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Tag Archives: houston wedding

Consider a Photo Dash

 Have you ever heard of a “Photo Dash”? I hadn’t until this year.

What is a “Photo Dash”?

Photo Dash

A Photo Dash is where you and your spouse run to each table at your reception and take a quick group photo before the song you have playing ends. Each table gets a couple of seconds of your time. Tables will decide what pose they want to do as you and your photographer are running around the reception. It’s a lot of fun.

Why should you do a “Photo Dash”? The why is really simple. Time.

Even though you’ve really only spend 10 seconds with each table, your guests feel like you have spend some quality time with them. Also, you get fun photos of you and your guests before the night runs away with you. It feels like after a couple does a Photo Dash, they get more time to quietly eat their dinner without all of their guests coming up talking and asking for a photo. Photo Dashes are also a lot of fun!

How do to a “Photo Dash”?Photo Dash

Talk with your DJ, wedding coordinator and your photographer. Make sure the song you choose it both fun and gives you enough time to get across your reception. Make a plan where you are starting and where you are ending. It’s best to start at one end of your reception and work your way to the other end, ending with the head table so you can easily sit for dinner right after.

What are your thoughts? Would you have a Photo Dash at your wedding?

Photo Dash

Blayton & Ryleigh’s Addison Woods Wedding

In early November I photographed a wedding for one of the sweetest couples. Blayton and Ryleigh, more than high school sweethearts, said “I do” in front of friends and family in the gorgeous chapel at Addison Woods.

I first met the couple for their engagement portraits at Addison Woods. They were coming down from College Station and would have a nice date night after their engagement portraits.

The day of the wedding was gorgeous. The sun was shining bright through the crops of trees on the Addison Woods property. We took a couple of quick photos of the bride with her friends in their adorable silk pajamas before having a little fun with some champagne. Ryleigh wanted to have a first look with her father and grandfather as well as her bridesmaids. The reactions to Ryleigh all dressed up brings tears to my eyes just thinking about them.

As the wedding night progressed, I had the opportunity to chat with Ryleigh’s Papa, who not only married the happy couple, but now shares a wedding anniversary with them. He told me that when Blayton was in elementary school, he told Papa that he was “going to marry that girl.” When They were 12, Blayton asked if he could date Ryleigh. Her parents asked him to wait, and wait he did. When they were in High School, they started dating, unknowingly on the same day as Ryleigh’s Papa & Nanna’s wedding anniversary. As the years progressed, the couple started celebrating their anniversary together. It’s only fitting that they will now have an even stronger bond.

Many phones, and a TV in the Grooms suit were playing the Astros 6th game in the World Series that evening. As the night was wrapping up and guests were getting into their car, I heard cheering. The Astros managed to get out from their 0-1 rut and got a couple of runs.

 

Vendors:

Wedding Photography at Addison Woods Wedding Venue

Santos & Ana’s Backyard Wedding

Santos & Ana’s small backyard summer Houston wedding photography.

As a fellow backyard wedding bride, I really felt drawn to Santos and Ana’s wedding. They enlisted friends and family to make their wedding truly special.

After going through such a hot, dry July it was crazy that the sky finally opened up and started raining, just before Santos and Anna’s wedding. This happens. Mother nature has her own plans. I tell all of my couples getting married on rainy days that rain is good luck on your wedding day. I actually have a whole blog about it. The couple bounced back and forth with the location of the ceremony, but the rain cased just before their wedding and they were able to hold the ceremony and reception outside.

I was in awe at the full island charcuterie spread, the adorable decorations and the floor seating style. The cute coffee table seating was so unique to experience at a wedding. It felt like everyone sitting on the floor had a closer connection to each other because of it. Those who didn’t want to sit on the floor or couldn’t, walked around or sat outside by the bar.

Probably my favorite decoration from this wedding was the golden retriever with cake in it’s mouth by the wedding cake. The couple had pictures of their golden retriever all over including as table numbers. I just love it when couples can incorporate their fur-babies into their wedding, whether they bring them along or they are there in spirit as a cocktail name or place cards.

Also, the bubble gun was an amazing trick for a wedding photographer. I’ll have to get one to use in the future.

See all the photos from Santos & Anna’s wedding below.

 

 

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Kelly Urban Photography — Houston wedding photography

Chris & Adrienne’s Bell Tower on 34th Wedding Photography

It was a pleasant evening in November for an evening wedding at the Bell Tower on 34th. The temperature had recently dropped to a tolerable number. The sky was clear and you could see all the stars, or at least all the stars the light pollution from downtown allowed.

Adrienne was resplendent in her old Hollywood satin gown. She descended the long staircase to her two boys who escorted her down the aisle. The alter shone with warm toned purple hues as the couple light a unity candle and then said “I do.”

After the wedding, the happy couple descended one more set of stairs into their reception. Guests danced and laughed all night. Part way through the reception, the couple held a dollar dance where their guests pinned money to them before waltzing into the night.

I wanted to spend one whole paragraph talking about the groom’s cake… The wedding cake was gorgeous, but it didn’t’ hold a candle (for the nerd in me) to the grooms cake, which was a Millennium Falcon with a “just married” sign. Heart!

At the end of the night, the couple exited the reception to a night filled with bubbles. They said their goodbyes as they climbed into the white rolls limo that escorted them into their first night as husband and wife.

Congratulations Chris & Adrienne!!

Vendors

 

Spice up your wedding rehearsal dinner

So, Ive seen several things that talk about how to make your rehearsal dinner memorable, but all of those things talk about the decorations, invitations and location of your rehearsal dinner. While those are great ways to make your rehearsal dinner memorable, I think there are even better (and less stressful) ways to spice up your rehearsal dinner.

First off, let’s talk about the mood of the group. Most of the people who are attending your rehearsal dinner are family members and your wedding party… so the people who are the closest to you. You probably know what they can or are willing to do. Don’t do something crazy like a triathlon (unless you know your families are the fit, triathlon types).

Your wedding rehearsal should start the mood of your wedding weekend. Make sure it’s a fun one!

Easy & inexpensive ways to get the rehearsal party hopping!

  • Have your guests collaborate on a piece of art (could be a canvas that they all get to make a paint stroke on or paper they all draw on)
  • Ask the matriarch/patriarch’s of your families to tell embarrassing stories about their children/grandchildren…
  • Have a bonfire
  • Sing karaoke
  • Pit your guests against each other in a friendly competition
    • Play a yard game tournament
    • Play a trivia game
    • Go bowling or play a few rounds at Topgolf
    • Do a scavenger hunt (could be as easy as a purse/pocket scavenger hunt)
    • Play Bingo
    • Play wedding themed charades

wedding rehersal scavenger hunt
What are your thoughts? Is there something I missed in my list? Let me know.

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!

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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