We've added another film camera to the family, in the form of a Polaroid Land Camera 420. We've been wanting a Polaroid camera for a while now. I (Cat) am the 'gear researcher' of the two of us, and I knew that we wanted a Polaroid Land Camera, but there were several models made. All of them are pretty similar, and since these cameras aren't being made anymore, it came down to finding the right used camera for us.

This particular model was manufactured between 1971 and 1976, so this camera is over 30 years old. So awesome! In that time frame, I wasn't the least bit surprised when my dad saw us with it the other day and said he used to have one like it. The good thing is that it was in almost mint condition, which was important to us. Also, obviously, we wanted the camera to be in tested, working condition, which was harder than you think. So many of these cameras end up on people's mantles, so there's a lot of them on eBay that aren't tested or working.

The camera we got also has had some battery modifications where it can accept modern AAA batteries as opposed to old Polaroid batteries. Polaroid doesn't make the film for these cameras anymore, but luckily, Fuji makes a modern film that works. And so begins our love affair with the Polaroid!

As you can imagine, most of our pictures are of Wilma and Hudson.

When you take a picture, you pull the picture out of the camera and it looks like this. Based on the temperature at your location and the type of film, you have to wait anywhere from 15 seconds to 3 minutes before you can peel the picture off. We have found that if you peel the picture off a little earlier, you can end up with a slightly warmer image. On the opposite end though, if you let it go too long, your picture will definitely look a little blue.

Sometimes though we forget to change the dial for the film speed and end up with a picture like this....

But eventually we figure it out.

We have a huge stack of pictures and we're also bringing our Polaroid around with us on shoots, so we will keep sharing!

Jill and Wade's wedding was a beautiful celebration of their love, held at a truly magnificent old ranch/plantation in the tiny little town of Egypt, Texas.

How beautiful is this bride?

Under the shade of the big trees on the ranch, Jill and Wade said their vows.

This ranch is very special to Jill, specifically this old wooden house. She chose to have their portraits taken all around the ranch, and we were so happy. There were so many photos of them, we had a hard time selecting which to show here on the blog!

Why yes, those ARE custom bobbleheads!

Jill and Wade - we had a great time getting to know you both and we wish for you so many wonderful things as you live your life together!

Friends and family, we invite you to view Jill and Wade's gallery and sign their guestbook to leave them your best wishes!

We've missed a few anniversaries the past few months, but I'm back to my blog calendar and I'm happy to be sharing the news that one of our favorite couples celebrated their one-year anniversary this past weekend!

On this past Saturday morning, Luke and I were eating breakfast and drinking water (no, not coffee, as we've slacked off nowadays) and I said, "This time last year we were so excited for Katie and Drew's wedding that we got ready and went on in to Houston 2 hours early." That's true! The day of Katie and Drew's wedding, we were so excited it might as well have been Christmas morning.

Among a million other memories from their wedding day, here are a few of my favorites!

1. One of the most fun groups of people ever! It makes our job so much fun when we get to hang out with a wedding party that is just as excited to be at the wedding as we are. Katie and Drew's buddies were the bomb!

2. Amazing families. Both Katie and Drew come from really incredible families. It was so special for us to get to know everyone and understand the reason that Katie and Drew are both such caring people. This picture of Katie and her parents is our favorite family 'formal' (not formal, right!) ever!

3. These guys. It's hard to begin to explain, but Katie and Drew have become some of our best friends. It's so funny to me that K&D, some of our best friends now, originally just started out as names in an e-mail that they sent through the contact form on our website. I'm SO glad that we got to know this couple, I'm glad that our dogs have played with their dog, I'm glad that they tell me all the cool places in Austin so I'm not such a country bumpkin, I'm glad that I've had breakfast at their table cooked in Drew's favorite cast iron skillet. We love you guys!