Jennifer and David clearly did a great job of making Mercury Hall even more awesome than usual…you simply can’t go wrong with gourmet french fries and your own custom wine. And the towels? I hope my towel is absolutely filthy by year’s end. I’ll keep you posted. By the way…the first person to guess which mustache is the real deal is the winner! I’m still working on the prize…

Austin Wedding Photographer – Los Angeles Wedding Photographer – www.jakeholt.com

Wayyyyy back in the fall of 2005, when I was still occasionally shooting on this awful thing called “35mm film” and we all thought that MySpace was the most amazing thing since the Pontiac Aztek, I photographed my very first wedding as a lead photographer, and I was lucky enough to have Villa Antonia as my backdrop. As they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Villa Antonia has changed plenty over the years, but unlike Myspace it’s just gotten better, and without the help of any glitter bling. When you add in a bride and groom that look as amazing as Julia and Brance did on their big day, well, it’s almost as if all of the hard work was taken care of for me…except for hauling around those giant equipment cases, of course.

Austin Wedding Photography – Los Angeles Wedding Photography – www.jakeholt.com

Usually I’d post something here about my favorite detail or two (or three) from the wedding day, but seriously, I don’t want to go on and on (and on) and bore you to death…because I’d need a lot of room to list everything that was amazing about Eric and Lisa’s wedding. Suffice it to say that it was one of the most fun weddings that I’ve ever been a part of, but these photos should hopefully get that point across better that any words could. I guess that’s what happens when your reception is basically a 6-hour concert that just happens to have a cake…a cake with a killer bear hanging over it. Many, many thanks to Lisa & Eric, Becky @ Pearl Events Austin, The Mohawk, Annie Ray, Alison Narro, Neiliyo, Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt, Transplants Floral Design, Pink Avocado and everyone else who helped make this a wedding for the ages…

All of these images are now available for ordering at www.jakeholt.instaproofs.com - hundreds more to come soon!

Austin Wedding Photographer – Los Angeles Wedding Photographer – www.jakeholt.com

Wow, it’s been a busy month so far in magazine-land! Lesley and Paul’s November 2010 wedding was featured in Elle Taiwan’s summer wedding special, while one of my favorite photos from Hillary and Eric’s April 2011 wedding was used to illustrate the “photojournalistic style” in the August issue of Brides magazine for their Ultimate Guide To Photography. You can pick Brides up on newsstands everywhere now – their photography guide has TONS of great, helpful info for brides and grooms to be. Picking up a copy of Elle Taiwan might be just a bit tougher, unless of course you live in Taiwan. Thanks again to Lesley & Paul, Hillary and Eric, and (again!) Margaret at Three Apples Events!

Austin Wedding Photographer – Los Angeles Wedding Photographer – www.jakeholt.com

I’ve been looking forward to Ioana and Kevin’s wedding for quite some time, ever since we met up in Santa Cruz for their engagement session on the boardwalk. At that session, we ended up with photos of the following:

1) Ioana and Kevin riding the legendary Looff Carousel, the very carousel featured in The Lost Boys right before the untimely demise of that poor security guard in the parking lot…

2) NARROWLY AVERTED SEAGULL ATTACK!

3) Ioana beating Kevin at Skeeball (sorry Kevin)

4) What appeared to be a rather disgusting fried Twinkie, with Kevin’s reaction clearly reflecting the quality of said Twinkie…

5) Ioana and Kevin BREAKING ALL THE RULES and climbing on the lifeguard stand for the requisite “sunset on the beach” shots…

After all of this amazingness, I expected great things of the wedding day at Russian River Vineyards in Sonoma, and Ioana, Kevin, and their friends and family certainly did not disappoint! Homemade beer, some amazing toasts, a very excitable puppy and an inspired first dance, among many other moments, kept me clicking away all day and into the night. What more could a photographer ask for? How about a bright red classic Studebaker truck? Thank you.

All of these images are now available for ordering at www.jakeholt.instaproofs.com – hundreds more to come soon!

San Francisco Wedding Photographer – Los Angeles Wedding Photographer – www.jakeholt.com

As you can see, it is clearly apparent that Rachel and Tye must have held a worldwide contest in order to get the most adorable children possible in their wedding. I mean, SERIOUSLY. They got a little grumpy by the end of the day, but hey, they were troupers out in that heat! Rachel and Tye were troupers as well, dealing with crazy temps, a gaggle of onlookers and an apparently collapsing dock to get the CRUCIAL sunset shots. I’m rather confident that these may be the very last photos taken on that dock before it becomes one with Town Lake…

All of these images are now available for ordering at www.jakeholt.instaproofs.com – hundreds more to come soon!

Austin Wedding Photography – Los Angeles Wedding Photography – www.jakeholt.com

Dread Pirate Roberts & Princess Buttercup cake-toppers. Dread Pirate Roberts & Princess Buttercup cake-toppers. Do you hear what I’m saying? DREAD PIRATE ROBERTS & PRINCESS BUTTERCUP CAKE-TOPPERS! Legendary. Add to that a choreographed Thriller dance, yellow flip-flops and an exit on bicycles with Hawaiian shirts and you can probably guess that Katie and Ben’s wedding was about as fun as they get. Did you see the cake-toppers?

All of these images are now available for ordering at www.jakeholt.instaproofs.com – hundreds more to come soon!

Austin Wedding Photographer – Los Angeles Wedding Photographer – www.jakeholt.com

One of my favorite photos from Weneva & Mark’s April wedding at Becker Vineyards just won an award in the Creative Portrait category of the prestigious Wedding Photojournalist Association’s international photo contest! For those unfamiliar with the WPJA, it’s a merit-based organization comprised of some of the most talented wedding photographers in the world, so this award is quite an honor. If you take a look at some of the other winners, even just in the same category, you’ll see that they come from all over the world: Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, NYC, England, Brazil, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Paris, etc. Wow and wow. Honored. Thanks so much to Weneva, Mark, Becker Vineyards and the WPJA!

Austin Wedding Photographer – Los Angeles Wedding Photographer – www.jakeholt.com

When I tried to describe how awesome these centerpieces were, it didn’t really do them justice. “Yeah, there were old books, and antique cameras…and succulents!” Only a photo truly does them justice. And how crazy cute is that ring bearer? I mean, I know that ring bearers and flower girls are there to be cute and they always do a really great job at it, but seriously, just look at that little guy!

All of these images are now available for ordering at www.jakeholt.instaproofs.com – hundreds more to come soon!

Austin Wedding Photographer – Los Angeles Wedding Photographer – www.jakeholt.com

You get to know a few things about someone when the shuttle-bus from their hotel to their wedding ceremony runs 35+ minutes late and they have to drive themselves (and their wedding party and photographers, crammed into an SUV) across town with only minutes to spare. In this case, I learned that Kevin has an amazing ability to keep calm under extreme pressure and also has great respect for traffic laws and red lights, running only one in the process. But that light totally deserved it, as did many others. I would have run at least 3 of them, at least.

Austin Wedding Photography – Los Angeles Wedding Photography – www.jakeholt.com