When to taking family portraits at your wedding

Today, I wanted to talk to you about when to take wedding portraits of your family and wedding party.

This has come up a few times and I wanted to share with you the easiest and most efficient way we do this.

I prefer to take most of your group portraits immediately after your wedding. After you walk down the aisle hand in hand, we ask that all of the family and wedding party stay behind.

From here, we like to whittle the group down. We start with the entire group, then move to the entire family on one side then the other. I will always work with your elderly family members first to make sure they are not out in the heat or uncomfortable for too long. As we photograph your family, we release them to the reception or cocktail hour. We continue to do this until it’s just you and your spouse.

There are a few reasons as to why we prefer to take pictures in this order. One is because once the ceremony is over, it’s like a weight has been lifted from everyone’s shoulder. People feel more free and relaxed because the “hard part” is over. The sooner we take photos, the more likely everyone will be sober, present, and or still put together, and less likely we will have to hunt a family member down for the photo.

Sometimes, if we have the time before the wedding, we try to get a couple shots of the brides with their bridesmaids and the grooms with their groomsmen. This doesn’t always happen, and sometimes it’s just easier to do this after the stress of the ceremony.

Of course, you don’t have to follow this guideline. I will always do what works best for my couples.

 

 

Joseph & Jordan’s Art Industrial Houston Wedding

It was a surprisingly pleasant summer evening in Downtown Houston when Joseph & Jordan said their vows. The intimate industrial venue was located between one of the U of H campuses and the Saint Arnold Brewery just north of Downtown Houston.

The venue was decorated in greenery and succulents, my favorite part. The wooden alter was made by Jordan’s father. After their wedding, the couple will turn it into an entertainment center. I thought this was a really smart and creative way to reuse wood (which is SO EXPENSIVE right now) and to keep a part of their wedding with them always.

The wedding was a small, friends and family affair. A friend got ordained to marry them. Friends helped serve food, drinks and cut and serve the cake.

What a beautiful wedding. I’m so thankful to have been able to capture it. Congratulations to the happy couple!

Troy & Hailee’s Galveston Beach Engagement Portraits

As we reach into summer, I find myself spending more and more time at the beach for engagement portraits. Every time I try to take photos somewhere else, both myself and my clients are drenched in sweat by the end of it. There’s something about the ocean breeze and sand between your toes to make you feel better.

I met Troy and Hailee at Stewart Beach in Galveston just before sunset. We chatted about life, wedding plans, twins, and crabs. Troy pointed out some crabs while we were taking photos and even captured a sand crab at the end of the night as we were walking back to our cars.

Leighton & Heather’s Galveston Engagement Portraits

There is a unique place as your heading out to Galveston that I have wanted to stop at and take photos for a while now. I was so excited when Leighton and Heather agreed to be my guinea pigs. So, before heading to the beach, I met up with the couple at the marshes.

When we got to the beach, I found out that Leighton & Heather could dance. When I say dance, I mean intense quasi-acrobatic swing-dancing. They showed me their sweet, sweet dance moves (which I captured) then we walked down to the jetties, which I’ve been intrigued about for a while now. There, I got into some trouble with the lifeguard because I kept standing where I wasn’t supposed to stand, and I asked Leighton and Heather to stand where they weren’t supposed to… who knew there were so many rules around the jetties?

My Wedding Go-Bag

As a wedding photographer, I’ve seen a lot and had to react to several minor disasters. Throughout the years, my “go-bag” for weddings has gotten bigger and bigger. It seems with every wedding I am adding something to it. I have done surgery on a boutonniere before to put the rose back on the stem. I have had to wrap a bouquet in some ribbon that I brought and trim parts of the bouquet that hung over because a bridesmaid had a severe allergic reaction to holding the bouquet. You name it, I’ve probably done my best to fix it.

If I didn’t have the fix in my bag, you better believe it went into my bag for the next wedding. My cousin tried a lip-stain before her brother’s wedding (she’d never used one before) and she didn’t like it so she tried to rub it off… If you’ve used lip-stains before you can imagine how that went… but you don’t have to because I have a photo of it. That was the day I added makeup remover to my go-bag. funny wedding misshap

So what’s in my bag you ask?

  • A small sewing kit
  • Scissors
  • bobby pins (in multiple hair tone colors)
  • rubber bands (big black ones as well as the small clear ones)
  • A fingernail clipper
  • A small first aid kit
  • Lint roller
  • Tampons
  • Tissues
  • Mini toothbrush thingies (no water needed)
  • Flossers
  • Tumms
  • Tylenol
  • Spray-on deodorant
  • Hair spray
  • Makeup removing wipes
  • Wrinkle-release
  • Q-tips
  • Tide stain remover
  • Snacks
  • Ribbon
  • Adhesive dots

Do you need everything that’s in my bag for your wedding?

Probably not. Hopefully you won’t need to use anything from my bag. However, I believe when you’re least prepared, Murphy (Murphy’s Law) hits the hardest. Your emergency wedding kit may have things like a raiser or baby powder instead of ribbon and adhesive dots.

How do you get one of these fancy kits?

You can either make it yourself (grocery stores have that travel section, which is perfect for an occasion such as this), or you can order a kit online. A lot of people are using their experience to put together a wedding emergency kit you can buy off of Etsy.

Wedding Thank-You Etiquette

Wedding Details

Growing up, my mother instilled in me the importance of a thank-you card. At an early age, I was writing my own thank-you cards to friends and family members who sent me a gift for this reason or that. Sadly, Thank-you cards seem to be a thing of the past. I’ve been to so many children’s birthdays where gifts were opened after the party and a thank-you never came. I’ve also thrown a birthday party for my son recently where we didn’t send any thank-you cards (mainly because the children ripped into the gifts like piranhas and I had no idea who gave what).

When Andy and I got married, we got several gifts sent directly to our apartment before we were married and took several home after. As I opened gifts, I would write a thank-you note. This way, I didn’t have to worry about writing down the wrong gift or missing someone.

Who gets a thank-you card?

Anyone who sent you a gift.

When should you send out thank-you’s?

For gifts you receive before your wedding, send the thank-you notes before your wedding. For gifts received after send out your thank-you notes 2-3 weeks after your wedding. This means you may be spending every night after your honeymoon writing thank-you cards, but you can do it!

Do you want to feature a wedding portrait on your thank-you cards but haven’t gotten photos yet?

Ask the photographer for some photos early (I usually post sneak peek photos that can be used). You can also use an engagement photo on your cards instead of wedding photos.

What to write:

Address your gift giver & write something genuine and from the heart. Thank them for coming to your wedding as well as the gift. You can say what you are most excited to use the gift for or how great it looks or how soft it is…

Why you Should Consider Going Formal for your Engagement Portraits

Engagement portraits are fun and exciting for me to shoot and for my couples to experience. I love getting to see how the couples interact with each other and their elements. What I love even more, is getting to see their choice of fashion. Everyone is different. Some are old souls at heart, some are super glamorous and others are whimsical.

Today I wanted to talk about why I think getting glammed up for your engagement photography session is a good idea.  

Houston Theater District Engagement Portraits

 

  1. You can dress casually any day for any regular photos. Think about all of the photos you’ve been in with friends and family. You’re engagement photos are a once-in-a-lifetime thing and they should stand out from the photos you’ve taken together before.
  2. It’s a special time in your life and you should take out all the stops so you can celebrate it at its fullest. You could even go to a nice restaurant once you’re done with your photos to continue the love-fest.
  3. Engagement photos sets the tone for your wedding and your wedding guests. Are you having a black-tie wedding? Maybe you’re having a country-formal wedding. Either way, try to immolate your wedding dress code so your guests know what to expect.
  4. Dressing up increases your confidence in your ability to pose for photos. There’s something so empowering about being dressed to the nines and posing in front of a camera.
Antique Rose Emporium engagement portraits

Some of my favorite places to find formal outfits for your engagement portraits:

Rent the Runway
Etsy.com <-Support small business
Jos.A.Bank <-Men’s suits
Or you can go where the Prom dresses are

Logan & James’s Lakeside Austin Wedding

It was a beautiful afternoon in Austin on Lake Travis when Logan & James promised eternity to each other. The couple chose to rent some property with a two story dock for their intimate wedding.

The wedding party gathered and prepared in the house that overlooked a small canyon and the lake. After hiking up and down the equivalent of 21 floors (I had to check my fitbit), the wedding party was seated and ready. James and Logan walked down the isle escorted by their mothers. What a special pre-Mothers Day Gift!

The wedding was helped put on by all the couple’s friends and family. They arranged flowers and officiated the wedding. Their officiant, a friend, was funny and poised. She was the best officiant I have had the pleasure of listening to.

After the ceremony, the guests cleared the deck so they could party and dance on the water. The joy was contagious as Logan and James danced well into the night.

Congratulations!!


Vendors

Casa Costa Bake Shop

Freda’s Seafood Grille

Stuart & Laura’s Engagement Portraits at Smither Park

Stuart and Laura were looking for something a little urban and a little unique for their engagement portraits, luckly for them I recently came across Smither Park. The park was filled with tile mosaic art from so many local artists. When we arrived, there were artists using the park as inspiration for their own art.

I enjoyed getting to know the couple and hearing more about their wedding plans. They both have mad dancing skills that were so impressive! I was so excited to get to capture some of that in their engagement portraits.

Ashley & Sonya’s Downtown Houston Engagement Portraits

Ashley & Sonya told me they were big theater aficionados when I first met them. That sparked the idea of taking their engagement photos around the beautiful architecture in the Houston theater district. I absolutely love how the photos turned out. We ended our Houston engagement portrait trip at Eleanor Tinsley park. The sunset caused a the skyscrapers downtown to glow this gorgeous orange and pink tone.

Welcome

I'm so glad you stopped by. I love sharing my experience and odd-ball imagination with my brides and groom.

 

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A Southwest Houston wedding photographer
Richmond, TX
kelly@kellyurbanphotography.com
Kelly Urban Photography

A Southwest Houston wedding photographer
Richmond, TX

A Southwest Houston wedding photographer
Richmond, TX
kelly@kellyurbanphotography.com
Kelly Urban Photography

A Houston wedding photographer

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