Rachel and Brandon.

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to spend the evening with Rachel and Brandon and their wonderful families. Rachel's sister, Natalie, was one of my students so I've known their family for a few years now. It was super cool to shoot a wedding where I pretty much knew all the girls. I had photographed Michelle's wedding and one of the other bridesmaids was in my class several years ago. How cool is that?! The wedding was the the YWCA in Fort Worth and it was beautiful. Here's there story.

 Ahh...bling. You know I love it.

 His tux and shoes. He actually wore his own shoes not those cheesy shiny ones that come with the tux. Love these wingtips.

Her dress, shoes and garter. Flats. My last two brides wore flats. Smart women.

Her flowers were amazing. I love those little brown curls. They are called Fiddlehead Fern Curls or Monkey Tail. Paired with the lilies they are gorgeous!

 If there's going to be little curlies in the flowers...I'm going to have to hang the the rings from them.

 Rachel is gorgeous.

A fw ceremony details.

The room downstairs at the YWCA where they have the ceremonies has so many gorgeous details. The yellow tiles ceiling and the vintage chandeliers hanging. It's spectacular.

Love this as Rachel and her dad start their descent on the staircase.

 Brandon is all smiles as he begins to see her on the stairs.

 Love the way they look at each other.

 Their wedding was so personal and beautiful. Michelle, read a passage and the minister was a friend. He was pretty awesome, he went on line and took a class to become a minister to officiate their wedding. Absolutely Perfect.

 It was a packed house.

The rings.

 Unity Candle.

That moment right after the kiss. I showed you the kiss in the blog post the day after. If you missed it...check it out here.

 Then we did all their family photos and a few of the two of them in front of the fireplace before we went outside for some fun bridal party shots.

 Love this bridal party. Yes, put your reader and your officiant in your photos. It's your wedding...don't do what people say you are supposed to do. Do what makes you happy. This...this makes me happy.

 The gorgeous girls.

 The handsome guys.

 Some alone time.

 A few reception details. Natalie came up with the idea to use the chevrons and it was simple and classic. They also went to Su Vino and bottled their own wine for the wedding, what a fun idea.

 First dance.

 Toasts.

 Anniversary Dance.Rachel and Brandon, both sets of parents and the winners who had been married the longest.

 Rachel and Brandon listening to the advice from te longest married couple.

 Brandon's brother was so much fun, so was the cute girl in blue, Shabby' sister, they were both dancing all night.

 Don't drop the beer!

 Rachel dancing with her girls.

Bouquet time.

Garter...see that guys in the back, in purple...I think he was the only one going for the garter and he really wanted it. He was so happy to catch it.

I love the crowd's reaction.

 The end.

 Ok, not really the end. My new favorite thing to do is to go back out with my wonderful couple after the wedding and take some night time photos when we aren't rushed between ceremony and reception. Not every couple wants to take a half hour after their wedding but I think it's totally worth it. You get one wedding day...make it last :)

Isn't this gorgeous?

 Back at the hotel we took a few in the lobby before we said goodbye.

Rachel and Brandon, your wedding was simply perfect. I hope you love your photos.

Eli!

Today I spent the day with Eli and his wonderful family. He had an amazing day at Temple Emanu-El and The Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas. Lauren from Mathes and Co. Events was great to work with, the venue was amazing, DJ Lucy and Fenton kept the kids dancing, and Wolfgang Puck fed everyone.  Here's a little peek at Eli's Exciting Evening

Before the service we took a few photos of Eli with the Torah. Honestly, he's a pretty amazing kid.

 His mom helped him put on his Kippah which she made for him. it's in the pattern of the stained glass at the temple. Love that!

A few of Eli reading from the Torah.

Rabbi Knight with the whole family.

 Since I couldn't photograph the service I grabbed a few photos that I could before I headed out to the party. The one on the left is a photo of Eli on the Bimah shot through the stained glass. I noticed while I was shooting the family photos that one pane of the glass was lighter colored so as I was leaving I stopped to see what I could see through it. It's a little abstract but I can still make out Eli and I kind of like it. It's different. Also, I love the personalized Kippahs. Eli's were grey suede and gorgeous.

 Now for the party. It was a night at the museum and it was pretty epic. Eli went up on the chair for the Hora with the molecules from the museum bouncing from the celing above him. How cool is that?

Dancing with his friends

 ...more dancing with glowing foam sticks. They were like light sabres.

 A few family photos at the end of the night.

 and finally my friend Eli with the super cool fatheads of him that were decorating the windows of the lobby at the museum. See the one on the far right? I shot that one during one of Eli's baseball games in March. It's pretty cool to see one of my photos larger than life. What a great idea to make fatheads to make the party room more personal!

Eli, your party was amazing!