Melanie & Les - East Texas Wedding

When I first photographed Melanie and Les's engagement sessions I knew they truly loved each other. There was definitely a special connection between them. It was easy to capture those emotions because if you spend any time around them you can tell they're genuinely meant for each other. After having spent their special day with them I also have an appreciate for how much their families love them too. I'm always jealous of people who have large families. My family is so very small. These two families were gracious, kind and so much fun! We had a great time at this wedding.

I HATE to be late. So because this wedding was out of town I drove to Eagle Lake the night before the wedding. I'm always worried about directions. Those of you that know me know that I'm terrible at directions. I even have a Tom Tom navigator! That thing seems to be wrong more than it's right. I was excited to go to the dress rehearsal and see the church. Melanie said that the Parish of the Nativity Catholic Church was small and it was a little bit small but it was also very beautiful. The iPhone picture she sent me didn't do it justice! I loved all the stain glass windows and the warm colors of the church. As I watched the practice and did some test shots I knew the church would be perfect.

My second photographer Anthony drove in from Houston. We met that night and went over our game plan. When I shoot a wedding I always like to know what to expect. I'm just a planner!! It's the things you can't plan for though that make for the best portraits. It's those moments when people have forgotten that I'm there that I love the best. It's the laughing between sisters. The tears of a Mom who can't look at her baby without happy tears. It's those moments like those in weddings that I love.

I'm posting some of my favorites. There are a bunch because I truly couldn't narrow down.

Of course to truly appreciate this wedding you MUST watch the slideshow!! Click here to see the pretty NICE BIG VERSION. (Download the plug in if you don't have it. It won't hurt your computer I promise!) I'll also post the low rez not nearly as awesome small version below.

Congratulations Melanie and Les! I'm so happy for you guys! Thanks choosing us to photograph your special day!

The beautiful rings! The flowers were so beautiful!

A funny moment at the salon!

Handsome Les getting ready!

His beautiful bride putting on makeup!

I love this shot in the mirror.

Melanie getting ready to put her gorgeous dress on.

The ladies

I love this shot of her Dad giving her a hug before we head out the door to the chapel.

The Dudes!

The beautiful church. It really was standing room only.

I loved this image of her Dad watching her. The next day I mentioned to Mike that I saw him watching her and he said he was having his own personal slideshow of her life going on in his head. I thought that was so sweet.

Kids always steal the shows at weddings. This is the sweet little ring bearer.

Tears and smiles as they exchanged vows.

The kiss!

This church had some really beautiful windows.

I love this shot too!

We stole them away from the reception just in time to catch the sunset.

I LOVE this sun flare!! These are hard to capture and to do it well! Anthony shot this one!

The wedding reception had an outdoor theme complete with antlers and pine cones!

This was Melanie's grandfather's watch. It was her something old and she carried it in the pocket of her dress.
I love the Wedding March!

LOL Melanie making sure that Les didn't plan on doing the smash cake thing!

Husband and wife during the first dance. It was so sweet.

Dancing with her Dad. I loved the light on this image.

Les dancing with his Mom

The send off!





Melanie & Les from Laura Wootan on Vimeo.

A sneak peek for Andrea

My baby fever is back! Here's one quick one from today for Andrea! Sweet baby Angelina! I love her little smile. Just wanted to share this quick one - more to come!

Beautiful Melanie's Bridals

Saturday I had the pleasure of photographing Melanie and Les's wedding. It was a beautiful day and I have lots of great images coming soon. In the mean time I wanted to share Melanie's bridals. I've been dying to post them! I usually wait until after the wedding to share bridals!

Melanie's mom, mother-in-law and friend came to help that day. We had a great time making these portraits. Melanie's mom Leah is like superwoman strong!! She held my scrim for me and as you can see in the photo the wind was bending it in HALF that's some serious wind!! She held strong though! Normally it sets sail and I have to go chase it down!! Thanks ladies for helping!! Here are a few of my favorites from our session!

September 11th

Today is one of those days that changed our history forever. I wanted to remember those that lost their lives that day. I also wanted to honor and thank the brave men and women that serve our country so that we may live free. Most importantly though I hope that people never forget what happened.

Do you remember where you were on 9/11? I was at home. My Dad was visiting and we heard the newscast. We watched the whole thing unfold on TV. We sat there in shock.

Our Sad News

Tomorrow we're going to put our dog LuLu down. Actually her name is Stinkerdoodle. Guy couldn't say Stinkerdoodle so as a baby he called her Lulu and it stuck. It's a much better name for her. She's a wirehaired mini-dachshund. She's the smartest of our three dogs. She loves raw hide chews and has the softest ears. Lulu has been plagued with back pain for the last year or so. It's so bad now she pretty much cries in pain anytime she tries to walk. She also has a level four heart murmur whatever that means. So it's time.

Lulu was the third dog to join our family. She's almost 10 years old. I picked her up on my way home from Dallas. She was an impulse buy. I had been visiting a friend and she was reading the want ads and there was an ad that said "wirehaired dachshunds." I called the lady and asked how much they were. They were $300. Which was WAY more than I had intended to spend.... So I called Bryan and told him I was thinking about getting another dog. I don't think he really believed me because he was a wee bit shocked when I walked in the door with her. Course he asked me how much she was and I immediately said $150. Yep, I lied. I used cash for half so he wouldn't know how much I spent. We were newly married and like all good wives I had learned how to shop! (It was years later when I confessed during a game of Truth or Dare! I was required him to tell the truth about something I lied about). Anyway, Lulu was about 6 months old when we got her. She wasn't very socialized so she didn't really like us. Our other dogs she was fine around but she'd run away from us initially. That was until she figured out we had awesome people food and if you look cute we'll share. ;) Lulu next discovered she liked to be inside and that she loved the bed. She has always been her own dog though. She has no problems being outside by herself. Our other dogs don't like to go outside without each other.

Lulu had this funny thing she'd do with our other dogs. All three would get a rawhide chew. She'd eat hers almost immediately. The other two dogs would chew leisurely. Course they all would growl at each other if the other got too close. Lulu use to bark to go outside. She'd dance around and act like there was something good out there to chase like squirrels. The other dogs would of course leave their rawhide and they'd all go outside. The other two would go out into the grass... Lulu would never leave the deck. She'd stand at the door to be the first one in. As soon as we'd open the door she'd run and grab the other dogs chew treats. LOL She'd do it ALL the time and Ginger and Jerry never figured out that was her trick.

So our family will miss her very much. We do love our pets. They are definitely part of our family. But I know that this really is best. She's been in pain for long enough so we're making the right choice. I just wish it wasn't so hard! Pets should live longer lives. It just doesn't seem fair.

** Lulu is gone now **
Bryan and I went home about 11:00 am. We hung out with Lulu feed her chicken, cheese and cookies some of her favorites. We talked to her and petted her. We headed to my in-laws at 12:30 and sat outside their front yard and waited for the Vet. It was shady under the pecan trees and there was a gentle wind. The grass danced around her as she sat and ate rotten pecans - another favorite. We saw a squirrel on the ground and it ran up the tree and watched us. Lulu hardly noticed. In her time she would have been barking and chasing that squirrel. Rotten pecans were far more interesting. Mark showed up at 1:00 and administered the shot. It was so quick. She just stopped breathing. Her eyes glazed over. She went peacefully and Bryan and I sat there and cried. I kept hearing Bryan talking to her and in my head I was telling her she was a good girl. I don't think I could actually get the words out though. Mark listened to her heart and told us she was gone. We sat there just looking at her. It was so fast. We wrapped her one of Bryan's favorite tshirts. He picked this green one that was soft. He said that he picked it because it was soft like her ears. She really did have velvet soft ears. We then wrapped her in a yellow towel and carried her to our family pet cemetery. We buried her next to "Tootie" another one of our beloved dogs. I picked some sun flowers from the fence line and we laid them on her grave. Rest in peace my sweet baby. You will be missed.

More of Donovan

One of the things I love most about my new studio is that it's an old historic house. In particular it's special to my family because it's my husbands great grandmother's old house. When we were painting and moving in my mother in law talked about where the rooms use to be and where they lived in this house. It made me think about old homes and how many lifetimes they have locked inside. I kept imagining my husband and his brother playing outside in their overalls and his grandparents sitting on the porch. So I got to thinking I really wanted to create some "old timey" type of portraits of kids playing on this great porch and in the yard. So this concept is a work in process but here are some super cute photos of Donovan in my special aged processing. Also just some other fun ones of him. I love Dono he is hysterical. I always ask kids to say silly things when I'm taking portraits and no matter what word I'd ask him to say he's reply with some completely different word! I'd say, "Say hot dogs!" and he'd reply, "Airplane." I think Donovan is an old soul he says things and knows thing way beyond his age! He's a perfect model for my "summer on the porch" portraits. I also love the one of him on the floor! LOL Too funny!