So here it is, a little story about how that photo was taken.

The story is this – whenever I can, I always ride with the wedding party between the ceremony and reception, particularly if there is a long break.  In this case there was at least an hour and a half, so the plan was to go from St Ignatius church from South Austin to the state capitol to get some photos on the grounds, with a possible stop in downtown Austin.

On the way over, people were getting hungry in the car so the decision was made to stop at a local Wendy’s.   So I followed them in:

So here it is the story behind the image at Wendy’s.   We did stop by the capitol and took a lot of photos there but didn’t have time for downtown Austin.  In my view, a few images at Wendy’s beats anything in downtown Austin.  We did, however, stop by a park south of townlake (now Ladybird’s lake) for some photo with Austin skyline, but this moment really stood out for me that day.

When you see a couple as relaxed as Vladimira and Jeremy on their wedding day, stopping by Wendy’s to grab a bite, you know the rest of the day is going to be really fun – and it was.

So when we had the idea of presenting 3 images from each wedding, it became a real daunting task to go through all 30k images.   We knew we had to have some ground rules.  We decided that the majority of the images need to be both bride and groom together, that they’re nearly all moments with a few portraits thrown in.  And, we need to have over 80% of the images with either the bride or the groom in the picture (and limited the number of guests images – so quite a few really crazy and wild reception photos didn’t make the cut).

Still, cutting down from 29219 down to just 93 images and limit them to 3 images for a single wedding was a lot of work.  I hope you enjoy watching the slideshow as much as I enjoyed making it – I can still remember each wedding as if it was yesterday!  Some of these are also my clients favorites – we did a survey last year and will be publishing those shortly as well.

The slideshow ends with one of my favorite reception images from 2010 – and is also appropriate because I want ALL of my brides feel like Jessica and her sister at the end of one of the most important days of her life:

A BIG thank you to all of our clients for a great 2010 and best wishes to y’all for 2011!!

Here is her letter:

Dear Tony and Hazel,

My husband and I just had the best Thanksgiving ever!   We had the pleasure of watching your slide show with Matt and Amira.  It was so amazing and beautiful.  And the music was great with it, too.

We really appreciate all you did and can never thank you enough.  We knew your pictures would be totally awesome.

If a picture tells a thousand words, you have just told a never ending story of the marriage of Matt and Amira.  And what a beautiful love story you have shown!

They are so pleased and so are we.  I will probably watch the slide show each day for a very long time!

I hope you and your family had a nice Thanksgiving.  We are thankful for you and the incredible work you do!  We feel lucky that both of you came to Houston on Oct. 23rd.  It was so kind of you to share your talent with us on such a special day.

Thanks again for making my day!

Sincerely,

Debbie – the mother of the bride

Here is one of my favorite photos from the wedding (and quite frankly one of my favorites for the year) – it’s simply a moment between Amira and father during their dance:

This moment, like many others, is a combination of just waiting for the expression and little bit of luck.  There was a nice light in the reception, a spot light almost from the ceiling which was much brighter than any other ambient light sources – it was quite blinding and would be a bit difficult to match with flash.  So I had asked them if if they can turn it off – they couldn’t as luck would have it.  Rather than trying to fight the light, I simply kept an eye on that bright spot and waited for a moment to occur.  While I am sure I could have photographed this moment without the light, it simply wouldn’t be as dramatic.  The cool part is – Amira went to Rice U for theatre education, and this photograph and the light reminds me a lot of the type of lighting you’d see on a stage during a play.

I’ll post he wedding in a few days!

Happy New Year everyone!

Kimber wrote:

My dress and bouquet contrast beautifully with the train car in this bridal portrait. The colors are so vibrant and is reason for it being another favorite photo of Tony’s.

After the ceremony they went off in a boat ride….

Kimber wrote:

I absolutely love this picture! This photo looks like a shot straight out of a movie.

 

Kimber wrote:

Stunning! –That’s the best word for this shot. Many people told me I should be on the cover of a bridal magazine after seeing this photo.

A lot of people thought the phot above was a portrait, it was a pure moment.

And here is my favorite on the boat ride:

Sometimes, the magic moment in a wedding occurs on the way between the ceremony and reception.  The expression of Monica and David says it all.  Their wedding was at the Highland Park United Methodist Church in Highland Park, TX (Dallas uptown), and reception in the Arlington Hall at Lee’s Park.

Monica told me she likes the image so much that it’s on her computer background that she looks at all day  (it is also used as their album cover)   I love it as well, and that’s why it’s on the first page of our website.  She also wrote:

 

“I love this picture because it’s one of the only times that David and I were alone after the ceremony – riding to the reception to celebrate with our friends and family.  We just look like we’re sharing a moment and happiness that only the two of us know about.  It’s a very private moment on a day where everyone is watching you.”

 

One of my favorite images from this year was at Ashley and Jimmy’s Wedding in the reception when Ashley tries to toast with Jimmy.  There is a foot of difference between them and this comical moment is when they try to a do a toast and Ashley couldn’t *quite* reach there:

Consequently one of Ashley’s favorites from her day was the following image:

She wrote:

“I love this picture not just because Jimmy is throwing cookies, but because it depicts the fun that Jimmy adds to my life. Of course, there’s way more to the story than that. These cute green bags show how loving Jimmy’s family is towards each other. Tricia (Jimmy’s mom) and his Aunts spent a few days before our wedding baking and packaging Tricia’s famous cookies. The cookies were like gold to our friends and it was a blast watching everyone try and catch them!”

And here is a photo of guests catching the cookies as Jimmy threw them:

Such is the moment here from Kristen and Mike’s Wedding in the Stephen F Austin Hotel:

Kristen wrote to me about this photo:  We love the one that is featured on your website in our reception.  This picture captures the pure joy and elation Mike and I felt that after 5 years of dating, we were finally married and ready to celebrate!!!

We feel the same way.  Love, love, love it!

This is one of my favorite images of the year.

Ashley got married to Jimmy in June of this year and this is just a photo of a peak moment in the getting ready.   This image shows what wedding photojournalism is.  When someone photographs in the photojournalism style, we don’t pose people and most importantly, we have to gain access to people, just like a photojournalist would have to do in the field.  We have to gain the clients’ trust and the photography part is really, in the end, secondary (i.e. shutterspeed, framing, etc. has to be secondary in order to capture moments).  If you can’t gain access, you can’t get the moment.

I also get asked about this image when I posted the blog back in June from prospective clients about whether we photograph moments like this all the time – we don’t.  Actually, this is completely up to our clients.  If they want us to be in the room when they’re putting on the dress, then moments like these can be captured.  Access, in the end, is the key to interesting, fun, emotionally filled wedding photos.

Image by Austin wedding photographer Tony Ku, Ku Photography LLC