Christmas 2011

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas (or whatever holidays you may celebrate in this season) and that the New Year treats you well! My husband Opie and I had a very nice, very busy Christmas. Between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we had 5 Christmas celebrations: a dinner at my cousin's house on Christmas Eve, our own gift exchange at our house early Christmas morning, brunch at my parents' house later in the morning, afternoon snacks with Opie's Dad's family at his Aunt's house, and dinner at Opie's Mom's house. Phew. I'm a little exhausted all over again just writing that out! I took quite a few photos of the festivities with my beloved new camera (probably 3/4 of which feature my adorable 18-month-old nephew) so I thought I'd share a few with you.

Everyone have a fun, safe New Years Eve! Opie and I will be having a quiet night in and I can't wait. I guess I'm easy to please. And/or a homebody. ;)

-Mary

Allen High School Senior Portraits: Cassandra

Last week I had the privilege of shooting Cassandra's Senior Portraits at a local park here in Allen. She's the Captain of Allen High School's Drill Team, a very talented ballerina, a certified nurse assistant, and my good friend Allison's gorgeous little sister. Photographing either of these girls is a breeze (can we say, "Photogenic"?) and I'm so pleased with how this session turned out. I also got to step outside of my comfort zone a bit and experiment with some action photos of her dancing in the twilight, which was a blast.

The Jackson Family

I met up with the Jackson family on Sunday to knock out some Christmas portraits... but of course it started raining about 3 minutes into our session. And then it started absolutely pouring about 10 minutes in. Things got cut short a bit, but here are a few of the shots I got off before we ran for cover! :)

Minneapolis Wedding: Merritt & Alex (Part II)

As promised, here's the rest of Merritt & Alex's laid back Baker Park Reserve wedding celebration. It's as clear as day in these photos that this was one heck of a fun wedding. With a live band covering a multitude of folksy genres, great food (hamburgers, hooray!), free-flowing drinks, and a lively dancing crowd, this was one rockin' party. I handed my camera off to an uncle for safe-keeping for one tune so I could get my stepdancing on with my newlywed cousin. If you want this photographer to dance at your wedding, have a fiddler play a reel. Actually, just having a fiddler on hand is a good start by itself.

Some of the typical traditions were skipped, but it sure didn't feel like this wedding was missing anything. The "first dance" was between the bride and a nephew she was keeping entertained. A packed dance floor followed shortly thereafter. In addition to their cake, they had a "Candy Mountain" for all of the kids to achieve their ideal sugar high. Toasts were open mic. Continuing this wedding's trend of friend and family contributions, Merritt's father read a poem he wrote for them that day, and one of their friends played them a song she wrote for them too. And of course, the giant sugar skulls made by a friend played their part in a fantastic impromptu grand finale to the wedding.

Congrats again guys!

Photography: Mary Cyrus
Venue: Baker Near-Wilderness Settlement
Music: Light of the Moon