The Grand Finale: Wedding Reception at Vineyards at Chappel Lodge

  Here are the final set of photos from the amazing wedding festivities in Austin.

The grand entrance!

The toasts!

  

Katherine sang the song she wrote for Matt.  She really is an amazing songwriter!

Katherine's brothers also sang a song for Katherine.  This family is so unbelievably talented, it's not even funny.

Ok, maybe it's a little funny.

Wedding Pie.  It's where it's at.  Tell your friends, it's like liquid cake.

The first dance.

Daddy-daughter dance!

Now it's time to party.

  

  

The grand exit.  Bubbles!

That's all folks!  Be sure to check out all the different galleries here.

Tiff's Treats, Tiny Pies, and Top-notch Planning

  Katherine has managed and organized all kinds of events and spent a lot of time directing theatre productions (we actually did a pretty impressive child's theatre camp together with a production of The Jungle Book at the end of the week.  She is an amazing director!) So she put together a reception was both well thought out and planned.  They thought of everything!  My favorite, of course, was the variety of food.  Not only was there a dinner, but also a whole table of treats.

I love this!  Instead of a wedding cake, they had a wedding pie.  And why not?  You can cut a pie just as easy as a cake.

...and extra little pies for the guests.

 

Amaaazing cookies from Tiff's Treats (where Katherine used to work).

 

A fruit bouquet.

And they had the incredible flowers done by Sherri Toler (Chelsea's mom - remember Chelsea and Dan and all their amazing flowers?)

 

It was also neat that they had so much history together (growing up together, dating as young teenagers) and they brought this into the reception.  There was a whole timeline of events and gifts given throughout the years.

And a life size chess set.  (I was hoping they'd let me take this one home... but I probably couldn't have gotten it on the plane anyway ;D)

And then the venue.  Vineyards at Chappell Lodge is just dynamite as a reception location.  So much character and beauty.  It looks good during the day, but my favorite (as usual) was when the sun started to set.  This patio was gorgeous in the blue hour!

 

It was an amazing party.

Katherine & Matt Ring Ceremony

First,  let me apologize for my extended absence.   We were supposed to have blogs posting automatically while I was gone for the holiday, but clearly I messed up!  I'll try to make it up to you with a contest for a free shoot this week!  

But back to the Austin wedding...

I have the opportunity to photograph weddings of all kinds.  Themed costumes, crazy dance parties, small family weddings, outdoor, indoor, etc.  Each couple brings in different traditions and personalities.  Every wedding is unique, and that's why I love it.  I grew up in Austin, but I've lived in Utah for almost 6 years now and started my business in Utah.  In Utah, a little over half of the wedding I photograph are at LDS (Mormon) temples.  I love the temples, taking pictures around the grounds, the beautiful architecture, and all the symbolism.  Thomas and I were married in the Timpanogos temple in Utah.  But for all the wonderful things about LDS temples, as a photographer, we don't actually take pictures during the ceremony, we just take pictures after the wedding on the temple grounds.  We don't photograph the "I do's" and the ring exchanges, so it's a different experience.

Katherine and Matt decided to do a ring ceremony the day after the temple ceremony.  It was absolutely beautiful.  (Much better than the dream I had of a vow-renewal with Thomas where he forgot to write his vows and everyone showed up late.  I must have been subconsciously jealous of this ceremony :D)

It's at a new reception venue in Austin called the Vineyards at Chappell Lodge.  A gorgeous venue with lots of land and trees.  But without further ado, here are the photos:

 

  

 

Below, Katherine's siblings singing to her.  This family is just awesome.

 

 

 

 

This is the other reason I love ceremonies:  The couple walking hand in hand down the aisle.  I'm female, so I'm allowed to admit that it made me cry... right?  They just look so happy.

Italy in Texas

  Spending time with the Gees is like being in a Broadway show. Literally, they randomly break out into song (often original music) and others join in with harmonies. It's quite a unique experience. The serenading started at the wedding dinner at Little Italy in San Antonio, Texas.

Katherine's brother Matt sang to the couple.

  

Then Katherine sang to Matt (the fiance, not the brother).

 

Then people talked, gave toasts, laughed, and sand. And there was much rejoicing.

 

 

  

Tomorrow we'll post the ring ceremony from Austin at Vineyards at Chappell Lodge.

Michelle and Trey: Engagement Photos on the Riverwalk

  While we were down in Austin Texas for Katherine and Matt's wedding, I had the privilege of photographing engagements for another close friend.

Trey was one of my favorite people back in high school, where we were both part of the french horn section of the Westlake High School Marching Band.  (It's true.  I was a nerd.  But a really cool nerd.)  So first, here are their photos, then I'll share a few from the good ol' days.

Because we had a wedding dinner that evening, the only time we could do these engagements was about 4 hours after sunset in San Antonio!  It was a challenge, but Trey and Michelle were amazing!  And with the cool atmosphere of the San Antonio Riverwalk night life and the help of my lighting specialist (Thomas carried all the light stands and flashes as we walked the whole way - he might say he was the sherpa, but I'll give him more credit than that), we were good to go!

  

  

Going back to Austin always makes sentimental.  I loved my high school years and it's always fun to get back in touch with friends from band (or choir, church, theatre, soccer, etc.)  When I got in touch with Trey a month or two ago, I took some time to back through old photos and it brought back so many memories!  Below are (left) 3 of us French horn players during a Westlake football game and (Right) more band nerds partying in the... wait for it... that's right.  Taco bell parking lot.  It was tradition.  And the cool place to be.  That's Trey's car we're sitting on.  It's possible that he and I took it up to 100mph on the freeway when we discovered we had taken a wrong turn that made it way late on the way to an important music competition.  That car rattled, but we made it to the competition and Trey performed so well he went on to the next round.  Must have been the adrenaline. :)

  

Katherine & Matt: Formal Wedding Photos at Zilker Botanical Gardens

  Now some of these photos might seem familiar from the wedding highlight slideshow I posted recently.  Katherine and Matthew (or "Kat" and "Matt") are both friends that I have known for a loooong long time.  Coincidentally, they have also been dating a loooong long time.  How long you say?  How does since middle school strike you?

It's been a wild ride as they've dated on and off, and throughout the whole remained the best of friends.   Though if I had a nickel for every time someone said "I am so excited y'all are  finally getting married"... well I would have a lot of nickels.

Thomas and I flew down Thursday before the wedding, which was a grand two-day affair on Friday and Saturday.  We managed to catch a flight early enough in the day that we were able to do this bride and groom pre-shoot at the Zilker Botanical Gardens.  We got some individual bridals as well as some photos of the two of them.  After the shoot we headed on over to Katherine's home for some pre-wedding day barbeque and some music, where I sorted and edited like a madwoman on my laptop so that we could order some enlargements for the reception on Saturday. (On a side-note, anybody going to Austin that wants great bbq MUST go to Rudy's.  It's not optional.  But I digress...)

Matt and Katherine both looked fabulous, and had that glow that only those on the brink of the best day of their life really can show.

Having moved out of Texas before I really started shooting professionally, I had never taken photographs at the Botanical Gardens quite the same way before.  I used to come here all the time, but I never realized the wealth of photo locations this place has.  It's chock full of beautiful spots like this one below...

I've known Katherine forever, and she's one of the sweetest, most outrageous, talented, and "out there" people you will ever meet.

  

Katherine is a playwright, and has directed many a play (she and I even ran a theater camp once-upon-a-time, but that's another story).  So of course, we had to show off her very official director's chair.

There will be more to come of these two as I finish up the photos from the wedding day in San Antonio and the reception in Austin.  We'll probably have to break it up over several days, because a LOT happened, and there was so many cool things that I wanted to share with y'all.

Zilker Botanical Gardens

  I had a few minutes before the bride and groom arrived for the formals / bridals/ groomals session at the Zilker Botanical Gardens in Austin Texas a couple weeks ago, so I made sure to stop and smell the flowers!

Now I am not really one for landscape photography.  As a general rule when I see a gorgeous sunset, or a majestic mountain peak, or a colorful bed of flowers, I say to myself "OH that's beautiful.  Now I just need a person there so I can take a photo."  When I take a photo, it's usually not complete unless there is someone in the picture as well.

That being said, the Zilker Botanical Gardens was a special place for me when I was growing up in Austin, and I went there all the time to think.  It's one of the iconic places in Austin, and if you happen to be visiting, you should not miss it.  More photos to come from Texas, as I make progress on Katherine and Matt's wedding, and as I finish up an engagement session I ended up doing for an old friend and his beautiful fiancee.

Sneak Peek: Austin Texas LDS Wedding Photography

  As I mentioned the other day, we were back in my hometown in Austin TX shooting a wedding over the weekend.  Here is a sneak peek of some of the photos from the formals shoot that we did on Thursday at the Zilker Botanical Gardens before the wedding, and some photos from the wedding day itself on Friday at the LDS Temple in San Antonio.  They had their reception on Saturday at the Vineyards at Chappell Lodge, so I had some time to quickly go through and get a few of my favorites from the two shoots for this slideshow.  We ran it for the wedding, and one of the coolest things about it (aside from the awesome photos, of course)?  The song is actually the bride singing!!!

It's a song she wrote for her (now)husband a year ago about their relationship.  You can actually buy the song on itunes- her name is Katherine Gee and the song's title is Sunshine and Rain. She is fabulously talented!  In fact, her entire family is unbelievable as well... the whole wedding process was like a big broadway musical, with spontaneous poems, musical performances, and some really awesome dancing.

I'll definitely be posting more pictures from the wedding later on in future posts, but I just had to share a couple now so y'all can see what I was up to.  I had so much fun, and was so honored to be a part of it.

Keepin' Austin Weird

Some people like Christmas.  Some people go all out for Thanksgiving.  Jenn's family LOOOOOOOOOOVES Halloween.  They have got some of the coolest and most unique decorations in their house that I have ever seen.  Even the most subtle things are switched out to celebrate Halloween- to the point where you do a double-take and realize that yes, those white lace curtains actually have little ghosts in the embroidery.  So when Jenn and Jared got married near the end of October the reception in Jenn's backyard was BOO-utiful!

Bad news Future Brides- too many shots like this and I will have to abandon the wedding industry and become a food photographer (and Taste Tester!).... even looking back at these photos, I start drooling.

I love how the confetti looks in the photos, but I sure don't envy whoever had to pick it all up after everything was done!