This was a good day, this wedding day of Erin and Mike’s.

It was a nice, slow morning with Erin and her bridesmaids eating lunch and getting ready at Erin’s super-generous boss’  super-beautiful home . I loved all the time I had for creating detail photos of Erin’s bouquet, shoes, jewelry and dress.

I’m really proud of the pop-culture relevancy of this detail shot of the handkerchiefs Erin’s soon-to-be mother-in-law had gifted her for the wedding.

After final touch-ups at the house, we packed up and headed to the wedding venue — Cityplace.

Sidenote: Erin’s mom was one of the sweetest women I have ever had the pleasure of working with on a wedding day. And that same sweetness was so obviously engrained in Erin too.

Upon arrival, James met up with Mike and his groomsmen while they prepped for wedding party photos before the ceremony.

And the room we got to shoot in? Looooooooved all the dreamy fabric hanging in the open room of the 42nd floor.

Look. at. that. view.

The landscape is pretty cool too, I guess . . .

We finished up with photos in time to take some deep breaths before the ceremony.

After the ceremony we got to head back up to the wonderful 42nd floor for a few more pictures.

Favorite.

And then it was on to the reception, which was a wonderful reflection of Erin and Mike and yet another amazing view of Dallas.

I had never seen a send-off like this before . . .

I love these last couple of images. I know the right image is a bit soft, but I love that it shows that final moment of Erin before the elevator doors closed on her wedding day, with her husband’s hand reaching out to her.

Such a sweet, perfect moment.

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!***

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