Taylor & Liz: Engaged!

Man, these guys are SO IN LOVE. It was so great to meet up with them on Sunday with the gorgeous afternoon weather in the beautiful heart of downtown Austin! These two are incredibly fun - I laughed my head off the whole time because Liz is sooo silly and Taylor is her perfect silliness match! :) Liz is a teacher so I think she's gifted in the "fun" department and Taylor is a pilot so . . . . he's a high-flying guy. Hehe. (I just slapped myself for saying that!)

Anyway, I love these pictures because I truly enjoy these people and I cannot wait to shoot their wedding! Yippee!!!











Yes, this did happen. :)




My favorite of the day:

Fortune cookie fun

After Taylor & Liz's engagement session yesterday (which I will share very soon!), Stan and I shopped ALLLLL day for kitchen remodeling stuff. By the end of the day were were so tired and wiped out, so we decided to grab a quick dinner at our favorite neighborhood sushi place.

At the end of dinner, we were about to open our fortune cookies and I said "Wait! When we read these, we have to add 'In the kitchen' to the end of the fortune, since we spent all day on kitchen plans."

Stan smiled sweetly in the way he does when he's thinking "Stacy, you're ridiculous, but I love it."

My fortune: Your goals will soon come to pass . . . (in the kitchen)

Stan's fortune: You will have a great capacity to make people feel at home . . . (in the kitchen)

Let it be, Lord! ; )

Michael & Brianne: Engaged!

I LOVE these guys . . . I am so lucky to have such amazing people to work with. :)

Being Different.

(I know this picture is HIDEOUS, but I put it up, in case any of my high school or college friends are reading. This is called the "Pretty Face" and I break it out anytime I don't have anything funny to say, but I still want to entertain people. Obviously there is nothing pretty about it!)

I have many fond memories of my high school years and when I think back to that time in my life, overall, I am happy about how things went. However, when I look back, there is one thing I would change - one thing I really regret - and that was my deep and real need to be the SAME as everyone around me. I went to a high school where we all wore uniforms, but even with little selection, I would find a way to follow the lead of everyone around me, finding out where they bought their khaki pants or oxford shirt, because I felt I needed to look JUST like them.

Now that I'm twenty-something, I am so thankful that I've grown enough to know that I don't want to be like ANYONE else! I want to be me! I am silly, zainy, loud, driven, obnoxious, and emotional and that is OKAY. :) Yes, new people are often scared of me, but I've never met a stranger and I'm surrounded by the best friends in the world. I am blessed. Even the ridiculous things about me that I used to loathe, I now embrace. I've never been so secure in my life.

Lately I've been thinking about how my desire to be different effects my photography. I remember when my business first started taking off, I felt like I needed to know the right lens, the right website, the right amount of saturation, the right angles, the right exposures, the right everything that would produce a good picture. I wanted to look at someone else's pictures and figure out the magical formula to make my pictures look like their's. While this time was short-lived, it was so NOT me and I just despise that I ever felt like I needed to do that. The moment I figured out that I could just be ME in my photography, nothing but great things came along! I never look at someone's work and ask myself how I can make mine look like their style. Now I appreciate others' work and am thankful that our styles are different. I shoot with the freedom to capture a moment through MY eyes without a mental set of rules to follow to achieve someone else's look.

I know this probably seems like a bunch of rambling, but I guess I hope that this has a lesson for all of us:

- Don't waste time trying to fit into a mold that wasn't made for you. Be you - and rest comfortably and securely in being true to yourself. :)

This applies to brides planning their own weddings, photographers finding their own style, regular people trying to find success in their careers, high-schoolers trying to find their place amongst their peers. Being the same is never worth the hard work it requires and it will leave you feeling empty and without foundation. You were made for more than that! :)

Love,
SC

Photography Gift Cards!

Hey guys!

Well, I wanted to mention this as the holidays are coming up and I have gotten more and more questions about gift cards. :) Stacy Cross Photography Gift Cards ARE available and can be purchased in any amount. Here's a few fun ideas of how they could be used:

1) Family Portraits: Purchase a family portrait session for someone in your family - this way, you get credit for getting them a gift, but you also get to be a part of getting the gift! :)

2) Maternity and Newborn Portraits: Do you know a new mom or mom-to-be? Almost all new moms really want maternity portraits, pictures of their newborn, or family portraits after the baby is born, but as we know, moms aren't that good at taking care of their own wants and needs in those early days! Spoil a new mom by getting her a session for Christmas, her Birthday, or (husbands, listen up!) Valentine's day.

3) Brides and Grooms: Add us to your registry - seriously! A few months ago, I had a bride ask me if she could tell her guests to contact me for gift cards when they ask what the Bride and Groom want. I thought this was brilliant and I now let my brides and grooms know that this is available so that if they want to add pages to their album, a bridal session to their package, or just a little help towards their photography budget, they can get it! And if you list us as one of your registries, people LOVE to feel like they've been a part of helping you capture your memories, so you'll most likely get lots of great stuff with all the credit you get instead of 15 extra sets of dish towels. :)

4) Senior Portraits: Nobody ever knows what to get their senior for graduation, thus resulting in all the copies of "Chicken Soup for the Graduate's Soul" floating around in the world, not being read. :) I pretty much think that a Senior Portrait session is the BEST gift for a graduating senior and they will love it!

5) Boudoir Portraits: Do you know of a bachelorette that really wants to do boudoir pictures for her groom, but is bogged down with wedding planning and hasn't set one up yet? Well, this is an awesome gift to get for a bachelorette party - especially if all of the bridesmaids or party hosts get together to purchase the session for her! Many of you may not even know that I offer these because I never share my boudoir session pictures anywhere on my website or blog. However, I do have several examples I can show you if you're a bride-to-be or married lady! :)

So, if you are interested in more information, just email me and I'll be happy to send you some info! stacy@stacycross.com

Chris & Heidi's Wedding!

It never failed. Each time I saw Heidi laugh, smile, cry, or speak, I immediately turned to look for Chris because I knew his eyes would be adoringly set on her every move. It was so beautiful to see how deeply Chris is in love with his bride. And Heidi loves Chris, too. The way she would so naturally rest her head under his chin or place her hand on the small of his back showed, in a subtle way, her true and unconditional love for her groom.

Stan and I loved every single moment of their wedding and reception. As usual (and we realize this is a good problem!), there were far too many awesome moments captured to pick a reasonable amount of favorites. I know that I am about to post a ton of pictures, but believe me, there are many more really great ones where these came from! :)

I also have to take a moment and give Stan yet another "shout-out". He is the most wonderful husband and friend in the world and now he is also the most incredible 2nd shooter. Not to toot our horn, but we really do make an awesome team! We were looking over our pictures last night and we were so excited to see that I had taken a picture of this moment between Chris and Heidi that was really cool and then the very next picture that Stan took was of the crowd's reaction to what they were seeing and it was priceless! We never could have gotten both of those moments at the same time without all the practice, patience, and work that Stan has put into being the best compliment to me while we are shooting. Stan is literally great at everything he tries, and I am so proud to say that he is great at photography, too!


Here's just a few of my many, many favorites from the day!













My favorite picture of the entire day (and maybe my entire life!) during communion:


















Okay, I LOVE the look on this kid's face during the garter. He's like "Ewwwwww!"




Now I am going to share a few of my favorites from the short time that Heidi and Chris and I had together right after their reception ended. Everyone left and Heidi and Chris had the limo driver come back so that we could do about 10 minutes of portraits, since I assured them that I could give them some awesome pics if they just gave me 10 minutes. See what just a little time can do? :)















* If you were a guest at Chris and Heidi's wedding and would like to see all of their pictures when they become available, simply *CLICK HERE* and search for their names. Sign the guestbook and then you will be notified by email as soon as the pictures are up! *

Get ready - tons of pics! :)

Today was absolutely AWESOME. Stan and I just love Chris and Heidi and it was so wonderful to share today, their wedding day, with them and their family and friends. Get ready to see lots of great pictures from their wedding sometime this week! :)



A quick picture of Stan and I (I'm holding the camera here - not bad, huh?) at the end of the day. :) He is just so handsome!

The most beautiful day ever!

Today is the most beautiful day EVER in Austin, Texas history! :) How did you spend it? I got a filling at the dentist and had 2 pairs of pants tailored. :) I'm gonna go outside to play now!

Hugs,
Stacy

PS - this is what Buddy did today:

Jason & Cheryl: Engaged!

Tonight I went out with Jason and Cheryl to shoot their fabulous engagement pics and I love the way they turned out! :)















My favorite: