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Category Archives: Personal

Why I Host an Engagement Portrait Giveaway and How to Enter

Planning a wedding is an exciting journey, filled with countless decisions and unforgettable moments. One of the most cherished parts of this journey is the engagement period—a time to celebrate your love and look forward to your future together. To help couples capture this special time, I run an engagement portrait giveaway. Here’s why I do it and how you can enter for a chance to win!

Why I Run an Engagement Portrait Giveaway

1. Celebrating Love Stories:
Every couple has a unique love story, and I’m passionate about capturing these stories through my lens. By offering a giveaway, I get to meet and photograph diverse couples, each with their own special journey.

2. Making Memories Accessible:
Professional photography can be a significant investment, and not everyone has the budget for it. This giveaway helps couples who might not otherwise have the opportunity to get beautiful, professional engagement photos.

3. Building Connections:
I love connecting with new people and hearing their stories. This giveaway is a fantastic way to build relationships with like-minded couples, many of whom I continue to work with for their wedding and beyond.

4. Spreading Joy:
There’s something incredibly rewarding about seeing the joy on a couple’s faces when they receive their engagement photos. These images become cherished memories, and knowing I played a part in that is priceless.

How to Enter the Engagement Portrait Giveaway

Entering the giveaway is simple and straightforward. Here’s how you can participate:

1. Follow Me on Instagram:
Make sure you’re following my Instagram account @kellyurbanphotography. This way, you’ll stay updated on all the latest news, tips, and announcements.

2. Like the Giveaway Post:
Find the giveaway announcement post on my Instagram feed. Like the post to show your interest.

3. Share Your Love Story:
In the comments section of the giveaway post, share a brief version of your love story. Tell me what makes your relationship unique and why you’d love to win an engagement portrait session.

4. Tag Friends:
Tag at least two friends who are engaged or might be interested in the giveaway. The more people you tag, the higher your chances of winning!

5. Optional: Share the Post:
For an extra entry, share the giveaway post on your Instagram story and tag me so I can see it. This helps spread the word and increases your chances of winning.

6. Fill out the form:
Don’t forget to fill out the form on my website (Engagement Giveaway entry page) to complete your entry. This is the most important part of the giveaway.

What You’ll Win

The winning couple will receive:

  • A one-hour engagement portrait session at a location we decide on together.
  • A digital gallery of professionally edited images.
  • Full print rights to all your photos.
  • A fun and memorable experience capturing your love story.

I can’t wait to read your stories and meet the lucky couple! Whether you’ve just started your engagement journey or are well on your way to planning your wedding, this giveaway is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate your love and create lasting memories.

Giveaway ends on August the 15th, so don’t dilly dally!

May the odds be ever in your favor!

Past winners:

Houston engagement photography rock wall gym

The Spawn’s Surprise Trip

The Spawn really really wanted to take a flight somewhere. He didn’t care where. This was something he had been mentioning off and on for the last year. According to him, he had never flown before (this was untrue, though he was under a year old the last time). So for his 10th birthday, we scheduled a trip to anywhere… Actually Atlanta, GA.

Everything was scheduled and the Spawn was unaware of any of it (partially because we wanted to surprise him and partially because he hounds us about trips when he knows about them). As the trip was getting closer, so was Beryl…

I kept a close eye on the storm and had a feeling it would turn towards us. Lo and behold, it did. A direct hit on our home. We lost power and cell service for several days. The Spawn still knew nothing about the trip. Now it was more to keep him from being disappointed if we couldn’t fly out of the airport.

Wednesday arrived and the flight was on time. We tried an airlines neither myself nor my husband has been on before (Frontier). I actually liked the flight, though the chairs hurt my butt after a while. The Spawn got a window seat and we proceed to explain every whir and bump to him. He absolutely loved the flight.

We rode the MARTA from the airport to the hotel. Atlanta’s subway/tram system. Sometimes the tram was underground and you exited from a subway like station and sometimes it was above ground and you exited from a few stories up. The Spawn enjoyed all the trams and subways we took.

I used Chat GPT to help me schedule the trip. It gave me some ideas of places to explore with a 10-year-old as well as local favorite restaurants to try. We explored the Coca-Cola factory then walked across the green to the Atlanta Aquarium one day. Another day we spent the entire day at Stone Mountain Park. We rode a gondola to the top, rode a train around the mountain and explored the prehistoric section. We attempted to get some Georgia BBQ to compare to Texas, but we mistakenly went to a Texas style BBQ restaurant (Fox Bro’s BBQ) that was listed as a local favorite.

The Spawn also got to experience his first, second, third… Uber ride. He had a list of questions he asked every driver. “Do you like being an Uber?” “How long have you been an Uber?” “Have you ever had any Karen’s?” We only had one driver who was disinclined to talk with him.

On our last day, we took the MARTA back to the airport. We spent half the day exploring the airport before settling down at our gate. The flight was uneventful… until we got to Houston.

Several minutes before we landed the pilot got on the speaker and told us there were some storms he was going to fly around and it might be a bit bumpy. It was and when he landed we had a cross-wind which made the landing a bit bumpy. We taxied to the tarmac where we learned that there was another plane still at our gate. They couldn’t push off until they finished loading and they had to keep stopping because of the lightning strikes. We were told it would be a few minutes.

15 minutes later the pilot came back on telling us that we would be here for another 20 minutes at least. As time passed, people were getting antsy and making jokes that were not funny. The Spawn was getting scared. Momma bear came out and told the men making the jokes to keep it down. Andy thought he was going to have to fight someone.

After 3 hours of sitting on the tarmac (longer than the actual flight) and several “updates that weren’t updates,” we were able to change gates and taxied to a new location where we could get off the plane. This was the longest I have ever been stuck on the tarmac before, and hopefully never again.

Personal – Volunteering at the Houston Rodeo

The Houston Rodeo season has just kicked off!

For me, however, the rodeo season kicks off around Christmas. My mother and I have been volunteering for the HLSR School Art committee since 2010. We’ve worked a couple of different jobs within the committee, but I think the job we currently have is one of my favorites.

This was a picture I sent my son because we were not going to be able to make it to his school for his presentation. We were still working at the Rodeo that day.

 

Within the School Art committee, there are several smaller committees. Each one has a specific job from educating the school representatives on the rules to judging the art and returning it to the schools at the end of the season. My mother and I are a part of the committee charged to handle the art once it is judged.

Each school district has a cubby with their name on it. Once the art is judged, all of the art that is chosen to be displayed is placed in those cubby’s as a holding place until they are displayed in the cases along the inside hall of the NRG arena. All of the judged art is then displayed for a second round of judging. This is the process of selecting the Grand Champion, Reserve Champion and all of the other champion & auction pieces. All of this takes place between January and February.

 

In late February (usually the same day as opening for the cook-off) we clean the display cases and hang art. The process usually takes all day with 2 shifts for volunteers. This year, we had over 300 pieces of art to display. Fourteen 2D pieces are displayed in the big case. Those pieces are the Grand Champion, Grand Champion Reserve and champions and reserve champions in specific categories like colored pencil and mixed medium. There are also two 3D pieces displayed in this case. The 3D champion and 3D reserve champion. After the champions are the top 72 high school pieces of art that will be auctioned during the School Art Auction with the champions and reserve champion pieces of art.

Because art is subjective, the grand champion piece of art may or may not be auctioned for the most amount of money. Sometimes the pieces that go for the most money are pieces that include an obvious part of the HLSR. In the past pictures of the famous rodeo clowns have gone for A LOT of money. I’ll be curious to see how much the Painting Grand Champion piece goes for since it’s of the infamous Leon Coffee.

Are you interested in volunteering? Be aware that some committees only work during the rodeo while others (like School Art) work before and after the rodeo. Here’s the link to learn more

We’ve been adopted?

I wanted to attempt to post a personal blog post once a month. Today’s the day! So like the title says, we’ve been adopted?

Let me start at the beginning. We keep a bowl of food & water on our porch for our resident stray cats. There’s one we’ve seen around for a long time. His ear’s cropped, so he’s been captured and neutered. Andy and I both LOVE cats. We used to have 2. However, I am pretty allergic to them. Scratchy throat, sneezing, Quasimodo eyes when I get hairs in them & wheezing… But we love them, so we feed the strays to watch them and in hopes that they help us control the mouse/rat problem we have on occasion.

Several days before the MLK holiday weekend, I heard some cat fights in the front yard. Upon investigation, It was our resident cropped ear cat and a black cat. The black cat lost the territory battle. I watched it slink into the street drain. Over that weekend, the black cat came back (we assume a mother) with two kittens. A grey kitten and a black and white one. She pretty much dropped the grey cat at our door after seeing it’s interactions with us (wanting to be petted and picked up). It felt as if she was finding homes for her babies.

All day Monday while Andy was on the driveway working, the gray cat hung out with him. Occasionally asking for pets or rubbing his smell on Andy. By Monday night I had checked to see if anyone was missing a cat. I hadn’t seen anything, but again it seemed to belong to the feral black cat. We found an old wicker basket, lined the bottom with an old towel and Andy put it in the garage with the door cracked. The kitten was making itself at home including making friends immediately with Rita.

Tristan has wanted a cat, or a hamster, or a pet of some kind for years. When it became apparent that this little guy was going to stick around, I let Tristan name him. He named the cat Ink. We told him that the Ink needs to be an outdoor cat. It broke our hearts to not let the kitten stay in the house, especially when he started mewing at the garage door.

Ink likes to be held and pet. He is a really loud purr-ur like Binx, my late cat. I am going to do my best to hold strong. When my throat starts itching I’m reminded why we don’t have indoor cats anymore.

Happy (Belated) Anniversary to us!

Halloween is a special day for us. Saturday marked Andy and my 9th year of marriage. Like all couples, we have been through ups and downs, new jobs, losses and gains.

We created an amazing human who looks like his father, dresses like his Opa, and acts like his mother 😳. Tristan is really turning into an amazing little man and I can’t wait to see what his future brings.

Though we were unable to celebrate our anniversary together this year because of Andy’s job, we were still able to reminisce?

Nine years ago Danny Elfman’s The Wedding Song played in my parents backyard as I prepared to walk down the aisle with my fairy wings bobbing behind, and my Dad’s furry werewolf feet stomping next to me. At the alter stood Andy, wearing identical werewolf feet.

We were married in front of friends, family, Waldo, Batman, Robin-hood, a knight and so many more. There are so many memories I hold dear from that night.

I love that to this day, friends and family tell us how much fun they had at our wedding. Maybe we will throw a big Halloween party for our 10-year anniversary?

Black-Thumb Gardening

I don’t like talking about myself… so that means I am going to force myself to do it at least once a month.

Here’s a not so little known fact about me that doesn’t involve wedding photography.

Kelly UrbanI like to garden, but I’m not good about keeping things alive (unless they’re on a sprinkler system). I also tend to jump the gun, and buy something I would like to grow, but don’t do any sort of research about when and where to plant it.

Here recently, I’ve really dug deep (pun intended) into growing produce. I have a small vegetable garden on the side of the house with 4 raised beds and a brand new trellis/arch.

I watch a lot of YouTube videos on growing the specific plants (after I’ve planted them) to try to save them or help them produce more or larger fruit.

Some of the easiest things I’ve grown are:

  • Cucumbers – comes back every year (because I leave at least one over grown, yellow cucumber at it’s base to restart the next season’s plants)
  • Basil – very prolific (comes back every year on it’s own)
  • Chives – I have had this chive plant for 3 or 4 years now. It lasts through the winter and even tolerated being moved with out batting an eye.
  • Okra (new this year) – each plant (we have 3) produces 1-3 okra every 2-3 days. Some of the okra plants have new offshoots from the main stock that are also producing fruit now. Also, the flower is very pretty.

My favorite things growing in the garden, currently are:

  • Cucumbers – I am making so many jars of pickles.
  • Black-eyed peas – Yum! I love beans. I pick about 3 pea pods every day. Next year I will try to plant more plants, because it takes me about a month to have enough peas for a meal for 3.
  • Chives – I love having fresh chives almost any time I want it.

I’m most excited for this winter’s crop. Last year I barely put an effort into the winter garden. I had a few radishes and a few beets. this year, I have several things that I have already started to grow. I have a few little seedlings coming up under the summer plants.

Most importantly is the amount of garlic I’m hoping to grow this winter/spring. I already have 5 garlic plants growing in a pot (by my kitchen sink… because I jumped the gun in growing them and it’s too soon for them to go outside).

Do you have a garden you are proud of? What are you growing?

The beginning of a new chapter

I just did a good thing. I don’t regret this thing at all…

There were a lot of firsts yesterday. It was Tristan’s first day of First grade and my first day as a full time wedding photographer.

My parents did a good job of raising me to be financially aware. That being said, I’ve wanted to go full time with my wedding photography business for a while now. Andy and I quietly started saving up and living off of his paycheck last December.

I was forced to pull the trigger last month. We were given the option to send Tristan back to school or set him up as a virtual student. After talking with Andy, my parents (who’ve been helping me with Tristan) and Tristan’s physician, we decided the best option for us was virtual learning.

I’m excited to start this new chapter in my life. I can’t wait to see what the rest of this year brings.

  • Shirley Acres Wedding Photography
  • Star Wars Houston Wedding Photographer

 

Behind the scene with a wedding photographer

Have you ever been to a wedding and thought while watching the wedding photographer, that must be the best job to just show up with a camera and take a few photos.

When people think about wedding photographers and the work they do, they think about someone who directs people where and how to stand shoots a couple of quick pictures and moves on to another group of photo setups.

What many people may not realize is that we are so much more than just wedding photographers. We wear many hats at weddings.

So what exactly goes on behind the scenes of each wedding we photograph?

Houston Wedding PhotographerBefore your wedding even starts, we’re researching your venue (even if we’ve been there before). Coming up with an image game-plan. Prepping our gear to make sure the cameras and lenses are clean, the batteries are fully charged (with loads of backups) and that we have plenty of SD/Flash cards. We send a questionnaire to our couples to help us develop our wedding timeline. If the couple has a wedding coordinator, then we’ll develop a plan with the coordinator.

On your wedding day, we take photos of all the prep work that goes into your wedding. We are taking detail photos, photos if you getting into your dress, photos of boutonnieres being pinned.

An important element of our gear is a set of walki-talkies that help to communicate to the other photographer and between the couples on their wedding day. This allows us to move about with confidence that no one will see the bride before she is ready.

We bring snacks and emergency supplies like makeup remover, pins, a sewing kit… We help out in any way we can. I can’t tell you how many boutonnieres I’ve pinned, and how many lessons on “how to pin a boutonniere,” I’ve given.

Before your ceremony, we are getting into place and making sure everything is good to go. We try to move around quietly and without blocking your guests views. After your wedding, we gather your family and wedding party and start whittling down the people. We slowly send people inside until it is just the newley weds. This gives us some time to take some intimate photos between the two and allows time for everyone to settle for the couples grand entrance.

At the ceremony, we get a little breathing room. We check out schedule and talk with the DJ to make sure we’re on the same timeline. At this point, the DJ is usually running the show. We are taking all of the regular, cake cutting, first dance, speech photos, but we are also taking candid photos and group photos. Sometimes we answer guests questions, direct them to the bathroom, let them know when things are going to happen. I can’t help to dance at wedding, especially if the dance floor is empty. At the end of the wedding night, I try to help pick up a little before I leave.

After your wedding, some photographers are done. They send images off to someone to be edited (or they don’t edit). As soon as I get home, I start the download process. As the images are downloading, I grab a few to run a quick edit so I can throw some sneak peeks up on Facebook. For the next few weeks, I spend my time behind my computer culling and editing through every image all while making sure to upload images to social media and post a blog about your wedding.

Houston Outdoor wedding photographerWhen all of the images have been edited, I upload them to an online gallery that I send to the newlyweds. The cool thing about the link is that it’s instant and it can be shared with anyone.

 

Have you seen me dance at your wedding or at a friends wedding? Didn’t happen unless you have video proof! (wink)

 

 

  • Shirley Acres Wedding Photography
  • Star Wars Houston Wedding Photographer
 

Just a note from me…

As a wedding photographer, sometimes I find myself helping out in all sorts of weird ways. This last wedding, I helped fetch water for everyone before we started taking photos. I’ve been known to pin a boutonniere or two (or 20) in my day. I even help throw away trash. I do it because I love what I do and I want more than just the wedding photos to be perfect. I want the whole day to be perfect for my couples.

Today, in the middle of all of this crazy, I find myself working on being a calm, collected individual. There’s a whole lot of uncertainties going around right now. Not just with wedding days being kept/canceled/rescheduled but with life and the future.

I’m not a doctor, so I can’t tell you what to do. You’ll just have to figure that out for yourself. I can say, with the utmost certainty, that we, your wedding vendors, will be there for you every step of the way.

Please understand that we only want the best for you. If you have to reschedule your wedding date, we’re here for you. We will do everything in our power to make that shift as smooth as possible. If you just want to have an intimate wedding on your scheduled wedding date, we will be there for you as well.

Just remember, in this time of need, always make sure to look back and reach for those who need your help the most.

The End of a Decade

I can’t believe 2019 has already come and gone! It has been such a whirlwind year for me and my wedding photography business.

2019 marked the first full year of my rebrand. I was concerned about the slow pick up at the beginning of the year, but things quickly improved.

We shot a total of 5 weddings, 6 engagement portrait sessions a few random sessions and endless family portraits. There were a few bumps in the road, as there always is, but we managed through. This year was my first attempt at scheduling and shooting a styled shoot. I enjoyed it immensely. So much so that I am already scheduled to do another one next month and have 2 or 3 ideas to work out as well.

Tristan started Kindergarten this year. We learned a lot about where he lands on the bell curve for reading and math. Andy started a new job this year that he has really enjoyed and that has allowed him to go places he never would have imagined. This year, I started my creep toward becoming a full time photographer.

I can’t wait to see what 2020 will bring!

From my family to yours, have a fun, prosperous and most importantly happy 2020.

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

A Southwest Houston wedding photographer
Richmond, TX

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

A Houston wedding photographer