Texas Music and Stuff....Titles Are Hard at 2:00 AM

4:00 this afternoon: Day Job. Day Job. Day Job. (Thank you, God, for my Day Job! But seriously...whew!) 

4:30: On the road again. Mopac. Mopac. Mopac. Sun in my eyes. People in my way. Brodie. Brodie. Brodie and some more Brodie Lane. Dear Lord, did Brodie get longer between the time I left the house this morning and the time I headed back from work? 

5:30ish: Fastest shower ever in the history of the world. Just a few more minutes...Makeup. Why does my hair look like that?! Michael says it looks fine and I do not, after all, look like a man. Hm. That's not what the mirror said.

6:20: I wanted to be on the road already! Why did I take such a long shower?! ATM. Keep an eye out for muggers. What do muggers look like? Is that guy a mugger? Guess not. On the road again. 

6:50: Okay, technically not late. Park in shady back corner of parking lot. Hm. Good thing my car looks completely trashed. Nobody wants any of the crumpled receipts in my floorboards. Or the mud. Yes, there's still mud on the mats from a month ago. I'm gonna get on that...

7:00: Ahhhhhhhhh. Breeze. Texas music. Hundred-year-old oaks. Dangit, Hill's Cafe. Dangit KOKE FM. I was completely prepared to move away from Austin while driving down Mopac earlier. 

Guess I'll stay. I mean, come on...wouldn't you?

This place is just a few minutes from my house. 

And tonight the Trishas were there singing. So was Sunny Leigh Shipley (and her husband...his name's Jordan. You might have heard of him. Whatevs.) That's Doug Moreland's fiddle in the top right. 

Monte Warden is there in the middle. He wrote George Strait's "Desperately." (Desperately...I long to feel your touch! But you left me all alooooone in love!) Good stuff. 

Jason Allen is up on the left there. He's from New Braunfels. You can hear him at Gruene Hall soon. 

I ended up with about 400 photos from tonight. And I made a conscious effort not to take too many! Only 400 shows quite a bit of restraint. But as long as it took me to narrow the collection down to my favorites, picking a fiddle shot might've been the hardest. I like fiddle. And Doug seems to have a lot of fun playing it.

If you live around Manchaca, you can go chuck some pumpkins with him at his chainsaw carving shop tonight.

Yes you read that sentence correctly. Yes. The whole thing. 

1:36 a.m.: Sleepy. Gonna hate myself for staying up this late in a few hours. Glad I blogged these photos anyway. They make me smile.

Come be in my pictures next week! More free music at Hill's Cafe next Thursday courtesy of KOKE FM!  It's good times..just look how much fun the Trishas are having: 

How To Have an Austin Wedding

First off, gather your closest, sweetest friends and family.

Then get all dolled up somewhere with an awesome view of Lady Bird Lake. 

Use only the best Austin vendors!

Brooke's day was made possible by Rhea McCarter (makeup), Fleurish Austin (flowers), and Pearl Events (coordination). Oh yeah...and Jenni Roberts Photography.

Have your dress designed by Austin's own Linda Asaf. You can find her adorable shop on West 6th. And didn't she do a beautiful job on Brooke's gown?!

To complete your one-of-a-kind Austin bride look, mix your custom-made pieces with heirlooms, old and new, borrowed and...uh...green pieces!

But let's face it! If you're getting married outside in Austin during the summer, keep it cool and casual for your 'maids and men! They can still look amazing and will thank you for it!

Now that everyone is ready, tie your knot at an Austin landmark. Brooke and Kyle chose the Umlauf Sculpture Garden.

Thanks to us getting some rain this year, everything was beautiful and green, and the pergola over the altar adds a little somethin'.

But again - keep your guests' comfort in mind and make sure they've got a way (or two!) to stay cool.

Now, you might be surprised by this next tip because it is somewhat traditional. While Austin brides love to redefine traditions to suit their personalities, they do it very thoughtfully and each change brings some sort of significance to their day. I think this is why every single wedding I've ever shot has still included the posed family shots after the ceremony.

There's really no getting around their "posed" nature, but that doesn't have to mean they look stiff and unnatural. And you know Brooke's grandma is going to frame that top right photo and smile at it every day for the rest of her life! Even when there's no bride's cake or bouquet toss, the family photos still get taken.

Since there's really not anywhere to hold a reception at Umlauf, choose from one of what must be hundreds of cool places around town. Now, it is Austin, so you'll probably be sitting in some traffic on the way there. So maybe you might want to book a stylish ride for the trip over.

...or a freakin' awesome one. You know, it's your call.

If you know what's good for you...or what tastes good anyway...you'll hold your reception at one of Austin's local restaurants. No worrying about how many tables to rent or how to decorate that big empty box of a ballroom? That's something a chill Austin bride will truly cherish!

Plus the food...well, 'nuff said!

I know that was a ton of photos, but really it's a pretty simple formula. Especially when all you really need to do is marry the coolest person you've ever met. Your best friend.

Somebody you wanna kiss like this:

Congratulations Brooke and Kyle!  I looooved sharing your day, and I pray for a lifetime of days as awesome as this one for y'all!

One Pretty One-Year Old!

Gracie turned one this August! We celebrated with a portrait session and a party! Get ready for looots of pictures! 

Momma and Daddy played with Grace to keep her smiling. (It's not terribly hard!) 

Grace was a trooper the whole time even though it was H-O-T.  

Then a little bit later, there was partying to do! Jess's plans all came together really nicely and everything looked so cute! 

Grace had a bunch of friends and family turn out to celebrate with her. 

She never really got super-excited about the cake though. They kept having to bring her back to it to eat a little bit more. Not a sweets girl, I guess! 

Happy Birthday, Grace! We love you!

The Willie Show

Okay - so now I can tell you! I didn't want to say anything before, 'cause I just couldn't quite believe that it was happening! 

I got to shoot the Willie Nelson concert last weekend! I photographed it for KOKE and they have all the photos on their website. You can see them all here! 

There's a ton of them! Drew Womack played at the VIP pre-show: 

Michael came with me to tote my stuff, and when we walked in he said, "Is that Bob?" And glanced out of the corner of my eye just briefly, saw the guy in the middle: 

and said, "phhth! NO!" But then I looked again and said, "Oh my goodness!" Indeed. That is Bob. Dressed up as the Roadhog. Oh Bob. Alright, mighty fine!

Looks like everybody was having a good time! 

It was a Willie and Family show, so his daughters opened up for him: 

 Okay, the ladies on the bottom right aren't his daughters. They're just adorable and they rounded out that collage nicely. Can you see the braids? They're wearing Willie braids! 

Roadhog had a few things to say before Willie came on; mostly thanks! 

And finally, the big show! Again, there are a ton of shots here, but here are a couple of my favorites. 

Yes, that first pic is Willie Nelson smiling at me. He waved at me later. We're, like, friends now.

Hangin' with Cory Morrow

I'm gonna count it as hangin' with Cory Morrow anyway. I mean, he was at Papa Woody's and I was at Papa Woody's. So that counts, right? Cory sang some songs, I took some pictures. It was good times.

Actually, KOKE FM invited me to come take some photos since they were one of the sponsors of his show Saturday night.

It was an hour away, he didn't start until almost 11 and it poured rain so that I had to run inside with my camera under my shirt. 

It was so much fun! 

First I shot from the front of the stage:

Then I found something to climb on at the side of the stage for another angle: 

Then I got to go around and shoot from the stage! A little tiny corner of it, but still...got some good stuff. 

Of course, that lasted about 4-5 songs, and then it started pouring! We all ran inside and they finished the show  inside. Since the inside was just a bar, I got to get really close and get a few shots that I'm a little proud of. 

And just a couple more:

 Got another exciting shoot coming up this weekend! If you're in Austin, you should come to the Willie Nelson show on Saturday night. I'm just sayin' - maybe I'll see you there!

A New Hogg Baby

Y'all have met Hudson before. You know he's pretty cool. Well, all of a sudden, he has a little protege - his little brother Brazos.

Brazos is also pretty cool. He'll let you put a hat on his head while he is sleeping, and just keep on sleeping even though your camera is loud and you move his feet around a lot. 

The Hoggs are some of our oldest Austin friends, and it is so fun to watch their family grow! 

Now they have two sweet boys who, I'm sure, will get into lots of trouble together over the next few years! 

But I think Meagan is plenty momma-enough to handle them both! 

I've seen several things on Pinterest lately that say it is better to be a big brother than it is to be a superhero. Hudson would like you to know that's only true if you still get to wear the cape.

 

He's gonna be a great big brother! 

Welcome, Brazos! We're so glad you're here! 

To book your newborn portrait session, contact me at jenni@jennirobertsphotography.com