Here’s a little bit more of Brandy and Jake’s wedding photography by Carpe Vita Photography.

Our first wedding of 2010 – a whole new decade! – was with Brandy and Jake in Ft. Worth this last Saturday.   The wedding was at the beautiful St. Patrick’s Cathedral downtown and the reception was held at The Ashton Depot.

After a wonderfully weird week of 70 degree temperatures, Saturday came with gray clouds and some brisk winds.  But even the drops of rain (which are supposed to be good luck) didn’t dampen the spirits of the day.

Brandy’s touch of blue in her beautiful shoes was very classy.

When we arrived at the Ashton Depot, the clouds moved away to show a little blue sky.

The blue shoes were adorable but they gave way to her extremely comfortable boots early in the evening.

Trey & the Tritones provided the music for the evening and they definitely kept the crowd on their feet all night long.

And we experienced two firsts with this wedding – a groom’s cake that looked like a fish and what a great looking fish too!  (Just in, Brandy let us know the fish cake came from Central Market – I’m thinking it must have been the Fort Worth store that she worked with).  Brandy also let us know that the florals were provided by Phillip Combs – I believe this was our first time to work with them too.  Have to say Phillip’s mothers flower bracelets were really unique and something I would wear without the flowers on a daily basis.  Another neat detail to note is the bottles used on some of the tabletops came from Brandy’s grandfather’s collection.  Unfortunately her grandfather wasn’t there in person, but he and her other extended family were there in spirit.

The other first for us was the couple’s chosen method of get-away transportation.  After running through sparklers, Brandy and Jake hopped on a bicycle built for two and away they went into the night.

Brandy and Jake, we had a great time and we appreciate you including us in your celebration.  Enjoy Chile!

Cheers,

Steve and Kim

p.s. Friends and Family, a slideshow of more photos will be posted here soon.

Saturday was Kristyn and Boti’s wedding day and everything was perfect from beginning to end.  The wedding was at Prince of Peace Catholic Community in Plano which has a unique setup that made photographing there even more fun.  Florals were provided by Mia Fiori of Plano.

After walking Kristyn down the aisle, Mr. Starr gets a sweet hug from his lovely daughter.

As Botond and his family are from Hungary, part of the mass was performed in Hungarian.

This smile says it all – Boti was touched by the ceremony and Kristyn had just whispered something in his ear that made him beam.

The outlines in the foreground of this photograph are the shoulders of Kristyn’s mother and father.  Kristyn is beautiful both inside and out and I love how this image shows the support she has from everyone so dear to her.

LOVE the architecture here!

And to get to spend a little of the afternoon with Boti and Kristyn with a little side trip to the park on such a spectacular Fall day was a treat for us.

Next stop, reception at The Magnolia Hotel downtown where Jessica Smith and her staff took great care of the couple and their guests.

One of the highlights of the reception was the PicFlips Photo Booth.

Fast forward to the end of the night…

We had them jumping on the bed when they took a little tumble – what great sports they are!

Kristyn and Boti have a great time in Hawaii on your honeymoon!

A few weeks ago, we met with Brandy and Jake at their home in Ft. Worth to do some casual engagement photos. It was one of those Saturdays in October when it really feels like August and all you really want to do is watch football in the air conditioning. But Brandy and Jake were great sports and we got some awesome photographs.

We L-O-V-E the windows in their condo!

Can’t forget the very important Trigger – what a great family photo!

Then we headed out for some photos around the Trinity.  What a happy dog!

We love the looks of love that take place between our brides and grooms.  What a special time!

That’s home in the background…

Thanks Brandy and Jake, we had a great time and we look forward to your wedding in January.

Last week, Steve and I made a quick little jaunt to Bloomington, Indiana to visit with inspiring photographers Jeff and Michelle Richardson.  Jeff and Michelle graciously shared their time and expertise with us as we prepare for the next developmental step for our business. While we were there, they helped us enjoy the lush 70s temperatures and gave us some recommendations to see in their lovely state.

We flew to Indiana on Monday on American Airlines – in coach, thank you very much.  But as we were flying the friendly skies we remembered about a session back in July with Celebrated Living magazine’s editor Janet Thomas. It was time for Janet to have new photos done for her editor’s page of the magazine and she wanted something a little more relaxed and true to her and she thought of us. Celebrated Living is the magazine for American’s First Class fliers so as we departed the airplane, we snuck a copy off.

As these are scans of the magazine pages – the photo doesn’t look as great here but you can see it on the CL website here.  If you get to ride First Class anytime soon look for Janet’s pic and our itty bitty photo credit hiding near the seam in the bottom right corner.  We took a variety of photos so Janet could change her look based on the season.

Janet is actually greatly responsible for Carpe Vita Photography being even alive today, because back in 1994, she introduced Steve and I to one another.  This is a photo Janet’s husband Steve took of that fateful night.  I sailed regularly with Janet and her Steve on their boat – second from the left – and our Steve sailed with other friends on the red boat.

We probably passed one another many times on the docks during racing season but because we raced in different fleets, we never really met.  But this night July 23, 1994 when we were supposed to race, there was no wind so a raft-up came about and the rest is history. We celebrated our 15 year Introversary this July.

Now the little surprise that came our way yesterday – Carpe Vita was named Best Photography for the Northern Region by Texas Meetings & Events Magazine this week at an awards gala in Austin, Texas.  For more details, here’s the link.  We were honored to be nominated and blown away that we were selected.  We love photographing all the work and thought that goes into meetings and events.  As we don’t tend to do the print on location event photography, we are available to showcase what all the vendors and planners spent all of their genius on creating for their clients.  It is amazing to be recognized and wow, would you look at the other peeps who won!

Best Caterer: Creative Cuisine (go Geni and the rest of the amazing gang)
Best Conference/Convention/Exhibition Center: Plano Centre
Best Entertainment: Lone Star Murder Mysteries by Lagniappe Productions
Best Florist: Macaux Florals (we photographed their amazing florals earlier this year at the Johnson-Long Wedding)
Best Destination Management Organization: Plano Convention & Visitors Bureau
Best Golf Resort/Country Club: Cowboys Golf Club
Best Holiday Event/Party Venue: City Club of Fort Worth
Best Hotel with Meeting Space: Gaylord Texan Hotel and Convention Center (we love our neighbors)
Best Green Meetings/Event Venue – Garrett Creek Ranch Conference Center
Best Unique Venue: Circle R Ranch
Best Rental Service (tents, tables, linens): Ducky-Bob’s Event Specialist
Best Teambuilding Facility/Organizer: Rockin’ C Ranch
Best Transportation – Premiere Transportation Services
Best Photography – your’s truly Carpe Vita Photography
Best New Venue – Union Station (which we had the honor of doing promotional photography for earlier this year – which reminds me I never did a blog entry for…)