new albums with very unique and fun cover options. These ain’t your mom’s wedding albums!

 

 

 

 

 

This album is one of my favs, it is a huge 10×13 with a metal cover!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was so lucky to get to travel again to Riviera Maya in Mexico for Martha and Jay’s wedding. This time, the wedding was held in Tulum at Gran Bahia Principe resort and it did not disappoint. The setting was absolutely stunning, even despite the intense summer heat. Martha and Jay were SO happy and obviously surrounded by friends and family who loved them. One of the most memorable (and funny!) moments of the day was when the officiant was making a speech and he said “when you wake up in the morning next to Gina, think about what you are grateful for…”. Well, Gina is the maid of honor(also a good friend and Austin wedding planner with Clink!)! Oops! Everyone got a good laugh at that mistake

 

Martha and Jay my congratulations and thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had the pleasure of traveling to Houston for Kristi and Nick’s wedding at St. Anne Catholic Church and Rockefeller Hall. Kristi and Nick were just glowing all evening long and danced the night away along with their guests and their great band. Kristi and her bridesmaids were even pulled onstage with the band for an impromptu performance which is always fun to shoot! Rockefeller Hall is a beautiful art deco building and the wedding decorations and flowers just accented that.  Congrats Kristi and Nick!

CEREMONY ST. Anne Catholic Church

RECEPTION Rockefeller Hall

FLOWERS Rockeflowers

CAKE Acadian Bakers

MUSIC Brotherhood Band 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just wanted to write a personal post to update everyone on some cool things that are going on in my life!

First, as I’ve posted about before - I got engaged on Valentine’s Day! Since then, wedding planning has been moving along (though very slowly). We just recently changed the location from Mosquito Beach Hotel in Playa del Carmen, Mexico to Blue Parrot in Playa del Carmen. We had lots of communication and customer service issue with Mosquito Beach so we’re so excited to have found an even better place in Blue Parrot. Paula, the coordinator there, has so far been great and very helpful, and we’ve gotten lots more checked off of our very long wedding to do list. We’ll be getting married on Saturday January 17th, 2009 on the beautiful beach, and then we’ll have cocktails and appetizers in the palapa on the beach overlooking the ocean, and then we’ll move everyone to the VIP upstairs lounge, also overlooking the sea, for dinner and dancing. We’re so excited!

It’s really hard to plan a wedding when I’m so involved with other people’s weddings all the time. It’s hard to make the time to get it all done. I can see even more now why a wedding planner is invaluable. I’m so lucky in that I’ve got Gina with Clink Weddings to help plan my wedding, and also to officiate! Gina is also a very good friend so I’ll be honored to have her at the wedding. She has lots of great ideas and being a creative person who see’s a lot of weddings, I also have lots of ideas- so it’ll be interested to see how they come together! Our wedding I hope will be very colorful and modern with lots of fun, unique details.

We’re also very happy to have booked our official photographer and videographer. We’re flying Gia with Red Fly Photography down to be the “official” photographer (though I’ll probably have 4 other pro photographer friends in attendance, lucky us!) Gia was primary second shooter for many years and remains a good friend now that she has started her own business. She has a style very similar to my own, so I’m thrilled to have her to capture all of the moments of our day.

Chris with Mason Jar Productions will be doing our video. I’ve worked with Chris many times over the years on various weddings, and I love his work. I can’t to see what he produces - his videos always make me cry when I watch them (I’m a sap!)

We’ve got lots more to do for the wedding but it is definitely coming along…

On the home front - Mike (my fiance) and I recently decided to purchase and remodel a house together! We actually weren’t thinking of moving quite so soon, but we both fell in love with a house that we came across for sale and decided that it just felt right. My current home out in Agave in East Austin is for sale (listing here, check it out) and we’re renovating the home we just closed on in South Austin. We’re very excited because we’re very into architecture and design and the new home is a great example of later midcentury architecture. It’s very brady bunch! We’ll be doing a lot of renovations in the next few months, so it will definitely be a time of transition with the wedding stuff going on at the same time, but we’re so excited! The new house is much larger than our current house and suits our personal and my business needs so much better. And plus it is just groovy We are sad to leave our cool house here in Agave, especially the pool/spa, but it is time to upgrade for us and we’re excited to do this project together! I plan to have a super cool meeting space in the new house and plus I’ve got a super secret project in the works for next year that involves potential retail space for Eclectic Images. I’ll keep everyone updated on that as I get more details. In the meantime, I’ve posted some pics below of the new house! (these pics were taken when the house was staged with the previous owners furnishings)

 

the kitchen (below) will be a major renovation project!

 

we love, love, love the floating staircase!