Yappy Days

Look for us at Yappy Days on Saturday, March 29th at the Kansas Coliseum. All pet lovers with their dogs attend and have a blast going around to all the booths. Be sure to come by our booth to register for a free gift basket to give your pet and/or register for a free pet session. If you don't receive a free pet session we are giving out 10% off coupons to all that stop by and say hi. Above you will see that we are now offering "Signature Pet Series". A portion of the show proceeds will be donated to The Kansas State Veterinary Hospital.

Vegas Update Soon!

I have been in contact with both Jeff and Brett as their in Las Vegas and they will have lots to share when they get back. Stay tuned!

buildaRegistry

The above image is a shot Jeff took with his IPhone. The ad is advertising our ad we took out for our Registry. Fellow photographers if you have any questions on how you can integrate it in your biz then please e-mail us at info@buildaregistry.com. For any current bride that we have on our calendar please e-mail us if you would like to have an account set up. Also this is for our former brides too. We don't only do weddings we do the most awesome progressive session also! High School seniors have inquired about it to help out with pictures and register for some unique products as graduation gifts.

Vegas

Sunday Jeff and Brett got on the plane to go to Vegas. And no, not to gamble but to go to WPPI (Wedding Professional Photography International), a big photography convention. About 10,000 photographers from all over the world get together and have a great time. All types of vendors are there too at the HUGE trade show. WPPI's website couldn't say it better. "It's all about education, networking, the biggest trade show in professional photography and FUN! You can learn and still have a good time—after all, it's Vegas!"

Alex, Netanya and I are holding down the fort while you are gone.

HAVE A BLAST! Can't wait to hear all about it when you get home.

Weather Gone Wild... an interesting trip back

Sunday marked a long journey back from an amazing weekend spent covering the Bronson - Baba wedding in Houston, TX. As Jeff and I set out for home we continued to notice the joyous drop in temp the further north traveled. When we left it was a wonderful 80º degrees in Houston and as we stopped in Norman, OK to grab a bite to eat it had dropped to 67º degrees. While we were eating we overheard some other customers talking about that there was bad weather heading our way. So after leaving the restaurant we quickly found a radio station with the weather.

The closer we got to Oklahoma City the lightening started to intensify and before we knew it the storm was right over us. About that time the wonderful announcement came over the radio that Oklahoma City  now was under a tornado warning and anyone traveling on I-35 north between mile marker 138 and 143 should take cover immediately. Yeah, guess what mile mark we just pasted while traveling on I-35 north! Yep it was 140 and the hook echo was suppose to be right above us. Of course it was pitch dark so we couldn't see anything. We just had passed an Exit with places to go for cover if we needed to. This was when we knew we had to get out of the line of weather. We quickly made the worlds fastest u-turn to head south to an exit we had passed where we could find shelter. 

The next Exit we came to we saw a Days Inn so we got off at that Exit. As we pulled up to the hotel the tornado sirens were going off!!!! The only thing we could think of is grab the media cards and laptop that had our wedding on from Houston. Running into the lobby the receptionist had a blank stare on her face and wasn't sure what to do. I said where do we go to take cover from the weather? She didn't give a straight answer. Being a Kansan, my first instinct was to look for a bathroom which was near by. The weather was on the TV in the lobby as us and other travelers stayed tuned to where the storm was. I was clueless... to what the weather man was talking about because I am not familiar with Oklahoma's little towns. Thankfully some of the travelers were from Oklahoma and reassured us the tornado was close but not going to hit our exact location!  About that time TV station signal went dead and of course that was scary. The rotation dropped to the ground in Mid-city which was within 1-5 miles away. Just a little too close for our taste!!! After waiting for all to clear we made the decision after driving all day to just stay the night and finish the last leg of the trip in the morning. In the morning we left to blowing snow with the highs around 30º degrees. 

Bronson - Baba

Click here to view the Debut Trailer of their wedding day.

Click Here to pre-register and receive an e-mail to view the remaining wedding pictures when they are available.



We had a blast in Houston with both sets of family and friends of Tracy and Nidal (Nick). We went to the rehearsal Friday night and there was a huge party afterwards with a big reception as the rehearsal dinner. On Saturday morning Jeff took me to the Norris of Houston Salon and Day Spa where the ladies got their hair done. Jeff went to the church where he met up with one of Nick's cousins to go to Nick's parents house. This is where Nick's parents had a big celebration of the giving away of their son. This is a traditional celebration in the Arabic culture. Lots of food, family and friends. Dancing and singing filled the air. Jeff documented Nick along with family and friends spending time with one another before the guys had to start heading back to the St. George Orthodox Church for the ceremony.



With some combinations of different hair styles that Tracy had magazine clippings of her hair looked very elegant and chic. I got a ride over with Tracy as we went to her apartment to have the ladies finish getting ready. We pulled up to her apartment complex and the concierge took care of the car as we went up to the 15th floor where Tracy's den is. Trays of sandwiches and fruit were there for the ladies to eat lunch in between getting their make-up applied and their dresses on. Andrea Rohleder, a previous bride client of ours, did the make-up for Tracy using Bobbi Brown. The five bridesmaids wore indigo blue strapless with gatherings around the bottom. Fuschia sashes went around the waist and tied on the right side. Tracy wore a very elegant Sposa by St. Pucchi wedding gown from Now and Forever Bridal Shop. It had a sweetheart neckline with a mermaid fitting that had a small flare out and gatherings at the bottom. It had a chapel length train. She had a blusher for a veil along with a floor length one as well. Along the edges of the veil were beadwork and embroidery.



As soon as the ladies were dressed we were out the door and heading downstairs where the limo awaited to take us to the church. The church was very decorative with paintings on the walls and murials on the ceiling. Toulle lined the pews along with floral arrangements and a white runner ran down the center aisle. The groomsmen ushered the bridesmaids down to the altar where they awaited for Tracy and her dad to come down with all eyes on the bride as she looked absolutely stunning. Tracy's dad lifted the blusher following a kiss and hug as she handed over his daughter to Nick. The ceremony was very pretty as light filtered in through the stained glass and had all the traditional customs of the Orthodox faith with everything happening in three's. Following the ceremony the couple was showered with biodegradable white rice, and then we went back into the church as we did group shots and finished up with the two of them.



The limo transported the wedding party with the couple to the Westin Galleria Ballroom where the reception took place. The ballroom was filled with huge chandliers and the tables were all nicely decorated with tall arrangements of flowers in the center of every other table. Blue lights illuminated the vases to give a great glow and added atmosphere to the room. The wedding cake was very pretty being 5 tiers with the cake topper made by Andrea's mom using their initials, TBN. The groom's cake was chocolate 2 layer cake with sticks of shaved chocolate.



The wedding party was announced into the ballroom with Tracy and Nick following. As they entered the dance floor this kicked off the party started with their first dance song sang in Arabic that lasted 20 minutes. With 500 guests surrounding the couple to congratulate them the dance floor got filled with a sea of people. We were able to jump up on the platform where the head table was and shoot down. The videographers from Sawa Cinematography Production had a crane that they used non-stop throughout the reception to fly over the guests and get high enough to see the couple when they were dancing. Dinner had many courses and consisted of a bread bowl and onion soup, salad and the main course which was a very thick juicy steak, biggest shrimp we have ever seen and mashed potatoes. The DJ played background music as the guests ate. During most of the dances a live band played Arabic music and the same guy sang throughout. I have never seen people dance so much in my life to such long songs. The DJ played a mixture of Country, Polka and Pop songs. Everyone had a really good time celebrating the marriage of Tracy and Nick. Towards the end we watched the friends and Baba family pick up Nick on their shoulders and danced around. Nick requested that they go get Tracy and they went and picked her up with her sitting in a chair. This was all part of the Arabic traditions.







We want to thank both families making us feel so welcome and we really feel blessed by all our brides. We want to thank Andrea and Craig Rohleder for giving us the opportunity to do their wedding that led us to do one in Houston with Tracy, Craig's cousin. We want to also thank Nick's cousin for giving Jeff a ride to and from Nick's parent's house. I want to thank the ladies for letting me spend time with them and hang out making me feel like one of their old time friends. We took lots of pictures!!!! They should all be up by April 1st (for real not April Fools). You guys were really great and we hope you have a great time in California on your honeymoon getting to see the beautiful wine country. In May don't forget about us when you go to Greece and send us pics or a postcard. Please stay in touch.

Tyff and Jeff