Camp Lucy has always been one of my more favorite venues to shoot weddings. The grounds are always immaculate and the architecture is incredible…all of it! So I was really excited when Jen contacted me and even more excited after I met with her and Bert. A really, really fun couple with a great story to match. I asked Jen if she would share and she was more than happy to. Here’s what she sent me:
Bert and I met a little over 2 years ago at the insistence of our mothers. I had recently moved back to Austin after living in Virginia for over 10 years. My mom kept insisting I needed friends and thought Bert had a lot of friends I could meet. We finally agreed to meet up for a movie. I found out then that Bert's mom had also been fairly insistent that we hang out. We both heard numerous times how many things we had in common and how they thought we would get along. We realized almost immediately that our moms were right.
We became great friends and started dating over a year after we met. Transitioning from friends to dating was seamless and we decided fairly quickly that we wanted to get married and spend our lives together. Bert proposed on April 7th at Long Center Park; a place we had gone a few times to chat and spend time together. Of course, I said yes! And then began the fun of wedding planning.
We initially wanted a late fall wedding. Austin weather that time of year is lovely. We thought we could have an outside, black and white wedding. But due to babies being born and family moving overseas, we discovered we would have to have a wedding much sooner for some to attend. We settled on August 9th; a time when no one wants to get married in Austin because the weather is HOT and asking people to wear black is mean. Instead of an outside wedding, we chose to do as much as possible indoors, or at least shaded with fans. We settled on navy and gray for our colors as a summer compromise to black and white.
After choosing a date and a venue, one of the first things we wanted to find was a photographer. I knew having a good photographer was important. I wanted a photographer who would capture our day as we wanted to remember it. I looked through tons of photographer's portfolios. Mike's photos immediately stood out to me. They were vibrant, colorful and captured emotions and the day so well. I continued to look through portfolios but always came back to Mike's work. Fortunately, Mike was available on our day and we booked him for our wedding and an engagement shoot.
Mike turned out to be one of our favorite vendors. Not only are his pictures amazing, he is very flexible and easy to work with. We delayed our engagement shoot for over a month due to the weather. We would touch base with him the day before we were scheduled to shoot to see if the weather forecast looked ideal. We expected that eventually he would want to shoot regardless of the weather but that never turned out to be true. He was happy to play it by ear as long as we needed. On our wedding day, he and his assistant, Jessica, were great with all our wedding party, family and guests, including our 3 toddler flower girls (commented from the moms themselves!). They were a pleasure to work with and captured so many wonderful shots.
Planning a wedding in 4 months is not what we initially wanted… and not something we would recommend. Bert and I planned our wedding almost completely on our own. It involved lots of stress, exhaustion, decisions and daily to-do lists. But, we are so glad everything turned out the way it did! It was awesome to be at our wedding and see all the little details we had labored over come together. We loved every piece of it and are so thankful we have these amazing photos to remind us of that special day. Thanks again to Mike and Jessica for capturing the many moments we want to remember and the ones we missed so we can relive them for a lifetime.
