Killer shoes.
Killer shoes can start a wedding day off right faster than the roadrunner can beep-beep.
You know what else helps? A couple as in love with each other as Jacklyn and Matt.
(And just so you know, I blame my mother for the roadrunner being the first fast thing I could reference just now.)
I love coming in on the wedding day from the very beginning, right as it begins to unfold.
I love seeing the nervous-giddy look in a bride’s eyes.
I love catching her remember from time to time, to herself, Today is my wedding day.
Jacklyn and Matt got  ready at their reception venue, the YWCA, which was right across the street from their ceremony site, The First United Methodist Church in downtown Fort Worth.
One could tell that Jacklyn really poured herself into the reception details and decor, so I loved being able to integrate some of those pieces into various detail shots throughout the day.
In the next room, James documented the finishing prep stages of Matt and his groomsmen before we headed to the church for their first look.
Matt is a talented videographer and both he and Jacklyn highly valued photography as an essential part of their wedding day. A couple after my own heart.
They chose to do their first look in the courtyard of the FUMC and I could not have selected a better setting myself.
After they had soaked up their glorious first look moment we moved into some bride-groom portraits.
Jacklyn and Matt are the type of people who are equally sincere and kind as they are beautiful.
This basically equals a whole heckofalotta sincerity and kindness.
Love.
Did I mention the church was, oh, yeah, uhh-mazing?
Um, yeah, and did I mention yet that Matt and Jacklyn are  amazing?
Models, human beings, clients, all of the above.
We finished with plenty of time for family portraits and some moments of stillness before the ceremony.
Before the ceremony, Matt had surprised Jacklyn with a new ring! I was delighted to get to my hands and camera on the brand new bling for the ring portraits. Way. to. go. Matt.
This bouquet toss was one for the record books. Keep your eyes on the one with her arms stretched out in front of her. She had her eyes on the prize.
The night ended as perfectly as it began — birdseed, a yellow dune-buggy and a sweet, sweet couple driving off into the Fort Worth skyline all in love and married and stuff.
Juli and Jared’s beautiful wedding was set at the McKinney Cotton Mill — a venue I always love photographing. I could not get past Juli’s great attention to detail in every single piece used in her wedding decor. All it it came together so seamlessly and fabulously! I could have spent the entire day photographing each individualized table-setting.
Confession: Juli had two DARLING sisters by her side helping her throughout the entire wedding day process, only I kept forgetting one of their names! Finally Forgotten-name-sister looks at me dumbfounded (with legitimate reason) and says, “It’s ‘Jillian.’ It’s YOUR name.”
I didn’t forget it again after that.
Juli and Jared chose to go the route of a first look — this allowed them some intimate moments alone in the midst of all the wedding day hustle and bustle and also allowed us to take all of the formal portraits before the ceremony because Juli was adamant that she did not want to miss out on their reception that she had put so much effort into. So miss out they did not!
SERIOUSLY, JULI!! THE DETAIL!!!!
One of my most favorite moments from the reception was when Juli’s father and his college a cappella group serenaded the couple with their soulful crooning.
Jared was even lucky enough to get pulled up on stage with the quartet for a special song!
And Juli just sat there and smiled. Oh, that Juli-smile. So, so beautiful.
Best wishes to Juli and Jared and a lifetime full of attention to all the sweet details along the way.
Hello, blog. It’s been a while since I did a full photo post but I’m SO excited to be back and I’m picking up right where I left off! I’m glad to be back with such a lovely, lovely wedding for a lovely, lovely couple.
I first met Jessica and Matt my freshman year of college. They were both older than me and had started dating the summer before I got there. Did I know this information because Jessica and/or Matt had personally confided this in me? Nope. I knew it because everyone was talking about what an ADORABLE couple they were together.
This was my first impression of the two of them.
And that is my current impression of them as a couple to this very day. They’re perfect for each other.
We started off the day at First Baptist Lewisville with some detail shots of the lovely birdcage flower arrangements and some final prep shots of the bride and groom.
Matt and Jessica opted to do a first look before their wedding ceremony and I have to say that Matt has had the best first look reaction I’ve ever had the privilege to witness.
After it was completed James ran over to me with his camera and said, “Look! He looks like a little kid in a candy store.”
And I’d say that is a perfectly accurate description.
(Jessica, you had a GREAT reaction too.)
Get it, guys.
Jessica, you are just radiant. Radiant.
After a sweet moment with her dad, Jessica and the girls headed outside to start the wedding party photos off right — lots and lots of laughing.
All of Jessica’s bridesmaids donned handmade necklaces that one of our super-talented metalsmith friends, Chelsey, created!
I can’t remember at exactly which point in the ceremony that I caught my eyes tearing up. I was overjoyed that these two — these two individuals that I couldn’t imagine ever fitting quite as nicely with anyone else, ever, than the person they were standing next to up on that stage — were becoming husband and wife.
After the ceremony it was off to the Bridlewood Golf Club for a reception filled with some of the sweetest centerpieces imaginable.
After cutting the cake, James and I snuck Jessica and Matt out of the reception for a few minutes to take a few more bride and groom portraits on the beautiful grounds of Bridlewood Golf Club. I love to make the most of every moment I have alone with the bride and groom on their wedding day because I luuuuuuuuuuuuurve taking bride-groom portraits.
Best.
Garter toss.
Ever.
 And there you have it.
Jessica and Matt. Married. Perfectly.
Remember Claudia and Doug? Well they’re married now and have the same last name. Here are a few shots from their lovely wedding day — full of joy, intentionality and love. Lots and lots of love.
As you can tell, Claudia had a lovely start to her morning with her (now) sister-in-law doing her hair and make-up (Laura, you did some FLAWLESS work, by the way), and one of her bridesmaids massaging her bridal shoulders.
This is actually the dress I wore on my  wedding day too! When I pulled it out of the dress bag I did a happy little surprised dance. Claudia, you have excellent taste!
(side-note: I accidentally used the wrong color sash in the picture — I didn’t even realize there were any other sashes in the bag! Sorry, Claudia.)
James set up and shot this above detail photo and I’m just really proud of it.
Claudia and Doug are intentional people. For instance, their wedding colors — a very specific teal and pink — were plucked from the very sunset the evening that Doug proposed. That is what I mean by intentional.
As I mentioned in their blissfully engaged post, Claudia and Doug are both photographers, so it was an honor to be chose to photographically document their wedding day. Notice they even used some of the vintage cameras from their engagement shoot in their wedding decorations!
Claudia made the cute bird cake-topper herself!
Doug and his groomsmen formed a tie-tying support group in the men’s room.
Here Claudia’s sweet maid-of-honor admires her best friend as she just donned her wedding dress.
I loved the mass of shots I got of Claudia’s dad seeing her in her dress for the first time. Here are just a couple of my favorites of that moment.
As I mentioned above, Claudia and Doug are photographers which makes photos a very special component of their wedding day. For these reasons Claudia and Doug opted to do a “first look” before their ceremony.
Claudia, I’m pretty sure you were a hit.
Every time I’ve been around these two, Doug has had this precious way of looking at Claudia that seems as if he can’t believe it’s really her standing next to him. This look was even more prevalent this day.
Because Doug and Claudia chose to do a first look, we had plenty of time to follow that special moment with some portraits of the two of them soaking up their soon-to-be-wedded bliss.
We followed the bride and groom portraits with some shots of the wedding party.
A few minutes before the ceremony James came and found me with an excited smile on his face. “Get Claudia to make the face that shows how she feels right before she gets married.”
These were our Doug and Claudia’s “I’m-about-to-get-married” faces:
I pair photos together in diptychs such as this one and the two aisle shots paired above to show some of the advantages of having a second-shooter on one’s wedding day — you get to see the wedding day from two different vantage points.
The ceremony started with their friend leading the group in “In Christ Alone” and it was a sweet time of worshipping Jesus.
In being around these two, you’ll find that they’re the type of people you consider an honor to know, and an honor to get the opportunity to witness such love.
Doug and Claudia were so overjoyed they could barely contain it — and it was contagious. Joy was everywhere at this wedding. Just everywhere.
After some shots with sweet family, Doug, Claudia and I ran up to the balcony to catch the tail end of the sunset.
And on that note we entered the reception, where the celebration ensued with dinner and some sincere toasts from the best man and maid-of-honor and that led us up to some lovely outdoor dancing.
And then they were off — all married and sharing the same last name.
It was such a beautiful wedding, Claudia and Doug. This single post couldn’t even contain all that was lovely from your day.
Thank you for letting me be there to document your big, big love for each other.
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