Thank You.

Hey guys - I just wanted to take a moment and thank you all so much for your encouragement, thoughts and prayers. Stan and I are back in Austin and are doing okay. We've had, by far, the most trying week of our lives, but it's in times like this that recognize how deeply blessed we are to have the love and support of so many of our family and friends.

I am sure that in the future I will open up a bit more about what's been going on, but for now I'll just say that our family is going through a very tough experience right now and we have quite a road ahead of us. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time. Life is not always easy or fun and difficult times do come, but we are committed to continuing to love and serve all of our clients, family, and friends with our whole hearts now and always.

Thank you for loving us.

Many hugs and much love,
Stacy and Stan

Out of the Office

Hey guys - I just wanted to let you all know that, due to an unexpected family emergency, Stan and I will be out of town (and thus, out of the office) from Sunday, February 24th through Wednesday, February 27th. If you have called us or sent an email we will be sure to get back to you as quickly as possible once we return.

Blessings,
Stacy

Stacy and Eric: Coming Soon!

Though I'm sad to report that I cannot post all of my favorite images from Stacy & Eric's engagement session before I go to bed tonight or before I shoot a wedding tomorrow, I did want to leave them something to tide them over for the weekend. :)

S&E - sorry it's not more, but I promise your sneak peek is coming VERY soon!

Hugs,
Stacy

Jason and Cheryl's Wedding

Last Saturday was a very special day. While you were enjoying a movie or nice dinner with friends, Stan and I were at the rockin-est party of the night: Cheryl & Jason's Wedding! Hooray!

They had an incredibly beautiful and classy event beginning with a lovely ceremony at University Christian Church and a killer reception at the University of Texas Union Ballroom. Every detail was beautifully chosen and every moment of the day was gracefully coordinated by Kathie Millen and her crew from Austin Wedding Planners. Here are a few of my favorites from their day.





I LOVE this moment - Cheryl's dad giving her away






Their cake was about 20 feet tall and truly breathtaking. When I find out who the baker was, I'll share because Stan tells me that the cake tasted incredible. Sadly, cake is not on Stacy's diet. :(



Cheryl's grandpa gave a very sweet toast. Grandpa and Grandma just celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary and are basically as cute as could be!


One of my favorite things about having Stan shooting with me is the fact that when I get home and upload his pictures, I have no idea what I'm going to get. It's little surprises like this image that make me smile. :)



FYI - this is the groom's DAD dancing with a bridesmaid. Nice.



I love the classic feel of this image from their exit!

Kate & Davis: Engaged!

I am so honored to present to you my dear friend Kate and her wonderful fiance Davis!

Kate and I have been friends since I was in high school. We met at Camp Allen and were instant friends. When she moved away to UT, I basically made her dorm room my 2nd home and took as many trips as possible to Austin to see she and our other Longhorn friends.

Kate is a huge part of the reason why I decided to come to Austin and attend the University of Texas after I graduated high school. She's an even bigger reason that I lived at SRD (Scottish Rite Dormitory) my freshman year of college and there's so much GOOD in my life now that has come from that time. I have Kate to thank for helping pave the way for a very happy and successful college experience for me. Beyond all of that, I truly LOVE and enjoy the heck out of her! She is one of my funniest friends EVER and we have so many incredible memories together!

Needless to say, I was unbelievably honored when I received an enthusiastic phone call from Kate, letting me know that she had gotten engaged and that she wanted me to be her wedding photographer! I was (and still am) completely beside myself at the thought of shooting Kate's wedding. It is a huge honor to get to share her day with her.

Then came Davis. Davis and I didn't meet until the other day when we got together for their engagement session. WOW. He is PERFECT for Kate. Davis is a kind, classy, funny, intelligent, good-lookin' guy and I am so thrilled that he has asked my friend to marry him. I 110% approve of Kate's choice in a husband! What a great match!

Anyway, I know I've blah blah blahed enough - here are some of my favorites from their session . . .

Stacy and Coffee . . . .

<3 BFF. <3

I love coffee! It's funny because just a few years ago I could not stand the taste of coffee, much less enjoy it. It was not until I started Nursing school that I actually forced myself to drink coffee during the long study hours I suddenly had to endure. After several months of drinking coffee, I found that I actually enjoyed it. And now? I am a coffee maniac! I seriously love it. Now, I'm still kind of a coffee baby, because I definitely have to have the fru-fru coffee with lots of good stuff in it. But I love it, nonetheless!

Starbucks is my one big weakness right now. My drink (venti sugar-free hazelnut soy-milk latte) is not only incredibly delicious but it's actually good for me! I get a serving and a half of my calcium for the day, which otherwise is difficult for me to get, since I don't drink cow's milk much anymore. However, the painful side to all of this is that my favorite drink also costs $4.60! Gheeze. Soooooo . . . . I've decided to start making this exact drink for myself at home. I'm going to the grocery store to find some sugar-free syrups and I've already purchased the starbucks coffee. I always have soy milk in my fridge, so all I need is a steamer. I am planning to go by Bed Bath and Beyond sometime today to purchase that. It may be a big investment up-front for all of this stuff, but I figure it will save me somewhere around a gajillion dollars in the long-run, so it's worth it!

What I'm listening to right now

Man, I am such a sucker for a smooth R&B song. I am in LOVE with this song by Chris Brown right now!!! :)

Chris Brown - "With You"

I cannot stop listening to it! This is mah JAM, yall!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's a picture of Stan and I exchanging Valentine's gifts this morning:



Watching the hundreds of diamond and candy commercials leading up to Valentine's Day this year has had me thinking. I tried to imagine what my reaction would be if Stan just decided to go out and buy some diamonds behind my back and bring them home to surprise me. Every time I play through this scenario in my mind, it always turns out pretty bad. I know myself and I think that Stan knows me well enough to NOT do that. :) Diamonds mean nothing to me (except for my incredibly beautiful wedding rings, which hold tremendous sentimental value) and candy will only make me miserable!

As I was thinking about what Valentine's Day would be like this year, I was filled with a deep sense of gratitude and joy. Our kitchen will literally be finished TODAY after many months of construction and many dollars reluctantly spent. :) It really looks amazing and it's so exciting to see our dreams for our little kitchen come together (I'll share pictures soon!). This year, Stan and I have decided to stay home and cook (we have not been able to cook in our home in over 3 months) a delicious gourmet meal in our brand new kitchen! There is no other way in the world that I would rather spend this Valentine's Day!

No, we're not big on all the Valentine's hoopla, but we do think it's nice to do something special to recognize how truly blessed we've been in love. This year we will celebrate 5 years of marriage and it has been one crazy whirlwind of joy, laughter, growth, challenges, and learning. I would not go back and change one single thing. I love Stan so much and I am so thankful that every year, for the rest of my life, I get to have hunky Stan Cross as my Valentine. :) I am the luckiest girl in the world!

Todd & Paula: Engaged!

All you need is love. All you need is love. All you need is love. love. Love is all you need.

Ahhhh. How cute are Todd and Paula?!?!?! They are totally in love and it's incredible. Todd is one of Stan's very best friends and Stan will be a groomsman in Todd & Paula's wedding in June, while I get to be their photographer - hoooray!!! :)

Todd and Paula's love is also an answer to prayer. :) Stan really loves Todd and has always thought he was this totally incredible dude and was greatly deserving of an equally awesome girl, but the right lady never came along - until now. Paula is soooooo lovely. She has the biggest heart of probably anyone I've ever met and the girl is sassy, fun, and beautiful. She makes Todd smile - a LOT. All of these things were qualities that Stan prayed would be found in a lady for Todd and his prayers were answered!
(This is how Stan claims responsibility for their relationship! :) )

Anyway, here are a few of my favorites from their engagement session. To pump up the cute factor about 100%, Todd and Paula are not kissing until their wedding day (ummmm......hope that wasn't a secret, guys!) and it made for a very fun time of finding unique ways to demonstrate closeness without kisses - loved it! :) These were taken in gorgeous Wimberley, Texas, where Todd asked Paula to be his wife. Awwww.











This is really more of an outtake, but I thought it was hilarious, so I had to share! We went to this beautiful outdoor theater that had all kinds of interesting things, including a HUGE chess board.

Contest time! (See update at bottom!)

This week I will be posting the entries for the blog contest and you're going to be VERY surprised! :) I was!!! Here is entry #1, from Cortney Smith. :)

How do you get a quiet middle school coach to smile? Our family is
separated by more than 1500 miles and with a new baby that we do not get
to see nearly enough. We knew that a summer vacation trip to Texas was
the perfect opportunity to get some much needed family pictures.

Mat is usually quiet and reserved and has been surrounded by a new
family of talkers! Our session with Stacy Cross was just plain fun! We
got the chance to play around and Stacy somehow captured the goofy, fun
Mat that we love. Our family will treasure more than just the beautiful
pictures. We will always remember the terrific day that was complete
with smiles, geese, laughing, a bloody toe, and a lot of love.



__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

OKAY! Well, thanks to everyone who was faithful to vote! :) I will keep you in suspense no longer . . . .

The winner of the blog contest is . . . . . **DRUM ROLL PLEASE** . . . . CORTNEY SMITH!!!!!

God bless her - she is the ONLY one who entered the contest!! ; ) What's up with that, people?! With all my brides and grooms who tell me they check the blog all the time, I coudn't believe we didn't have at least 10 or so entries! Ah well - all that matters is that Cortney won and I am SOOOOOOOO happy for her because she's also one of my best buds! Way to go, Cort!!

Love yall,
Stacy

In a moment . . .

This is part of why I love what I do. Anytime I'm shooting - whether at a wedding, or an engagement session - I get to experience the most incredible feeling when I see a significant moment and I capture it. I love the feeling of knowing that something awesome has happened with the simple click of my shutter.

I often get goosebumps when I know that a picture I just captured is going to be great simply because the moment was perfect. I think about those images for the rest of the day and I just cannot wait to see them when I get home! Here's just a couple of moments recently that have taken my breath away. There are so many of these from each wedding and portrait session and I fall so in love with these moments that it somehow just becomes overwhelming to try to even blog them.

Blog Schmog

Ugh. I think I'm going through a phase of Blog-funk lately. Every time I sit down to blog, I can't think of anything good to say and though I have lots of great pics to share, I'm just kind of "blah" about the whole thing.

I am soooo sorry for my lack of blogging lately! I will try my hardest to get better - I promise! :)

To begin the process of my getting better about blogging, I thought I would ease into things by showing you just a few pics from Jerri & Dan's lovely wedding last weekend in Concan, Texas.

If you've never been to Concan, Texas, don't feel bad. I had never even heard of it before, but Stan and I were very excited at the thought of venturing into a new place, not at all knowing what to expect. For one thing, Concan has MOUNTAINS. Yes. Mountains in Texas! Well, Stan says that they're technically just hills, but they look like Mountains from far away, so I am calling them mountains! :) Concan is a charming, beautiful place about 3 hours driving distance from Austin. We enjoyed driving through the wide open fields of the Texas country and were reminded of how small our own little world really is.

Jerri called us about 2 weeks ago asking if we would pleeeeease shoot her wedding since there had been a miscommunication with their wedding photographer who thought that their wedding was a week later than planned. We were all lucky that not much was going on last weekend and we could shoot her wedding. I am SO glad that it all worked out - we had a blast!

To top it all off, Jerri & Dan were actually already married because they live overseas and, for safety purposes, were married last August. Sing it with me: "First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes . . . . " That's right! Jerri and Dan are expecting their first baby in May and they couldn't be more excited! :) It was so sweet to see how thrilled they are for all of the new and exciting changes that have taken place in their lives over the last few months. We are so happy for them!

And I know I post flowers a lot, but they are my favorite part of a wedding, so I can't help it!