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Amber and Luke’s Gruene Estate Wedding in New Braunfels

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We love when we get to photograph an entire family of kids getting married through the years. A few years back we had the pleasure of photographing Lauren (Amber’s sister) and Joe’s wedding at Bella Springs. Now it’s time for Amber and Luke Gruene Estate wedding.

Guene Estate Wedding Portrait with Old Truck

Getting Ready for a Gruene Estate Wedding

Bride Getting Her Hair Done

Bride's wedding dress hangs in historic Gruene Estate room.

Buttoning the bride's wedding dress.

Mom buttons the bride's wedding dress.

Bride gets ready in the mirror.

Bride's portrait in the Gruene Estate Chapel.

Dad’s First Look

Amber chose to do something we are seeing more of: dad’s first look. It’s a new tradition (is a “new tradition” a thing?) we like. During the ceremony we are focused on the couple and their expressions as they see each other, regardless of if they had a first look themselves. This tradition creates a nice chance for a moment between dad and daughter.

Guene Estate Father's First Look

Guene Estate Father's First Look

Guene Estate Father's First Look

Details

Amber and Luke had lots of fun country style details that matched Gruene Estate perfectly. Their center pieces were simple but beautiful. The groom’s cake was an entire story in an of itself.

Gruene Estate Rustic Center Peice

Guene Estate Wedding Reception Tables

Heart candy guest book.

Gruene Estate Classic Wedding Cake with Family Picture Wall Behind It

Grooms Cake with His Truck Stuck in the Mud

That time when Amber got Luke’s truck stuck in the field… It’s always fun when wedding details tell the couple’s story.

Antique Style Bridal Boquete

Gruene Estate Bridal Boquete Locket with Grandparents Pictures

Amber’s bouquet included an heirloom locket with pictures of her grandparents in it.

Wedding Rings Detail Photo

The Ceremony

One of my favorite things about Amber and Luke’s wedding was the classic truck they restored. They left the outside looking old which is awesome but restored the inside. Amber arrived in the truck which fit Gruene Estate perfectly.

Bride arrives in antique truck.

Ushers watch for the bride through the chapel doors

Bride enters Gruene Estate's chapel with her father.

Bride excitely exchanges vows with groom at Gruene Estate's chapel.

Bride excitely exchanges vows with groom at Gruene Estate's chapel.

Bride and groom light unity candle at Gruene Estate in New Braunfels.

Bride and Groom have first kiss at Gruene Estate in New Braunfels

Amber and Luke ring the Gruene Estate Chapel bell after their ceremony.

The Reception

One of the nice things about a place like Gruene Estates is that everything is right there. After the ceremony and formals all the couple had to do was walk down the path together.

Amber and Luke walk from the chapel to the reception at Gruene Estates.

Bride and groom's first dance.

Amber's system watches their first dance.

Mischievous bride during the cake cutting.

Groom's face covered with smashed cake.

Amber and Luke’s reception was a laid back affair with people dancing, playing washers and sitting around a camp fire.

Bride dancing with her friends and family.

Bride dancing with her friends and family.

Guests dancing at Gruene Estate Wedding

Nothing like some washers and corn-hole to pass the time.

Playing washers at the wedding reception.

Playing washers at the wedding reception.

A nice bonfire gave the Gruene Estate wedding reception nice ambiance.

Wedding guests sitting around the camp fire.

The property is beautiful. After their Gruene Estate wedding, we had to do some blue hour portraits.

Blue hour wedding couple portraits.

Richie & Lindsay: Wedding at The Mansion in Austin, Texas

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Our team was transported in time for Richie & Lindsay’s wedding at the timeless Mansion/Federation of Women’s Clubs. Between the classic Chuck Taylor’s on the Bride to the barbershop quartet of Richie & The Groomsmen (yes, I have dubbed them so) to the amazing reception entrance with the bride and groom serenading each other like something out of West Side Story, we had to feel our smartphones in our pockets to remind ourselves that the year was in fact 2015 and not 1955.

Thanks to Richie & Lindsay for having us there to capture their singin’ & dancin’ shenanigans, the faces of the crowd told the story of the love you share with each other. Also, sparkler exits are scary!

Thanks to the great vendors that give us so much to photograph and film:
Planner: 11:11 Events
Venue: The Mansion
Florist: Bella by Sara
Food: Chi’Lantro
Band: Skyrocket

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Megan & Shepherd: Wedding

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MegShep#-1337LoveBlog

Looks and Love. Megan and Shepherd are a couple who Look at each other and you can feel the Love they have to each other, how no matter the storms surrounding them they are their own island of happiness together.

The wedding itself took place at Vintage Villas in Austin, Texas on a day that was tempting to become a storm but like their love for each the storm clouds receded and the weather and day turned magnificent. Music and Dance filled the day from the harpist to the mano a mano dance off’s in this crowd of professional dancers. The music played and their bodies told the stories of the songs. Was something like photographing an music video with all the pops and locks the cool kids were doing. Shepherd even surprised his new bride with a musical serenade, that took courage!

Lots of fun touches on the night but my favorite was the sugar rush of a candy buffet they had during the reception. We felt that was a fun place to take a photograph of the wedding bands against the candied backdrop.

We even ended the night with one of our sparkler lit scenes seen in the photo above. And yes we did this in one shot. Mainly because that is all the sparklers we had left.

Congratulations to Shepherd and Megan, may all of your days be filled with Dancing, Music, Love and the Looks you give each other.

Full Wedding Galleries

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Jonnie & Jim: Engagement Photos in Zilker Park

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Love Bugs on the Zilker Lawn
Love Bugs on the Zilker Lawn

We love couples that come to us and say, “We love your work, make us look good, we trust you with the rest!” We mixed up some traditional looks and posing with dramatic one light techniques to get you the variety you see in the post. We also mixed in some natural light, slow shutter speed and for one set a tight spot grid on a big strobe. Lots of looks in just a few hundred yards of real estate and 2 hours.

Jonnie, how cool is that for a woman’s name!, wanted the traditional and the experimental. We can do that. The Zilker Park area is perfect because it’s beautiful, has downtown view and is the outdoor soul of Austin. That is challenging when we want to focus on just two people though. So for one of our “experiment” shots, we slowed our shutter speed way down to blur the hikers, bikers, and runners on the trail to focus on the stability of the couple.

Love is Tranquil, Everything else is Chaos
Love is Tranquil, Everything else is Chaos

We also played with the cool gazebo at Lou Neff Point, utilizing the graphic element of the lattice work against the sun in the sky. We have a bunch of silly ones from this area as well, but those will have to appear sometime later. But check out the blingy jeans Jonnie has on, sassy!

Dancing Dip
Dancing Dip

The next photograph is maybe my favorite from the session. Between the serendipity of the flock of ducks in the top of the frame, the leading lines of the old fence, to the expression on their faces. This photo just makes me smile on many levels.

Sectioned Skyline
Sectioned Skyline

For this last image I put on a long lens and tight spot grid (15 degree) on my big light. I told Jonnie and Jim to just play and dance and be involved in each other. Look at the way the highlights and shadows play with the rocks and the water. The spotlight highlights the couple at the top of the frame. Real fun to make this one happen. Hundreds of people passed by while taking this set but you would never know from how Jonnie and Jim are looking at each other.

Alone in a Crowd
Alone in a Crowd

Super fun couple, looking forward to photographing their wedding at a new to me venue, Peacock Ranch in Gatesville, Texas.
–JB

Wendy – Round Rock High Senior Portraits

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Sunny Folklorico

Wendy and I have been planning her Senior Portraits since last year when we photographed her sister Haide’s. Wendy said she is more adventuresome than big sister and was she ever. We traipsed up a rickety staircase with gaping holes while she wore a floor length evening gown and played the violin. Then we went to Lake Pflugerville where she donned her Folklorico dance costumes in front of about 100 people. She danced in and out of the water with the sun setting until she could dance no more. And I just love the photos! Here are a few more.
[Read more…] about Wendy – Round Rock High Senior Portraits

Anna & Anil – Wedding First Glance

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So much love and energy in the air, not to mention an impending honeymoon departure to New Zealand, that I just had to get a next day preview of my favorites from Anna & Anil’s Wedding Day. We were there for Anil’s Ganesh Puja with a very nice Indian lunch all the way through the bubbles that Anna and Anil ran through with their intrepid guests. We loved the couples speeches. One of our photographers might have cried a little bit (yes, me). The family, the dancing, the hugs, the great details, and outpouring of love from everyone in attendance made for a super special day.

A quick shout out to Kirra and her crew at DNA Events for the any-hour-of-the-day updates and information. And we do have photographic proof of your dancing, uh, skills.

The second big thanks goes to Leena Bajaj at Singar Studios for her Henna detail work, 2! Bridal looks and for the fact that she brought a double sided reflector to the ceremony. Our photographer friends will appreciate that nugget.

Here is my stronger suit, storytelling with photos from the beginning to the end. [Read more…] about Anna & Anil – Wedding First Glance

Alex the Dancer – Austin, TX

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Think "California" was the inspiration for this shot

What a fun and energetic photoshoot with Alex last night. She needed images for her Dance tryouts in L.A. toward the end of the month, so we covered a few different styles of clothing and dance.
[Read more…] about Alex the Dancer – Austin, TX

Haide’s HS Senior Shoot Sneaks – Round Rock, Texas

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The All State Choir Letter Jacket

Just finished up an amazing High School Senior Session! Haide and I tromped around Round Rock, getting our feet literally wet at the park, dancing in the street and turning heads along the way. We even had a few cars stop during the Folklorico section of our shoot together.
[Read more…] about Haide’s HS Senior Shoot Sneaks – Round Rock, Texas