Okay so remember all those shoots from 2011 that I never got around to blogging?  This is one of those.

Kelly and Mark are getting married this coming weekend here in Austin.  They are such a  great couple, and I was thinking back to how much fun we had on their engagement session, and I realized I hadn’t shared anything from it.  Must. Be. Corrected.  We shot a little at Zilker park, and a little down on South Congress, the site of their first date.  Just wanted to share some of these great images before they tie the knot this weekend.

Fun fact about this shoot.  We met at Zilker originally because Mark and Kelly wanted to get a specific save-the-date photo, with their pup, Wyatt.  Then the plan was to get some sweet engagement photos with the three of them.  We did manage to get some good save the dates, with Wyatt looking very stately.  Just look at that serious doggy face.

Amy and I are big time dog people.  If you know us at all, you know we have two miniature schnauzers that are like our children.  Our very spoiled children.  So we’re always up for some pup shooting.  But here’s the thing.  The park was filled with dogs.  It was wet that morning.  The grass was soaking and there was mud everywhere.  Wyatt wasn’t one bit interested in getting his picture taken.  He just wanted to run. [insert Bruce Springsteen Lyrics here] We didn’t end up with very many photos of the three of them, because Wyatt wasn’t going to sit for photos.  But just look at that little guy run.

We were privileged to be a part of Sandhya and Gaurav’s wedding in January.  It was a stunning event that we can’t wait to share with you.

Their day was jam-packed with activities. That’s not an exaggeration.  For Amy and me it was a 17-hour day, and the couple started earlier and finished later than us, so I  think it was literally a 24-hour wedding.  The schedule didn’t leave a lot of time for a typical day-of portrait session, which is something we normally try to keep as part of the wedding day.  Sometimes though, it’s just really difficult to get everything in.  So Sandhya and Gaurav made the excellent decision to do their portrait session ahead of time.  We did this day-after session way back in October.  I’ve been keeping a lid on them until the wedding was over, but man am I glad to be able to share them now.

Sandhya and Gaurav met and started their relationship while they were both attending UT Austin, so they wanted to use it as a backdrop for their session.  It’s such a pretty campus, and I think it served as the perfect surrounding for their beautiful traditional Indian attire.

Today marks the first time ever that I’ve blogged every single image from an engagement shoot.

Okay, well maybe not every image. But I had a hard time narrowing this shoot down to my favorites. I love these photos. I love this couple. They were so much fun to work with. They just owned the camera, and gave me everything a wedding photographer could want. Stylish. Cute. Silly. Sweet. Romantic. It’s all here. Enjoy.

Meghan and Joey are getting married next spring.  We Met Meghan and Joey awhile back over a beer, and I don’t think we spent very much time talking about weddings at all.  It was mostly talk about Austin, music, and a lot  of Joey making the rest of us laugh hysterically.  I got home and realized maybe I’d blown it, because I didn’t talk enough about my back-up strategy or something, but we sure had a good time.

We’re really excited to be a part of their wedding next spring.  In the mean time, here’s a really great warm-up.  My favorite is the one where they decided they wanted to do a mid-air high five.  they probably had no idea how many times I was going to make them do it.  I think Meghan’s hand was bruised by the end.  Only a little.

what can I say about these photos?  I love my job.

We met Natalie + Matt for the first time for coffee at Jo’s on South Congress.  On a Saturday night. During SXSW.  We chose it because of its proximity to a location where we were going to snap a quick photo for their save-the-date cards, but obviously I didn’t really think it through.  South Congress was insane, and by the time we found parking, and walked a half-mile we were almost 30 minutes late.  Fortunately Natalie and Matt were running late, too. We grabbed a cup of ice coffee and sat down at a table and started talking about their wedding plans. Right about that time a band started their set on the outdoor stage Jo’s had set up in their parking lot.  The band was very…loud.  But that botched first meeting made it immediately clear that some things are just fated to happen.  Within a couple of minutes of sitting down, I had to keep reminding myself that we haven’t been friends for years.  These guys are just those kind of people.

Natalie and Matt are from the Dallas area, but they’re having their wedding here in Austin  later next month. They chose Austin because they love the city so much, and it’s where they got engaged, so they wanted to celebrate their wedding here too.  Amy and I think they belong in Austin.  We keep trying to convince them to move here. We’ve made it one of our personal objectives.  We offered to let them move in with us.  I think they thought we were joking.

I wish I could take credit for this shoot.  I really do. But I can’t.  Margie told me over and over they wanted to do something fun for their engagements, and my best idea was doing something involving a couch, a tub of ice cream, and a 30 Rock marathon.  Sounded fun to me, but maybe not that photogenic.

It was Margie who told me they’d always wanted to ride a tandem bike, and thought that would really be great for photos.  And she was right.  we rode that bike out into the middle of some farmland, and they took it for a spin. It was amazingly fun, and I secretly wanted to try it.  So did all the farmers driving by in their trucks.  Either that or they were honking for me to get out of the middle of the road.   I have to say, Margie and Ross really got the hang of it.  I can’t wait until the day I can claim responsibility for their Olympic gold in tandem cross country.  That’s an event, right?

Margie and Ross are getting married in just a few short weeks at the Wildflower Center here in Austin, and if the morning I spent with them biking across the farm is any indication, it’s going to be an awesome party.

Sarah and Steve are getting married this October here in Austin. Sarah and steve are the kind of people that you become friends with instantly. I feel pretty confident that they are friends with everyone they’ve ever known. They both work for IBM, and Sarah is also a photography enthusiast. She’s big into toy cameras, like her Diana, and other cool stuff, like TTV photography.

Sarah and Steve recently moved to the Austin area from Connecticut, and have been planning a really amazing hill country Texas wedding for their friends and family from New England.

For their engagements we took them for a walk in one of Austin’s many amazing greenbelts, and then we went out to South Congress, which was where they fell in love with Austin.

It was a gorgeous spring day when we took Kathryn and Shawn out for their engagement session. It was quiet and for the first time in a week the sun was shining. Everything looked glowy. Including Kathryn and Shawn. They are getting married next year here in Austin, and we’re so excited to be a part of their wedding.

After a morning walk out in the woods, we headed downtown for a bit.