Alondra & Marden ~ August 1st

This past weekend we got an early start at Demer's with our good friends Alondra and Marden. They chose a morning wedding to avoid the Houston summer heat.

A nice feature of the Smith's wedding was to observe one of the current trends of the Unity Sand Ceremony...
The flowing sand and blending of the colors in the Unity Sand Ceremony symbolize the bringing together of two lives into one. Some couples prefer to leave a small amount of sand in their respective container to show that even though they now function as one, they remain individuals. The two sands symbolize everything that the bride and groom have been or will become in the future.
The blending of the sand represents the union not only of them but their friends and families as well. The separate sands once poured into the unity vase can never be put back into their separate vases. They are forever entwined just as the lives and loves of the bride and groom.

Thanks guys for letting us be a part of your special day...

Lisa & Rick

We are always honored when couples hire us to photograph their wedding. We are even more honored, however, when the bride and groom are close friends. We have known Lisa & Rick for years and were ecstatic when they announced their engagement. It was a long time in the making and could not have happened to a better couple!

We met them for an engagement session a few months ago, just before we closed our studio. The weather had been bad that day, so we met them at the studio. The bad weather didn't stop us from having some fun though! Here are a few of the images from that session:

Getting closer to their big day, Lisa and her mom met me at Oyster Creek Park in Sugarland for a quick Bridal portrait session. Wearing make-up and a dress for only the 2nd time in her life, Lisa made a beautiful bride! She didn't need much make-up - she just glowed!!

Finally, the much anticipated date arrived - July 10, 2009. Lisa and Rick were married at Joe's Banquet Hall in Alvin, TX. Her father officiated the ceremony and her brother Chris escorted her down the aisle. Surrounded by their closest friends and family, Lisa & Rick enjoyed a beautiful wedding and an awesome reception. Laughs were shared, hugs were exchanged, and - at the end of the night - bubbles were blown as they sped away to a long awaited honeymoon.

Lisa and Rick, congratulations to you both! Thank you for inviting us to be a part of your day!

Keila and AB

OK... It's been a while since we've really done any serious blogging, but we have some fresh stuff to share that we are excited about. A couple of months ago, my niece referred one of her best friends to us for her wedding photography coverage. Keila and AB ended up booking us to do both their Engagement Session and their wedding and we were honored to be invited to share in this important time in their life!

First, we met them at the Woodlands Mall a couple weeks ago for their E-Session. They chose to do their session at the spot where AB proposed to Keila - I thought that was SO romantic! The three images below are the favorites that they chose to use at the wedding for their framed signature matte:


THEN came the big day - last weekend, Robert and I had the pleasure of witnessing the event with all of their friends and family. They chose to keep it small and intimate afternoon affair, again very romantic. Robert doesn't always shoot with me these days, so I really enjoyed his help this time. Between us, we worked hard to capture all the details and all the moments. He's still processing much of the wedding day images but here are some of our favorites:

A romantic moment overlooking the lake:Their first dance...
Details...The Hands...

Heather and Richard : WEDDING

Last weekend, I had the privilege of working another wedding with Joe Heiliger. I don't very often have the opportunity but I enjoy it when I am able. He and I work really well together and our styles compliment each other REALLY well! Last weekend was no different. Joe and I worked together to capture wedding memories for Heather and Richard, starting with their wedding at the Family of Faith Lutheran Church.
Coming from England to work in the Houston area, Richard met Heather on the job. As the best man told us during his toast, they tried to be discreet while they were in the office but everyone there knew - how can you deny the giggles and the flirty looks that were being exchanged? As their love grew and the decision to marry was made, their friends agreed that this was a match made in Heaven.

Heather has a passion for butterflies. Her favorite ring was a big butterfly that rested on her right hand - I've never seen anything like it before, but it was really pretty! And I believe it was her father-in-law that she said made the butterfly that is affixed to her bouquet. It was a really sentimental piece for her and I thought it was just gorgeous!


Between the ceremony and the formals, Joe and I followed the limousine for a few photo opportunities on our way to the reception at Courtyard on St. James. Following a Rolls Royce around town is a tough job, but someone had to do it! :D Here are a few of my favorites from the photo opps:

08-08-08...

Friday night, I had the honor of helping Joe Heiliger cover a big wedding that he had booked. He was expecting 250-300 people to be present at the wedding and asked me to come along to be sure that he had enough coverage. His assistant Laura and I covered all the details and the extra stuff going on so that Joe could focus primarily on the bride and groom.
The evening started at Salem Lutheran Church in Tomball, TX. It is a beautiful church and an awesome host for a wedding! I had to tease Joe though that he'd "better love me a lot" for all that I was doing for him for this wedding - to shoot from the balcony, I had to climb a really tall ladder. I don't do heights, not even a little. But I put my fear of heights aside and faced this ladder, a ladder that went straight up. Normal ladders have at least a 30-45degree angle, right? Not this one. Straight up. Carrying all my gear, I faced it like a real trooper though.

The reception followed a few minutes away at Northwest Forest's "Settlement House". The guests were invited to participate in a photo booth throughout the evening. I've heard about this concept previously but never actually seen one at a wedding. I have to admit, it was a pretty cool concept. During the wedding, the guests are given a 5x7 print with 4 wallet-sized images on it. After the wedding, the bride and groom are then presented with a video of all of the guests during their time in the booth. How cool!

Joe and I took some time with the bride and groom to do a few portraits before the reception started. Near the "Settlement House", Northwest Forest has a replica of the Alamo. We used it to stage the portraits, first with the bridal party and then with just the bride and groom. The bride, from what I gathered, didn't care so much about the "Alamo" as she cared for the doors on the front of the building, so I tried to pull that out in some of the images. The bride had a very definite idea of what images she wanted and that made our jobs easier!

Thank you, Joe, for the opportunity to be there with you! As always, it was a pleasure to work with you, creating images to capture memories for this couple that will last a lifetime!

Busy, busy, busy!!!

We've had a lot going on lately! A bridal portrait session, two weddings, a seminar, and a whole bunch in the middle. First, we did the bridal portrait session on Thursday (7/24) with Heather. I can't post any of the images yet (sorry, Rami!! You'll have to wait!!) but I promise to post them after the wedding in August. We did a few portraits of her in the studio and then went to the Paraiso Maravilla. We had a beautiful bride, a beautiful location... what more could we ask for?

Next, we covered a wedding on Friday (7/25) for Rebecca and Carlos, 2 awesome friends that I wrote about previously. They had a GORGEOUS wedding and took over VIN Restaurant doing it. VIN is not your traditional wedding venue and in fact, if I'm not mistaken, this was their first wedding. I have to say though that if you are looking to have your wedding somewhere "different", you would love this place! We ran into a lot of friends at Rebecca's and Carlos's wedding, in fact I think ALL the models from Premiere Promotions were on hand to help celebrate! The theme of the wedding was "27 Dresses" and while Rebecca didn't change 27 times, she did change 4. Her bridal portrait was in yet a 5th dress. She kept the guests on their toes, waiting to see what stunning dress she would come out in next. She was definitely the star of the show! For friends and family of Rebecca and Carlos, you may view proofs from the wedding here.

On Saturday (7/26), we had the pleasure of photographing the wedding of Christy and John in Katy, TX. It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding!! We started out at Epiphany of the Lord Catholic Church and followed with a reception at Willowfork Country Club. It was the talk of the night that John has liked Christy for 15 years and waited until she was ready to "see the light" and fall for him too. It was SO sweet to see them on the dance floor together - they are SOOO in love!! We are still processing their wedding images and will update soon with a few of them, but in the meantime here are a few from her bridal portrait session a couple weeks ago:

And just for John:
For those of you that don't already know, we often take "2nd shooters" with us to help capture all of the moments of the event. For both of the weddings above, our good friend Carl came along to help. Carl, I could not have done it without you - THANK YOU!!!

On Tuesday evening (7/29), Rob went to David Jay's and Jasmine Star's "Freedom to Succeed" seminar with Carl and Kenneth, two of his best friends (Rob & Kenneth are in the center photo - of course, Rob is in pink). He came home talking 90 miles a minute, excited to share all that he had learned. Among the things that he shared with me were their blogs - they are amazing! I really like what they are doing, keeping it going as more of a journal. This whole blog thing is pretty new to me but I am going to try to do a little something on it every day. Keep checking back to see more - some might be personal, some business, but I promise you won't be bored.

(Seminar photo courtesy of Kenny Kim)

~ Kathi