Some December Wedding Favorites

Here are a few of my favorite wedding images from last December... the ones that stick out in my mind the most. Erin and John were married in Galveston and had a reception at Garten Verein, where outside there were some streetlamps shining on an arbor of vines that were leafless for the winter. Who'd have thought dead vines could be so pretty?

Leslie and Miguel's wedding sticks out in my mind because they'd previously planned a destination wedding, but moved it up at the last minute simply because they didn't want to wait to get married. Their last dance before the exit was "All I Want for Christmas is You".

Ashley and Jason were just laid back, go-with-the-flow people. The picture of her cracking up during the cermeony is par for the course of their wedding day.

Elizabeth and Andrew were a couple of cute young Aggies, and I lucked out at their church with a great blacony from which to capture the Cinderella-dancing image.

A Wedding in Vegas... but not "that" kind of wedding.

So we headed to Vegas last week for the wedding of Melissa & Brian. Having never been there before, I had some grand expectations and Las Vegas did not let me down!

We spent about 5 days there, so we had plenty of time to see the sights and play the slots and eat some really, really, really great food. We stayed on the strip, but went downtown to the older parts just to check things out-- and luckily for us, the "Globe of Death" riders happened to be out promoting their show. You'll see the globe below (metal sphere thing)-- but what you won't see is the three motorcyclists who were riding in the globe all at the same time, since they were riding too fast for me to capture with the night-time settings. There's even one "second generation globe of death rider" (followed in dear old dad's footsteps).

We also saw Sgt. Pepper, a 6-month old baby dolphin at the Mirage, swimming along with his mommy and just all-around being cute.

We watched the fountain show at the Bellagio soooo many times, and it never stopped being cool! They also have an absolutely beautiful blown glass sculpture-garden-ceiling-light fixture right over the check-in lobby... and a chocolate fountian that circulates almost 2 tons of chocolate. WOW.

I had to include a picture of the Caesar's Palace fountain, which (as my husband reminded me a couple of times) Evel Kneivel attempted to jump over in 1978.

So without further ado, here are some of my favorites from Las Vegas:

Little kids...

My children's portraiture is very candid; I often travel to my client's home shoot a portrait session, or accompany the child to a favorite park or outdoor location. I love when they smile, but I love it even more when I can catch a multitude of their little looks-- from sneers to smiles to smirks... or just good old sheer concentration. Even confusion can be really cute!

If all we have when our children are grown up are "say cheese" kinds of pictures, I don't think we've really captured them. While those might be the ones we want to set on our desks or tuck in our wallets to show off for the world, they're a mere snippet of the child's whole personality. So here you are-- some of my favorite smilers, sneerers, smirkers, and concentrators:

Angela & Michael

Happy first month-a-versary to Angela & Michael!

They were recently married at the gorgeous Annunciation Church in Downtown Houston (the reception followed at the Houston Club). Everyone at this wedding was sooooooo sweet, and I felt like I was amongst my own family. They had a red/black/white theme that was executed beautifully; right down to the black feathers and deep red roses (one of my favorite images from the wedding was taken on the way out of the church-- there were some colorful leaves in the gutter, and along with them was a single black feather from someone's bouquet). You'll find more of their pics in "The Rings" below.

The Rings...

Our outward sign of love and fidelity, the ring. On each couple's wedding day, I try my best to make time to get an image of the ring (or rings, if I can get my hands on both of them) in a setting that will call to mind the mood and presence of the day. Whether the guests were provided with and endless supply of candy, or the light fell just so on the ring in the Bible to form a heart in its shadow... or the groom did a little bit of fishing beforehand...

It's always quite telling of the couple themselves. Here are a few favorites.

Working out the bugs...

Oh look! I spread the word about my new and improved blog and then I broke it. My technical supporter is working on the template, and the "pretty" stuff should be back soon. Maybe later I'll post some bug pics in honor of the bugs we're working out!

Beautiful People, Ugly Weather.

Chris and Mollie took a heck of a road trip to make it down to the beach for Engagement Portraits-- and boy did it pay off. Despite the horribly rainy/gloomy weather (and should we mention the horrid traffic?), they were determined to make it happen and were SUCH great sports! I spent a great deal of time shooting with an umbrella over my head and camera, but we couldn't be happier with the results. Kudos to Mollie and Chris, who weren't afraid to explore the stinky back alleys of downtown Galveston to find some very unique photo opportunities.