When I received the email from Lauren and Tristan saying that they wanted to hire me to photograph their wedding, I was ecstatic! I was excited about the wonderful opportunity that I was chosen for. I was thrilled that it was at Lauren’s Parents’ lake house in the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York.  Lauren and Tristan knew from the start that they didn’t want a traditional wedding ceremony.  They chose to begin the wedding with a slide show of pictures from their childhood as well as pictures from their experiences and journeys together as a couple, followed by a thoughtful and caring poem about the couple, read by Lauren’s best friend.  Next came some emotional stories and words of encouragement from their parents and siblings.  Then they each tied a knot at the ends of a rope to symbolize the strength of their relationship and the bond of their matrimony.   The ceremony concluded with the exchange of their vows and rings.  I had never photographed anything like it before! I was gushing with happiness and excitement.  Overwhelmed with joy.  If you want to know what truly makes a wedding celebration so beautiful and unique, it’s the people.  It’s all about the people.  I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a lot of time with Lauren, Tristan and their families in the days before the wedding as well as after the wedding.  It was during this time spent working closely with them that I noticed how much love they had for each other.  It was genuine.  It was honest.  It was apparent.  How did they develop such a love?  Where did it come from?  I knew where and how.  I saw it right away.  Family.  Both Tristan and Lauren have AMAZING parents and siblings.  Their the kind of people that you would want to adopt you, should you need adopting.   Remarkable individuals who helped shape a wonderful and special couple.  Here are their pictures.  I hope you like them.  Thanks to Eric for embarking on this awesome journey with me.

We started off with an engagement session type shoot the day I arrived

The day of….

Now on to the first look.  These are some of my favorite moments in a wedding.

Time for our first photo walk of the day.

And now the ceremony…

Photo walk # 2

And finally, the day after session.  We started at a late 19th century cobble stone chapel.

Eric and I stumbled upon a gem earlier that day.  We snuck into an abandoned winery and cellar.  Interestingly enough, we were caught by the owners, but they were nice enough to give us a brief tour and history of the place.  They also let us come back to do the session later that evening.

A good friend and fellow wedding photographer, Matt Montalvo got hitched to the lovely Cori this weekend, and I was asked to photograph their awesome day! No pressure, right?! Could not have asked for more beautiful weather at The Terrace Club, near Dripping Springs, TX.

One thing’s for sure…..when a wedding photographer invites others from the industry to their celebration…..things tend to get  a little wild.  And that’s a good thing! Ben Godkin was awesome enough to help me shoot it. He created one of the most brilliant time lapse videos I’ve ever seen! More on that later. Arol Horkavy , Matt’s best friend and Best Man helped keep things fun. Manning the video cameras were some other friends of the couple, Richard Lizama and his brother Paul. Delivering the crowd with groovin’ tunes was one of Central Texas’ best DJs – Joel Giorgio. And last, but definitely not least, the under-the-weather Sweet Caroline even managed to get out of bed and come to the party. Congratulations to Matt & Cori and thank you so much for having me!

Much more to come later….

This happened to also be my first, but hopefully not my last, Indian(Sikh) Wedding.  Lemme tell ya…..it was AWESOME! The traditions, the people, the colors, the food, and of course one of the coolest couples on this earth. I was hired to document 2 of the 5 days that they spent celebrating their marriage.  An opportunity that I’ll never forget.  I am so fortunate to have been a part of it. A special thanks to my good friend and colleague, Ben , for helping me shoot this one.  WOW. Just wow. Awesome wedding! Congrats, you two!

The Reception of Barat: This was right before the ceremony. The two families met outside the temple and the Groom’s party is received by the Bride’s party as they arrive parade-style: dancing. Then the Bride and Groom’s Fathers, as well as their uncles, would meet in the middle and exchange gifts. They then would grapple for position and try to lift the other up in the air.  This was really cool to watch.

Now for the ceremony..

The night of the ceremony, the two families met again for a bit of bowling.  Each family/party had their own bowling shirts and competed against each other.

Since Guru and Meeth live in Los Angeles, we didn’t have an opportunity to do an Engagement session prior to the Wedding.  We met at the reception venue, The Tomball Jet Center ,to take some fun portraits.  These to are soooo great, they don’t even need any direction.  Things just fall into place and the outcome = awesome pictures!

The finale of all finales!  How do you top arriving to your reception via a helicopter?!  Well,  for starters, you can hold your reception inside an airplane hangar for 500 guests, complete with airplanes, a 60 foot projector screen, concert lighting and two really awesome DJs.

-A big huge thanks to Brian Hurdle for coming out to shoot this wedding with me. Had tons of fun!

David with his Groomsmen, who have been his lifelong friends

First dance image – what a fantastic moment!

Good times!

Stephanie + Brandon – Their ceremony took place at the Southern Breeze Ranch that Brandon’s Parents own. Beautiful place! Their reception took place at the Bell County Expo Center. Stephanie and Brandon were some really nice folks to work for!

Reggie’s awesome idea!

Hien + Fred - This wonderful couple had a Vietnamese Tea Ceremony at the Bride’s house, followed by a reception at the Vintage Villas, where I shot last week.  Such a colorful and humbling celebration! It’s always such a pleasure to see how others culture wed.  Congrats, you two!

I had the pleasure of shooting their beautiful wedding at the gorgeous Vintage Villas this past Friday.  The weather was rather cooperative.  Almost perfect temperatures and not a single cloud in sight.  The ceremony was backlit by the setting sun over Lake Travis.  I’ve got tons of editing on my plate so I just wanted to share a few of my favorites so far from this set.  Loved working with you guys……congrats! More to come later.  Special thanks to Kristi Wright for coming out to assist me on this shoot!

These are just a few of the many words that can be used to describe Eyvette, the lovely and vivacious bride who took a chance and hired me, all the way down here from Austin, to photograph her and Bourahima’s wedding WAY WAY up in New York City.

I was referred to Eyvette by a close friend of hers who happens to be a hobbyist photographer who travels back and forth from Texas to New York for work. Eyvette and I spoke on the phone before she made her decision and we ended up talking and chatting for about an hour about anything and everything. It was amazing – it was as if we had been friends who had known each other for a long time and were just playing catch up. We hit it off. We really connected. I think that is what ultimately led to her decision to hire me as her photographer without having even met me face to face. And ever since that day, she and I remained in contact on an almost weekly basis. We would touch base with each other from time to time to see how things are progressing along. She would ask me for advice about certain details she was planning for the wedding. She would even vent to me when things weren’t going as expected. It’s always great to be able to connect with my clients, but it’s icing on the cake whenever I can also forge a new friendship along the way.

Now….because we hadn’t met prior to me arriving in NYC, I always had this thought in the back of my head that perhaps there is a small chance that the connection wouldn’t be as strong once we did meet face to face. Or that perhaps that neither Eyvette nor myself would be the same people we were on the phone. Pshaw! That thought was immediately crushed as soon as I heard my name being yelled outside of the passenger-pickup area at JFK airport. There was Eyvette, happy as ever. Bright as can be, with the biggest smile I’d seen on anyone’s face in a long time. She is just as nice and vibrant in person as she was on the phone. Sorry for the lengthy post, but a person as beautiful as Eyvette is deserving of such a story. Here are just a few pictures taken on her and Bourahima’s very special day. So very honored to have been a part of it. Thank you, Eyvette!