Nerdy Houston Wedding Photographer

Rent a wedding guest

August 21, 2018

I read an article on Equally Wed the other day that was talking about a women who’s son came out to her several years ago. It was about her struggle with her beliefs and her love for her son. In the end, love overcame. She now offers her motherly support to others in the LGBT community who don’t have a parent at their wedding.

Rent-a-mom

This got me to thinking about the movie “The Wedding Ringer” and if there are more services like that out there.

I googled “Rent a Best-man” and was very surprised. There were 3 links at the top from different companies. The most legitimate looking websites are for people in the UK unfortunately, but I did find one that has “friends” in the Houston area. Rent-a-friend

Apparently in Japan and Koria, it’s not unusual for someone to hire wedding guests. It had something to do with the more massive a wedding, the more prestigious. I’ve found several articles about this (though no websites for the companies).

A friend was telling me (as I was writing this article) that you can hire people to cry at funerals… What!? That’s crazy.

So I guess, you can rent anything you put your imagination to. I think if I were to hire wedding guest, I would hire a comedian to give a wedding toast. I would love to have a professional stand-up wedding toast that made my guests pee their pants. My cousin’s working to become a professional comedian, I bet he would do it… for a price. 😉

What are your thoughts? Would you (or have you) ever hire someone to attend your wedding (other than the usual professionals).

Top 10 Wedding Reactions

August 14, 2018

Oh the feels.

I love emotional reactions at weddings. I especially love photographing emotion at weddings. They restart my cold dead heart… Check out some of my favorite reactions from the last few weddings I’ve photographed in and around the Houston area.

Planning your Engagement Photo – Part 2 – Day & Time

August 7, 2018

You’ve got the ring (Congratulations!) and you’ve settled on an engagement photographer for your engagement portraits (wink wink) and now you’re wondering what to do next.

There’s a few things to do to prepare yourself for your engagement portraits.

Determine the best location for your engagement portraits.
Determine the best day & time for your engagement portraits.
Determine what to wear for your engagement portraits.
Determine what to bring with you for your engagement portraits.

Today’s blog is part 2 of 4 in an engagement portrait session to do list.

You’ve already read my post about choosing a location. If not, STOP! click the link here to read it first or review the post.

Great, now that we are all refreshed let’s get started.

You’ve chosen a location for your engagement portrait session. Now you need to determine the best day and time to take your engagement photos. You really can’t determine the best time without nailing down a day or at least an approximate day.

DAY

Choose a day where you know you will not be stressed out (because of stuff you have going on or time relative to your wedding). It is preferred to get your engagement portraits done at least 3 months before your wedding. Think about your location. Are you going to take your portraits on the beach? Choose a warmer time of year to take your photos. Will there be tons of people at the park during the summer months, probably. Pick a day and time where there will be less people at your location. Do you like the look of long-selves and boots and jeans? Maybe choose a time in the fall or winter.

Find out when your wedding photographer is available to take your portraits. Sometimes, those days are week days because of the photographers wedding schedule. Be aware that we wedding photographers do not have any control over the weather (though we wish we did). Sometimes, things get rained out. We will work with you as best as we can to come up with a better day and time.

TIME

As a wedding photographer, the perfect times are generally early morning right after dawn or late in the afternoon right before dusk. If you are planing a winter engagement, you might consider later in the morning or earlier in the afternoon just because of lighting during winter.

If you are planing an in-door engagement portrait shoot at a special location, like the movie theater you had your first date or the science museum because you’re super nerds!! get with your photographer and a representative from the location to determine the best time. Sometimes, those locations have special times they allow for photos to be taken.

Find out when your Engagement photographer is taking portraits. In the summer months, I only take out-door portraits in the late afternoon because of the heat and humidity in the mornings. I’ve learned that morning shoots are still HOT and even more humid because everything is evaporating from the previous evening. SCIENCE!

Did this help? I hope so. Stay tuned for the next installment of the Engagement portrait session list.

Trey & Dallis’s DIY Enchanted Backyard Wedding

July 31, 2018

An enchanting backyard wedding in Damon, Texas

Trey & Dallas said “I do” at sunset in Dallis’s fathers backyard. The enchanting property was a stones throw from the Brazos Bend Park. Old gnarled oak branches with their long fingers of Spanish moss hugged the property. As the sun set, it peeked through the forest behind the property like something out of a fairy tale.

Dallis’s family made the alter out of old power-line poles and draped them in the same blush cloth from Dallis’s wedding dress and a garland of ivy and pink and blue flowers. There weren’t any ring-bearers or flower-girls, but there was a puppy. Trey & Dallis’s husky puppy, Mars walked the aisle with Dakota, Dallis’s brother before the blushing bride made her entrance.

The couple wrote their own vows, which they read during the ceremony. It was so sweet, there wasn’t a dry eye by the end of it.

The happy couple danced and partied with their friends and family under the Texas night sky. There was corn hole and a ring-toss game as well as great music and dancing. Everything at the wedding was made by the wedding party. It was a complete DIY wedding. Check out some wedding photography highlights. Don’t forget to leave a message! You can also click this link – here – to view Dallis’s bridal portraits.

Vendors

Dress: Homemade

Flowers: DIY silk flowers

Venue: Family’s property

Catering: Homemade

Dallis’s Backyard Bridal Session

July 28, 2018

Happy wedding day to Dallis & Trey!

The day has finally arrived.

Dallis came down for the weekend (a month ago) from Lafayette for her gorgeous dusk bridal session at her fathers home in Damon, Texas where she has now just tied the knot.

There is something so fun and natural about taking photos in the comfort of your home.

I had so much fun taking photos of Dallis (and her brother). Her family came in from Louisiana and parts of Houston to help out, and they were such a big help. I absolutely love it when friends and family get involved and help with posing and to make the subject smile.

One thing that made my jaw drop, her Grandmother and Aunt made her wedding dress. First off, it is an amazing dress in by itself with the baby pink color and that dip in the front and the back (which looked stunning on Dallis), but to hear that her Grandmother made it just blew my mind.

We took portraits around the backyard of her Fathers property, right were she and Trey just got married. I loved the old moss covered oak trees, the fallen tree wrapped in lights and who could forget about that swing! What an amazing place to take photos. What an amazing place to get married.

Vendors

Dress: Homemade!

Bouquet: Homemade!

Venue: Home!

Happy National Tequila Day!!

July 24, 2018

It’s national Tequila day, and I thought I might find some interesting tequila recipes for your wedding.

I don’t usually share food blogs, but I thought for Tequila day, I would make an exception. I scowered the internet looking for fun and interesting drinks, main courses and deserts. There were so many options it was hard to just pick a few. Also, I have a hard time following recipes. I tend to use the recipe as a guideline. I was glad I had family in town this weekend when I was preparing everything. They were my guinea pig.

Drink — Blackberry Lemonade Margarita

Let’s start with the drink. I have a family recipe for a frozen margarita, but I wanted to try something a little different. I LOVE blackberries and thought a black berry lemonade sounded very refreshing for a summer wedding drink. It’s also so pretty. This drink was sweet, tart and strong.

How did it go? Boy is this a strong drink! It could make you forget feelings.

(recipe here)

My changes — Most of my family is on a strict diet. I replaced the sugar (that actually goes into the drink) with Truvia and I used a 90 calorie lemonade from the store.

Main Course — Tequila-Lime Pork Tenderloin

How did it go? I made some adjustments to the recipe but basically, I had a really big piece of meat (that’s what he said) that did not cook in the amount of time the recipe stated it should. I didn’t think it would. My mom was a bit inpatient so the edges got a bit charcoaled because we cranked up the heat in the grill. It was a little dry, because it was cooked too fast.

(recipe here)

My changes — The main course I made several changes to. First, and foremost, I brined (2 qt water, 1/2 cup of salt and a dollop of minced garlic) the pork loin (8lb for 5 hours). You are supposed to brine an hour per pound, but the recipe didn’t call for brining and I was only doing it to open the pores a bit to allow more of the marinade in. The second change I made was to substitute half of the orange juice with triple sec. I also took the remaining marinade, added cornstarch and boiled it to make a sauce.

Cake

I was going to make something, but I ran out of time and I was afraid the dessert would be left for me alone to eat… no one wants to eat cake alone. Instead, I will direct you to a bakery I discovered.

Bundt-Cake-A-Holic is a Houston area bakery who makes boozy bundt cakes and wedding cakes. They have a VIP cake that has Silver Patron in it. I assume it is sort of lime flavored. I was really impressed with the prices, especially for the wedding cakes.

What does all this have to do with weddings and wedding photography? meh 🤷‍♀️

Alcohol and good food. That’s the correlation.

The day my expensive hobby became a business

July 17, 2018

I was reading a Facebook post from a fellow wedding photographer in one of my wedding photographer groups that posed a question, “When did you first consider your photography as a business and not just a hobby.”

After college, I fully expected to land a career in the Advertising world. I was mistaken. For fun, and to take my mind off of the monotonous grind of job hunting that was getting me nowhere, I started taking pictures of friends and family’s. I actually had an advertising/photography business in the beginning. I took “commercial pictures” for small businesses, pictures of babies, graduations, family portraits and a few weddings. I already had a lot of experience as a photojournalist in college and used that knowledge to grow my hobby.

Wedding photography from one of the first weddings I photographed.

The very first two weddings I ever photographed I did for free. I ran a Craig’s List advertisement where I gave away 2 free wedding photography packages–basically I spent most of the day and evening with the two couples. I was new to the wedding world. I hadn’t ever been a second-shooter, I didn’t even know that was a thing. All I knew was that I needed wedding photos for my portfolio if I wanted to book more weddings.

I put together a website (did the HTML myself) and got to work getting more clients. I got a tax ID and set up a separate banking account (which I supplemented from my own account). That was the day I considered myself a business owner.

That was more than 5-years ago. I’ve never looked back and thought anything else.

Planning your Engagement Photo – Part 1 – Location

July 10, 2018

You’ve got the ring (Congratulations!) and you’ve settled on a photographer for your engagement portraits (wink wink) and now you’re wondering what to do next.

There’s a few things to do to prepare yourself for your engagement portraits.

Determine the best location for your engagement portraits.
Determine the best day & time for your engagement portraits.
Determine what to wear for your engagement portraits.
Determine what to bring with you for your engagement portraits.

Today’s blog is part 1 of 4 in an engagement portrait session to do list. Let’s dive right in.

Location is probably the most important part of your engagement session. It’s what sparks the flame of creativity and personalty. The location of your engagement portrait session is the backbone to all of your photos.

First, ask yourself, ‘what is our personality as a couple?’

-What do you like to do together?

-Where did you meet? When did you meet?

-Where are you getting married?

-When are you getting married?

-What is your wedding style? is it rustic, elegant, edgie, nautical, Disney themed…?

Once you’ve answered these questions, you and your wedding photographer (wink 😉) will be able to choose a location that best suits your style and personalty.

Some examples

You’re planing a rustic wedding: You might be interested in taking engagement photos at a location with wide open fields, old oak trees, farm animals…

You’re a couple who enjoys the city night life: You might be interested in a more urban (haha see what I did there?) setting. I might suggest an engagement portrait session inside the Downtown Houston area with bricks, graffiti, cityscapes and crosswalks.

You’re getting married in the Bahamas (jealous!): You might be interested in taking your engagement portraits on the beach.

Was this helpful?Leave a love ❤️❤️ note below. Tell me some information about you and your wedding and I can respond with a suggested location.

How to Perfect the Sparkler Exit

July 3, 2018

One of my all time favorite wedding photography shot at a wedding is the sparkler grand exit. They are fun, elegant and at times, unpredictable. The warm glow you get from a sparkler image really mimics the glow of the newlyweds. Generally, sparklers are pretty uniform but I love it when I can capture a sparkler that has sputtered and shot a line of fire down the image. Sparkler exits can be tricky to the untrained, though.

Tips to getting the PERFECT wedding sparkler exit photo

Get a good number of friends and family to participate
Have the wedding couple slowly walk halfway through the crowd
Have everyone in front of the couple hold their sparklers down low (except for 1 or 2 people right next to the photographer). As the couple passes guests, have them lift their sparkler high (like a sparkler wave) and fill in the space behind the couple.
Have the newlyweds stop in the middle of the crowd and kiss or dip or do something cute for the wedding photographer to grab. Hold for a minute or two then continue walking. Have them stop once more just past all of the sparklers and repeat the kiss, or look over their shoulder at their friends.
Do it again!
1. It’s fun for everyone and it gives the wedding photographer a chance to get all of the shots and make any adjustments they need.

Some wedding photographers like to

bring in a flash to help brighten the couple. I don’t do this. The color of the flash (a more blue tone) is way different from a sparkler. I could have a flash with a warm filter, but I prefer to use my wide open lenses and just use the available light. It gives the image a more romantic look. Like a candlelit image.

You can buy sparklers online (I think) but it is much easier and cheaper to just plan ahead and buy them during the 4th of

July celebrations or New-year celebrations. Tomorrow is July 4th, there will be plenty of firework stalls open. Go out and get a bunch of boxes and put them in a safe, dry place. $20 will get you A LOT of sparklers.

Did you have a sparkler exit at your wedding?

Urban Family Photo’s — That I didn’t Have to Take!

June 28, 2018

When the tables turn and you have to be in front of the camera…

99% of the time, Andy and I are behind the camera, not in front of it. This year, with all of the changes to the business, I thought it would be a good idea to hire someone to take family photos of us. Photos we could use on the website.

Up until this point, the only people who have taken photos of my family have been me or Andy (using the tripod and a remote), or my friends and family, nothing professional, though.

Taking your own family photos is HARD!

I watch others when I take their photos and I think, how nice it would be for someone to act a fool behind the camera to make us smile while someone else is making sure we still look good in the pictures.

For me, doing it myself I can’t see what the photos look like when I hit the trigger button. I know what I should look like, and what Andy and Tristan (hopefully) look like. But I get back to the camera and someone isn’t looking at the camera or someone isn’t cooperating. Tristan smiles, but doesn’t look at the camera. He looks off into the distance for some reason? Andy hates being in front of the camera and bucks me. He squints, doesn’t smile and gets distracted. There is a whole lot of ADH-OOH Shiny going on in this family.

Right before we launched the new brand and website, I hired Reed Gallagher. We meet up with Reed and his mother at the old grain silo in Houston, near Navigation rd. I hadn’t ever been to this location but google maps had a lot of photos of the location and I could see a lot of potential.

It was a bit warm (nothing like it is now) and Tristan probably only has about 30-40 minutes worth of cooperation in him. he did very well and we got about what we expected out of him. I was pleased that Reed’s assistant was able to get Tristan to look at the camera and smile. It always helps to tell the photographer before hand what your issues are in photos. Tristan is notorious for smiling at the camera but looking away.

After the shoot, we treated ourselves to a well deserved cold beer from 8th Wonder while Tristan ran around like a crazy person with the other kids at the brewery.

Any way, I’ll stop rambling and just show you the photos from the session.

Rent a wedding guest