Meet Jacklyn and Matt.
The minutes before I met them for the shoot they were buying pillows.
I know I left you hanging in mystery with the sneak peek last week, but now I’ll clue you in — Matt had finally convinced Jacklyn to include a pillow fight in their engagement shoot. And now that I’ve hooked you, the fight will be at the end of the post, so I guess you’ll just have to keep reading.
Somebody just TRY and tell me this girl ISN’T Mary-Kate Olsen. COME ON!
(Side note: I may or may not have, at one time in my life, owned every single Olsen movie ever made. I love me some Passport to Paris and Holiday in the Sun. Holla.)
Sigh. The almost kiss. Gets me every time.
Do you remember Hollye? Hollye and Jacklyn have been best friends since high school so Hollye lent us her fabulous vintage suitcase and some worn books to work into the shoot as well.
Definitely one of my favorites engagement shots that I’ve done. Possibly of all time. Look at those giddy-to-be-married faces.
A quick outfit change obviously produced some sass inside the two of them, but I certainly wasn’t about to object.
As cool as it would have been to find a random old window hanging on a nearby tree, the window is also Hollye’s. Seriously, Hollye is the wealth of all things nostalgic.
Jacklyn also expressed to me that she definitely wanted some wide-open field shots, so that was our next task.
Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooorgeous, Jacklyn. Just gorgeous.
They seriously just started having fun in front of my camera. I ate it up.
And now, right at dusk, segue into pillow fight.
Matt’s vision was to try something new and do something that set their engagement pictures apart — in the form of an all-out, no mercy pillow fight.
Words can.not express how ridiculously excited I get when a client tells me they have an idea like this. It’s like a little kid in a candy shop. And I looooove candy, so that’s saying something.
Bam.
There were feathers. everywhere. More than I could have ever imagined could possibly fit into two pillowcases.
It was incredible.
I love the mix of slightly blur-motion shots, like the one above, and the slightly sharper images like the one below. I like the different feelings associated with both of them.
Haha. Matt’s little boy face. Love it.
Who knew how super-romantic a pillow fight could turn out?
I get the feeling that Jacklyn and Matt even each other out. It’s not that one or the other is overwhelming on their own, but I guess it’s perhaps even in life Matt is the random pillow-fight to  Jacklyn’s field. Sure, it’s unexpected — but what they have and who they are in the end result is even better than any original expectation.
(The best news — this was only ONE of TWO engagement shoots that Matt and Jacklyn did. I’ll post their Sundance Square shoot soon!)
Meet  Caxcy and James.
The look on Caxcy’s face ALMOST represents how giddy I feel to be finally posting their pictures. Almost.
Caxcy had e-mailed me a couple of months ago telling me that she wanted to do a shoot that embodied Dallas.
At night.
After reading that e-mail I turned around to my husband and told him, “No way.” A night shoot scared me.
He made me do it. Well, he convinced me I should. And I’m so, so glad that he did.
Caxcy and James were a photographer’s dream. They came dressed to the nines, having a vision for their shoot and were ready to work. it. out.
I adore that smirk on Caxcy’s face in the picture on the left. It’s right before it explodes into that full blown grin in the picture on the right. She knew it was coming.
Funny enough, “Caxcy and James” began when James and his friend were scoping out girls at  church in high school. The two boys agreed, “I’ll take this one and you take that one.” Well James and Caxcy stuck. Caxcy joked that this means God wanted them to be together.
Waiting for nightfall, we started out in a nearby empty construction site.
I’ve recently developed an affinity for blurred motion portraits. Just wanted to let you know.
Even at the risk of sounding cheesy, I’m just going to say it.
Caxcy, you shine. Like, light-up-a-construction-zone shine.
At this point in the shoot we began to integrate the flash — the picture on the left is naturally lit and side-right lit with the flash.
I don’t know WHY they waited until this far into the shoot to whip out their secret handshake from high school. I was impressed.
Get it, James.
Next we went indoors for some shots at their wedding reception venue across the street from the Magnolia hotel.
Right before we were about to leave the building I spotted this light blue chair. I almost passed it up, but turned around and decided to try it out. It definitely ended up being one of my most favorite photo spots of the night.
Don’t they just look straight out of a magazine?
We finished off our shoot with some downtown Dallas street shots.
Caxcy and James, thank you for asking me to do something I had never done before. Thank you for trusting me.
And I couldn’t have done any of this without my husband, James. He was my flash-man. His intuitive, smart, artist abilities came to my rescue. James, thank you for knowing me and for knowing exactly where to be without me even having to ask you.
And TO thank him, I serenaded him in the car ride home with “Yooooouuu, light up my liii-ee-ife!” He totally appreciated it.
**Special thanks to Krista Jones of Bayside Bride for spending her time today explaining photo resizing just out of the goodness of her heart — it made the photos on my blog look the way they’re supposed to! I appreciate you, Krista!***
The day began at a house full of bridesmaids and a bride named Erica.
And now, meet Erica.
I love the way people look at a bride on her wedding day. It looks like this.
While Erica and her bridesmaids finished getting ready, I headed to the reception site, the Santa Fe Train Depot, to grab some detail shots.
I always love seeing the printed versions of the pictures I take, so I was thrilled that one of the major decorating components at the train depot mixed in amongst the roses and different vases were framed photos from the railroad-themed engagement and the bridal sessions I did for them.
I loved the athletic clothes/dress shoes combo of the maid-of-honor, Kelsey, as she rounded up the bride and headed out the door to the church to change for pictures.
“Could I BE holding anymore stuff?” she exclaimed.
After Erica’s mom, Jill, helped the bride slip into her wedding dress she just stepped back and beamed.
For this wedding day we played “hide the bride” as we took pictures before the ceremony so that Josh, the groom, wouldn’t see her before she walked down the aisle.
We sent Erica back inside to hide and then brought out Josh and his groomsmen.
I told them all to take a picture that explains why Josh chose each of them to be his groomsman. This is what they came up with.
This is probably one of my most favorite groomsmen shots I’ve ever taken — everyone was totally committed.
Though the bridesmaids certainly didn’t hold anything back either. Work it, ladies.
I just really like this picture of Josh’s dad. He looks so happy.
As the time for the ceremony approached the bridesmaids and mother of the bride gathered around to pray over Erica.
Gosh, I just always include this moment in my blog posts because I think it’s such a sweet, sweet part of the wedding day. Gets me every time.
This is the face of a girl who’s ready to get married.
And this is the face of a boy who’s ready for his bride.
Erica and Josh wrote their own vows to each other, but I was still caught off-guard when Erica started hers off acknowledging that she can be a drama queen. Turns out their pastor had switched out her real vows with a little something of his own he had written.
This was Erica’s reaction.
Don’t worry though. He handed over her real vows to read after she poked him.
Before heading to the reception I snapped some shots of the bride and groom:
Some were more celebratory.
And some were more sweet.
Then it was off to the reception where friends, food, and cherry cobbler shots awaited.
Two words: Starbucks bar.
Erica and Josh’s reception was not one with dancing, but instead it was the kind of sweet reception where you get to catch up with old friends . . .
. . . and the kind of reception where you see a secret handshake between friends.
Can you guess what just happened?
As a finishing touch to the reception, Erica hired specially-trained body guards to guard the bathroom while she changed into her send-off dress to leave the reception. They were super-intimidating.
Erica and Josh had personalized train whistles for each of the guests to blow as they left the reception.
Erica and Josh, I enjoyed the lovely day of celebration of such a lovely couple. I couldn’t be happier for the two of you!
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Kim started her wedding day with her mom and a few of her bridesmaids in a hotel room where they prepped for the big day.
One on the bridesmaids, Dani, perfected Kim’s makeup while Christmas music (Kim’s absolute favorite) played in the background.
I’m in love with Kim’s unique vintage ring.
After hair and makeup we headed to the lovely Ashton Gardens, a great new wedding venue in Corinth.
Can I just say that every single moment of this day was filled with laughs and smiles. Call it cheesy, but that is precisely why I love doing wedding photography — people are at their happiest.
After Kim slipped on her wedding dress, her dad came in for a peek at the bride.
As I mentioned in my earlier post of Kim and Vinnie’s first look, I was second shooting at this wedding for Stephanie Rose. This meant that at times that Stephanie was directing large groups of wedding party or family I would step back (or sometimes closer) and capture details and the in-between moments.
Now it’s time to finally meet the groom, Vinnie. He’s the one leading the pack of groomsmen.
Kim, you are absolutely stunning.
Because Kim and Vinnie did a first look (which you can see here) we were able to snag lots of shots of them together before finishing up the full wedding party and family shots before the ceremony. I would highly recommend a first look to couples to whom photography is an integral part of their wedding day.
Before the ceremony started I grabbed some details shots of the reception area.
These two are actually a combination before and during the ceremony. Kim and Vinnie used the tree as their guestbook for guests to  write notes on the paper ornaments before hanging them up on the tree.
I was greeted at the ceremony entrance by the sweet flower girls passing out programs.
Because the venue only had the middle aisle, I took shots from the balcony of the musicians and aerial shots of the ceremony while Stephanie took care of the shots on the lower level.
I love this wider shot of the entire aisle as Kim and her father near her groom.
Then it was on to the reception and I have never seen a bride and groom receive a warmer grand entrance than the guests gave Kim and Vinnie.
I believe the two young children in the photo below are the flower girls eagerly trying to capture the grand entrance on their pink iphones. I thought this was comical . . . I hope that’s ok.
It was when I saw the MASS of people swarm to take the newlyweds’ photo that I lol-ed behind my camera. But honestly, this is just a small picture of  how absolutely loved and adored Kim and Vinnie are by each and every single person around them.
Their dj, Intelligent Lights & Sound, was one of the best that I have had the opportunity to work with — great lighting and great music. Here he had the newlyweds play a quick, fun game on the dance floor before dinner was served.
Literally the second the floor was cleared after the mother-son and father-daughter dances a legitimate conga line was formed. This reception was such a vivacious celebration up until the very end.
This was the best reaction I have ever seen a groom have to taking his bride’s garter off. Hands down.
Gosh. Look at that face. It’s a face that would rather be right there. Holding that woman. More than anything else in the world.
Kim and Vinnie were sent off with bells rang by all their friends and family.
Kim and Vinnie, please know how completely and utterly supported y’all are. I saw it in every face at your wedding.
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