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Hunter & Ariana’s Outdoor Wedding at White Oaks on the Bayou

A Summer Wedding at White Oaks on the Bayou

Last Friday, Andy and I traveled to Simonton to one of my favorite venues, White Oaks on the Bayou for Hunter and Ariana’s wedding. The venue is out in the country, secluded from the hustle and bustle of city life with a quaint stream that runs past.

Before the wedding started, Hunter donned a black sleep mask and was lead by Ariana’s father into a private part of the venue. The couple was able to have a sweet one on one where they could calm their nerves and just enjoy the moment alone… with me, the fly on the wall the wedding photographer.

Andy and I were hoping for a little bit cooler of an evening for Hunter & Ariana’s wedding, but because of all of the rain we got earlier in the week, it was both hot AND muggy. I defiantly had makeup drip into my eyes 5 minutes into the ceremony. The heat didn’t stop the drone, though. We were so excited that we were able to fly the drone and get some areal photos as well as video from the ceremony.

The part entered the ceremony to Turning Pages by Sleeping at Last, which is such a beautiful song. Look it up if you are thinking about romantic songs.

One of my favorite parts at a wedding is photographing the grooms face when he sees his bride for the first time. As Ariana glided down the aisle, Hunter teared up (it could have been sweat) His brother stood next to him and gave him several comforting shoulder squeezes. At one point, hunter pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his eyes. It was so sweet, and I am so happy I was able to capture that moment.

I absolutely loved the ring bearer’s sign which said “Too late to run, here she comes!” on one side and “Forever and ever… AMEN” on the other. He was so cute with it. You could tell he understood the huge responsibility he had been given and he was going to do his very best.

After announcing Hunter & Ariana man and wife, the wedding party had a dance-party exited to Let’s Groove by Earth Wind and Fire. Guests shot confetti into the air as the party passed.

The entire wedding was so much fun to be a part of. I am so happy that Andy and I were there to capture the precious moments.

Vendors

Dress: David’s Bridal

Flowers: The Floral Leaf

Venue: White Oaks on the Bayou

Hair & Makeup: Empire Faces

DJ: Sandra Moseby

Ariana’s White oaks on the Bayou Bridal Portraits

Happy Wedding Day to Ariana & Hunter!

I can’t believe this day is finally here. I am sure after all of their hard work, Ariana & Hunter can’t either.

As it is my tradition to keep bridal portraits under lock and key until after the wedding day– for obvious reasons– I am starting a new tradition. I’m sharing the bridal session on the wedding day, after Hunter has had his chance to see Ariana first.

A little over a month ago, I met up with Ariana, her mother and sister, Sophia at White Oaks on the Bayou out in Simonton. It was a pretty steamy May afternoon. Luckily, we were able to take the majority of the bridal portraits inside the White Oaks venue. We only ventured out for a few minutes at the end. Thank God for the breeze!

Ariana’s mom and Sophia were such a huge help! I couldn’t have gotten half of the amazing photos I did with out their help. Also, I probably would have fallen off Betsy, my ladder, if it weren’t for their assistance.

Ariana looked stunning in that lace adorned mermaid gown. I’m especially obsessed with the crystal and rose-gold belt. The belt matched Ariana & Hunter’s ring perfectly. In fact, her necklace and earnings were also the same breathtaking rose-gold color. The long veil put the look over the top. I loved that the veil was just a little longer than her train. Can you believe she bought if off someone on Facebook!? Ariana made that dress look good! I wish I could pull off the mermaid look.

Lades and gentlemen, here’s what the future wedding trends are going to look like. Let us know what you think about the bridal portrait session or just congratulate the happy couple on just now tying the knot, literally.

Vendors

Dress: David’s Bridal

Flowers: The Floral Leaf

Venue: White Oaks on the Bayou

Hair & Makeup: Empire Faces
(Side note: The makeup stood the test of the Texas heat and humidity amazingly!)

Summer Wedding Inspiration

It’s officially summer (in 2 days), and you know what that means.

Sweat stains, mosquito’s, and broken AC’s
Margaritas by the pool, fun at the beach and summer-time weddings!

Summer weddings in Houston can be a little tricky, but a lot of fun if you follow a few simple rules.

  1. Please, please, please do not have an outdoor wedding at high-noon in the middle of summer. Summer outdoor weddings in Houston can be really beautiful and tolerable closer to dusk, but stifling closer to noon.
  2. Be aware of your surroundings.
    1. AstroTurf traps heat. It could be 80 degrees in the shade, but 160 in the middle of the turf.
    2. Concrete reflects light & heat.
    3. Consider a wedding under ancient oak trees.
  3. Make sure you have a nearby facility with AC & cool drinks on hand.
  4. Offer fans or umbrellas to your guests for your ceremony (if you are having an outdoor wedding).
  5. Have a sunscreen & mosquito spray station.

Colors

Teal, pink, Lemon, Lime, violet

Fun vibrant colors are great for summer weddings. Make sure if you are going to have a darker color like violet to pare it with a brighter colors like lemon. You can find amazing color pallets on Pinterest by just searching “summer colors.”

 

Flowers

Succulents, sunflowers, daisy’s, baby’s breath, roses

The Best Wedding Schedule Template EVER!

Every wedding is different, but after several years as a wedding photographer, I’ve developed a surefire schedule that works every time for all types of weddings.

Check out #8,  it’s our favorite.

1. Make sure to schedule time before your wedding for group photos. Photos of bridesmaids with bride, grooms men with the groom. I know they love you, but once the bar opens, you might have lost them for the evening. If you want to do a first look (which I LOVE!) or even a first touch (holding hands around a wall or door so you can’t see each other), make sure to put aside 20-30 minutes.

2. Know how many people you’re taking family photos with after your wedding. Family photos can take up A LOT of time. It takes time to get people to cooperate. Your cousin Jeff just wants to tell jokes by the bar and the 12 great grand kids are running around like banshees screaming for cake. Sometimes, it’s necessary to take photos of only the immediate family. You can always grab the photographer throughout the night to snap a shot with you and your great uncle Lloyd.

3. Something I’ve seen before and LOVE is the grand entrance sweeping into your first dance. I absolutely love how natural it feels to just go right into a dance as soon as you are announced to your friends and family.

4. One of the biggest things I always suggest is to do the cake cutting somewhere immediately after you start feeding your guests to right after your toasts. I do this because the sooner you start serving cake, the more cake will be consumed by the end of the night, and the less you have to take home. Cake is awesome, but not 4 days in a row.

5. While someone is cutting and serving cake, now’s the time for dances with mothers and fathers and anyone else important to you and your spouse. This also kicks off the dance floor for hopefully more dancing!

6. If you haven’t already, SPEECH, SPEECH, SPEECH!

7. Take a short break, eat, mingle, dance, EAT. Don’t take too big of a break though. I would say spend 30-45 minutes mingling then do the bouquet/garter/boutonniere toss. You want to make sure to do this before a large portion of your guests leave.

8. Now it’s almost time to fully relax. Mingle, make sure you have eaten (seriously, EAT!). Change if you are going to, but keep in mind the grand exit photos.

— Note: you can do a staged grand exit photo with a few (or all) of your wedding guests before the end of the night. This way, the photographer can leave after this and you don’t have to pay them for 3 more hours of drunken karaoke on the dance floor… though it looks AMAZING! You can also change into something a little more comfortable and not have to worry about the rest of your photos.

I find it very important to do all of the festivities as early as possible. I’ve seen weddings where things got off track and only 3 girls were there for the bouquet toss, or the MOB was packing up more than half the wedding cake because it didn’t get cut early enough. Timing is everything. If you don’t have a wedding coordinator, your wedding photographer or your DJ can help keep you on track

Feel free to pin or save the sample schedule below. Have you already tied the knot? Let us know how you did it. Everyone loves hearing about real weddings.

When you HATE cake but you’re trying to be nice

So you hate cake, but you’re trying to be nice and appease you’re wedding guests. First off, it’s your wedding, do what makes you happy.

“It’s my party I can [do what I want]” I took some creative liberties there…

There is nothing in the rule book that says you HAVE to have cake. In fact, there isn’t a rule book. If you want  a giant gummy bear with a bow tie, get it. If you want to stay healthy and have a fancy fruit tower, do it!

I’ve shot weddings where the venue served a special desert instead of cake (there was still a cake cutting, but they didn’t offer any of it to the guests). I’ve shot a wedding where the couple had a giant rice krispie and some cake-pops in lieu of cake.

The Knot

There’s a new trend where weddings are offering wheels of cheese dressed up like cake. — Mmmm cheese! Sign me up for those weddings. Or what about a pegboard covered in donuts? Donut mind if I do (Thank’s for sharing this one Bethany)

It might be harder to get those cute “cake in the face” shots, but I find it refreshing to offer something unique and completely you instead of staying traditional to appease people.

Always be yourself, unless you can be Princess Leia, then be Princess Leia.

 

Would you (or did you) have something other than cake at your wedding? I’d love to hear what it was.

If you could re-do your wedding, what would you change?

If you stumbled upon the time-machine (and actually knew how to use it with out torching your existence) would you make any changes to your wedding? What would you do different?

For Andy and me, we pretty much went in a inexpensive rout (because I am cheap). We loved our cake (made by a friend with a cake business) and venue (my parents home). We loved the theme –Halloween.

If we could have a mulligan, we would:

1. We would have splurged on a professional wedding photographer. This is a big one for me and my family. My mom even has mentioned a time or two that she wished she had hired a wedding photographer. I loved my photographer, he was my teacher and mentor in college, but he is not a wedding photographer. He is a photojournalist. It would have been nice to have someone there who was a wedding pro. Someone who had done plenty of weddings and knew what to expect and where to be instinctively. Also, I would have liked my friend to just enjoy the wedding instead of work.

2. I would have RENTED my wedding dress from rent-the-runway or something. Gotten a pretty dress that was maybe a little cheaper then send it back. My dress is currently hanging in my closet taking up space. I haven’t opened it in years. Hopefully moths haven’t gotten into it. Maybe one day I’ll donate it to someone in need.

3. We would have picked a different florist. Same flowers, just someone else delivering them. Maybe we would’ve even picked them up our self from the Houston flower district.


Are you getting married soon? Was this helpful? Is there anything in particular you are interested in asking couples who’ve been there-done that?

 

 

Top 10 LGBTQ Wedding Photos

Pride Month is here!

As a kid, I was always obsessed with rainbows, I even had a “rainbow blankey” that I couldn’t sleep without. Actually, I still love them, and get a little squirmy when I see the colors out of order or hear someone having to google the order of the rainbow. What does that have to do with Pride month, very little except for all of the rainbow flags that’ll be flying high.

Andy and I love taking Tristan out to the pride parade every year. Everything is so colorful and the people are always super nice. In fact, one of my couples actually met at the Houston Pride Parade. Boy is it always HOT, though. If you’re going, make sure to bring water and a hat. Houston Pride Parade is June 23rd from 12pm – 7pm.

Probably the coolest thing about Pride month is how unabashedly real people are. I find the LQBTQ community is the most true-to themselves community in the first place, but more so during the month of June.

Take a look at some of my favorite LGBTQ weddings as I try to get  True to your heart from Mulan out of my head.

 

 

Vendors

Moffit Oaks
Community Events Hall
Audio Mobile DJs
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church

Nerdy Wedding Sign Inspirations

Nerdy Wedding Signs

Let your nerd hang out!

Achievement Unlocked -Studio222 Photography

Hello everyone! Today I wanted to share some amazing signs that I found to help inspire your nerdy wedding.

I feel like one of the latest trends that I’ve been seeing more and more is couples letting their nerd hang out. Before, people had traditional weddings where basically the color and maybe the flowers were the only thing that truly represented them. Slowly nerdy things started seeping into the industry. First the cakes, then small details in bouquets and boutonnieres to an all out, in your face ‘We’re nerds and we’re proud of it!’

I can’t even begin to express how happy this makes me feel.

@RFoxPersonalizations

So, let me start with the funny gaming signs I found. Andy Loves these ideas.

In my mind I see an adorable flower-girl with a wooden sign that says either “Game Over” or “Achievement Unlocked…” Maybe the “Game Over” heart is red on the back and she walks up the isle with the red heart then down the isle with the “Game Over” side. The Achievement Unlocked would also be fun to see at the head dinner table or as the wedding couple make their grand entrance. “Achievement Unlocked – Married”

Math reminds me of home. It might not have been my strongest subject, but any sort of math reminds me of my parents (who both have degrees in chemistry).

@HomeSweetSignsNH

This adorable sign, which was probably made to be displayed in a home would be adorable in a number of places. I could see it at the wedding party table, or at the alter. I could even see it being carried down the isle with a tail of numbers trailing it.

 

Man, do I LOVE Etsy.

 

Tell me what you think. Have you or a friend used a nerdy sign? What did it say??

New Name, Same Great Taste

After 7 years as Photography by Kelly, it was time for a change.

It’s o-fish-al, we’ve changed our name.

I wanted my very first post on my new website and re-branded business, to be about how I got here. To share with you who I am and why I did what I did.

I started this wedding photography business childless, unmarried and living with my parents (man that sounds depressing). My maiden name is long and slightly difficult to say and spell, though it’s phonetic. I decided, to make things easy, I would go by Photography by Kelly. Easy to remember, say and… well not so easy to spell in turned out. I had to shorten the URL because someone else owned the full spelling. It became cumbersome to spell out my website to people. “P.h.o.t.o.g-by-kelly.com”

A friend once told me my answering machine message was WAY too long. I was telling people to leave a message, text or email me. Then I would spell out my email on my message… Needless to say, very few people stuck around until the end of the message to actually leave me a message.

After I married Andy, I chose to keep the name. I had become accustomed to it and had gotten used to spelling the web address for people.  I had designed the logo and spent many sleepless nights tweaking my wedding photography website. It was my baby.

As the years progressed, I slowly dragged my husband into the business. Andy became my second shooter, my best asset at wedding client meetings and my “pack-mule” as he says. I realized the photography business had become more than just mine. It had become a family business. Something for us to share in and I wanted to represent that somehow.

For a brief moment, I considered Urban Photography. It was short and to the point. I could pass it down to Tristan if he wanted it. It also included one of my favorite styles of photography, urban photography. I’m a sucker for a woman in a wedding gown or an engaged couple dressed to the nines in front of  wall. But, I didn’t want to have to compete with urban photography, the style, on search-engines. I would have been exchanging one issue for the next.

I chose to rename my business Kelly Urban Photography. Simple and to the point. I love that Andy can now have a stake in the business. My name is his name. The cherry on top, I’m able to incorporate my love for urban photography, it was like kismet. I especially love that I don’t have to shorten the URL, and I hope to be doing a whole lot less spelling. Let me tell you, dyslexics HATE to spell.

So here I am standing –or actually sitting– in front of you, hoping you will love all of the changes as much as I do. So take a look around and drop us a line. Let me know what you think about the changes.

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.comKelly Urban Photography

A Southwest Houston wedding photographer
Richmond, TX

A Houston wedding photographer

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