It is March my friends! Can you believe it?? This year is already flying by! Soon enough I will be registering my first born for Kindergarten and I just don’t know how I am going to handle it! I am so sad already. The baby will be 2 in a month; I have to figure out when to do his 2 year pictures in between all my client sessions. Yikes! lol! I can’t believe how big he is getting already.
This month is going to be extremely busy for me. I have a family session in Austin, a child session in Cedar Park, a couple of family sessions in Houston and 2 boudoir sessions in Killeen. I am completely booked for March! (of course I am always open and able to fit in newborn sessions so give me a call if you need one!)
Last weekend, I got to do one of my favorite things – I got to assist an awesome local Austin wedding photographer with 2 of his weddings! It was sooooo much fun!
Friday afternoon I met up with Allen from Doberenz Photography out at Barr Mansion. Having never been out there before, I walked around a bit like a kid at the circus; eyes wide and mouth open. It is a fascinating place out in the middle of what looks like nowhere, but really it’s only a few miles from several neighborhoods, somewhere on the north east side near I35 and 290. I just fell in love with this venue. The grounds and all the gardens were planted with edible plants. Barr Mansion promotes itself as the nation’s first certified organic events facility. As I was walking the grounds, I began to notice some of the plants looked familiar. I saw all kinds of lettuce, garlic, onions, parsley, rosemary, sage, thyme, spinach…an endless array of beautiful, edible greenery! The mansion is a zero waste facility, diverting 97% of it’s waste stream. Even now, with things being still somewhat brown from the winter, the grounds were beautiful and omg, looked so amazing in pictures!! You can see a sneak peek from Allen here.
The bride and groom were super sweet and everyone there was so fun to work with. A front was coming in that evening and it was bitterly cold and windy, but we still managed to get some great shots of the happy couple and bridal party. One of the fun things about Barr Mansion is that you can get great group shots of your entire wedding party and all the guests. Allen stood up on the second story balcony of the mansion and had everyone stand in the yard next to it. He was up high enough to be able to get everyone in the picture – what a great image for the wedding album!!
Saturday’s wedding was out in San Antonio! I met Allen early in the morning and we drove out to spend the day with the bridal party. The ladies had a huge 2 bedroom suite at the Westin La Cantera Resort near Six Flags. It is a beautiful, beautiful resort, with amazing rooms and gorgeous grounds. Once the bride and bridesmaids were all ready, we walked around the property and did some bridals. Even though the sun was high in the sky we still managed to find some great shady spots in their lush gardens. With such a picturesque area, we found lots of great backdrops for the gorgeous wedding party.
The ceremony was held at a nearby Methodist church and was very nice. Afterward we drove out to the reception venue, Don Strange Ranch, located about 30 miles outside of San Antonio. This place was amazing! It was absolutely gorgeous, perfectly decorated throughout and a wonderful location for a wedding and reception. We were greeted by 3 ginormous long horn cattle! The grounds had so many amazing places for pictures, but I think my favorite was the huge empty arena where we did the big group shots of the bridal party. With 10 bridesmaids and 10 groomsmen, the large space was perfect for getting some amazing shots. I think my favorites will be the ones that Allen took of everyone in one big long line. The sun was setting behind them, and the light was absolutely stunning!! I am pretty sure I got some nice shots with sun flare; I can’t wait to see them!
It was such a great day, when I crawled into bed at 2AM I was blissfully exhausted.
What a great weekend to be married! Many thanks to Allen of Doberenz Photography, a true professional and gentleman, for letting me help him out. As always, it was an amazing experience.
And thanks for letting me tell you the story. 🙂