60th Wedding Anniversary | Plano, TX | Wedding Photographer

The Smiths recently celebrated their 60th Anniversary, and I was honored to be asked to capture the event in photos. This momentous occasion was a family affair, celebrating this wonderful couple's life together. Everyone had a great time! Here are some photos of the event, couple, and family.

I tried out a few of the templates from the CoffeeShop, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Naturally, the grandkids take the spotlight! :)

Mrs. Smith and her brother.

Little one had been told to say cheese for the photos, (which he did so well) in this photo he is getting on to his older cousin for NOT chiming in on cheese! Too cute!

Meredith | First Baptist Dallas | Bridal Photographer

Meredith was a good friend of mine from First Baptist, so I was ecstatic when she allowed me to shoot her bridal session! Such a beautiful bride both inside and out! Congratulations Meredith, I wish you two the best!

Jeff Allen Children's Education Trust | Dallas, TX | Event Photographer

About a month ago, I was contacted by Spook Bolt of Bolt Productions to photograph a local charity event. This past May, a dear friend and colleague to those in the Marketing and PR departments of Baylor Health Care Systems, Jeff Allen, passed on, leaving behind his wife and five children. Lauren Useda Law, after attending his memorial service, dreamed up the Jeff Allen Children's Education Trust and organized the inaugural reunion and fundraiser with the help of Dana Boone Slaughter, Karen Burris, Marti Quisling and Kevin Tompkins. Of course, this is only a piece of the big picture.

Since the event, Lauren has taken the time to create a fantastic website, detailing Jeff Allen's life, family, the Reunion and Fundraiser and so much more, both past and present. Check out Jeff Allen Children's Education Trust for the full story, photo albums and other pertinent information.

Other sponsors from the September 26th event were: Matt Mollet, Pete Northway, Raj Persad, Dana Boone Slaughter, Larry Thompson, Mark Varel, Herschel Weisfeld, Karen Burris and Rick Whittlesey. For a complete list of all sponsors and donors, click on the Sponsors and Donors tab on the website.

This shot sums up the entire reunion and fundraiser. For those that don't know Baylor very well, their colors are blue and white and represented by the flame. I just loved all the details from the event and had to capture each and every one!

Here is a shot of the welcoming committee/sign in.
Sponsor table and a few of Rick Whittlesey's amazing paintings! Really if you haven't checked out his website yet, you NEED to see his other work; it looked beautiful and created the perfect ambiance for the reunion/fundrasier.

I don't even know where to start on the food! It was incredible! My absolute favorite was the Cream of Cilantro Soup....Oh! My! Gosh!!!!!

The floral arrangements were gorgeous, I wanted to take them all home with me! However, I think Lauren would have noticed them slowly all ending up in the back of my car. :)

The auction table, which included a football autographed by Roger Staubach!

Rick Whittlesay also donated some special purses hand-made by the woman in Nigeria, seeking a fresh start in life. You can read more about this on his website!

Lauren's brother drove into town to help her out for the weekend.

Hallway filled with works of art in Herschels S.O.T.A Building, which also has a couple of business spaces available for rent if anyone is looking.

Mingling.

The speakers.

Enjoying the video montage of just a few of the many memories with Jeff Allen.

The rest of the evening involved more mingling.

Family Vacation | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | Last Day :(

Sorry that it took me so incredibly long to get this last post blogged. This past month turned out to be rather busy with clients! (Good thing, just super busy....be looking forward to some great blogs coming up though). Now on to the last day of our family vacation, once again, text was provided by mom! Thanks bunches mama!

We had a full day to enjoy Vancouver, but there were so many choices! We opted to go to Lynn Canyon Park and check out the Suspension Bridge, a pedestrian bridge, that swings freely 50 m above the canyon. The bridge connects the hiking trails on either side of the canyon. We were tempted to forgo the experience after we saw the line and the drop-off, but proceeded in spite of our misgivings. It was a unique and slightly scary trek, and not one that we repeated. We made our way to the bottom of the canyon, scrambled precariously across the rocks, dodging the deeper sections of the stream, and used the steps back up the other side. As we were almost to the top, we noticed several young men scaling the cliffs and diving into the pool at the bottom of the canyon. It was a dangerous, but apparently exciting, activity.

This photo is just to show the distance in which these guys and gals were jumping...

Kinda hard to tell but, the bottom right of the photo is MUCH further down! (Was hard to capture this on my camera from the angle in which I was standing).

After our adventure in the park, we drove into West Vancouver where we found a wonderful restaurant called the Cactus Club Café. We enjoyed seared tuna (an Iron Chef specialty), steak, and quesadillas. Delicious in every detail! Our next stop was back to downtown Vancouver. This time we discovered a band playing outside at the waterfront. We explored the plaza next to the band, watched the water planes land and take off, and the sunset develop as night approached. When darkness settled over the city, we walked to Gastown, a historic section of the city with nostalgic cobbled streets. The steam clock was quite interesting, and the shops were plentiful for last minute souvenir shopping. Sad to say, but the next day we would be leaving.

It was TIME to say goodbye to Canada! ;) Get it?!? Till my next vacation!