The Reception - Tom and Ellie Part 4

This really needs no explanation!  After a beautiful wedding, there's gotta be a great follow up party!

So sweet!

I love the little boy on the left side watching!

She was seriously too cute!  She danced all night and was a huge hit!

The ever popular Chicken Dance!

Tom had on his Tango game face!

I'm not sure anyone expected them to do this, but it was awesome.

Bubbles!

I LOVE this image.  I'm quite proud of it.

That ends my series of Tom and Ellie's wedding!  Hope you've enjoyed it. <3

The Ceremony - Tom and Ellie: Part 3

The ceremony was at the perfect time of the evening! The lighting was beautiful shimmering off the lake with the fountain dancing on the water.  There was even a crescent moon starting to show in the clear sky.

They were too precious!  I would say they were the perfect ring bearer and flower girl.

Her son walked her down the aisle.

We are gathered here today...

You may now kiss the bride!

Mr. and Mrs.

In the Details - Tom and Ellie: Part 2

The flower girl is so precious and was having a ball jumping around.

I love shots like these.

The groom's cake was made to look like a Church's Chicken box!  It was a huge hit!  I absolutely loved the seashell cake. 

Dolled Up! - Tom and Ellie: Part 1

A couple weekends ago, I had the pleasure of photographing Tom and Ellie's Wedding!  The wedding was absolutely gorgeous!  I got to spend most of the afternoon with Ellie getting her hair and make-up done before the wedding.  Ellie was anxious and excited as to be expected! 

 More pictures to come!

Balloon Fiesta Part 4 - Special Shapes (Day 2)

Here's more special shapes (and the final installment in my Balloon Fiesta series)!  The winds on this morning were a little strong, so most of the balloons weren't able to fly.  For the most part, they were able to at least inflate and stay inflated for awhile - which meant more photo time!  As the morning went on, some of the pilots did find it safe enough to fly, so it was very nice to see that not everyone had to be grounded for the morning.  I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the morning! 

What could only be described as UFOs that morning!  These lighted balloon-like things were released into the sky.  It was very interesting as mom and I have no idea what was going on!  The funny thing is that we just saw a commercial on TV and we think it showed us what these were! 

The US flag and the Fiesta lifted off instead of Dawn Patrol.  They took flight in the sunrise to the National Anthem.  It was absolutely beautiful.

My awesome Waddles SnoBird looking great!  It was his first year in the Balloon Fiesta and he's just a baby, he was made this year!  A summery penguin with a camera around his neck - couldn't be any better in my opinion!

I also love that he has a "pin" with a balloon with a Texas flag on it on his camera strap!  It's popular to get pins of the special shape balloons and wear them however you wish!  I got a set of Waddles!  He also has the pins of the boxing kangaroo balloons on the opposite strap! This brings me to...

The Boxing Kangaroos!  Gotta love the little joeys too!

The heat from the burner makes the image in the middle look like it's all warped and almost like it's under water.  I think it's a pretty near effect.  I love the silhouette as well. 

This ladybug found her frog prince and they were smoochin' all morning!

"Arky" is one of the most impressive special shape balloons I think. It is so intricate and elaborate.  It even has a penguin on it too! 

The bees are a popular group too!  The red one and the blue one are the originals.  When these fly and the conditions are right, they can make the bees hold hands and even kiss during flight!  They must have done a lot more than kissing though because now they have a baby bee too!

"Patriot" is the space shuttle balloon.  This thing is ginormous - you can see how it compares to the other balloons nearby.  The yellow one behind it and the large one to the left are on the larger side of the 'regular' shaped balloons.  I looked up online the size of the balloon and (within a few feet) is the same size as the actual space shuttle!  At first the Patriot wasn't even able to inflate because of the winds, but later in the morning, there was success!  It was still breezy enough to swing the shuttle around and the crew with the tethers had to run through the crowd to keep control of the balloon.  It wasn't able to fly, but it was still impressive!

 

 I hope you've all enjoyed my pictures from the International Balloon Fiesta!  I had a blast, and I shot so so many photos.  I hope you like the ones that I picked to represent my trip!

Balloon Fiesta Part 3 - Special Shapes (Day 1)

Special shapes day at Balloon Fiesta Park always draws a large crowd. I would say it's definitely a different experience than seeing the traditional balloons.  The traditional shaped balloons are absolutely beautiful to see.  The special shapes are just amazing!  (The next post will also be special shapes, so stay tuned!)

Starting off with some more Dawn Patrol images!

 

Meet Waddles SnoBird!  He's my favorite balloon!  I have more pictures of him that will be in the next post!

This ladybug is a cutie floating on her sunflower.

Not too easy to see, but I love the little seagulls near the top of the lighthouse.

Balloon Fiesta Part 2 - Flight of the Nations

The second day that I went to the Balloon Fiesta, it was Flight of the Nations day!  Most of the balloons from this day were from other countries (though there are several local balloons that fly each day, sponsor balloons, etc).  There were several from Brazil, a couple from Germany, and even one from Japan!  I don't know from how many countries balloons came from, but the number of foreign balloons was amazing!  I also learned that there aren't any balloons manufactured in the United States.  Many of them are now made in Brazil, Germany, and the UK.  I thought that was pretty interesting.  Okay, enough text, onto the pictures!!

This is quite possibly my favorite picture from the event.  This US Flag balloon goes up as part of the Dawn Patrol.  This group goes up very early in the morning to test the wind conditions and serve as a guide to other balloons that will be flying that day.  (I was actually at the park by 5:50am each day!  I impressed myself!)

These are some of the balloons that fly each day.  After Dawn Patrol, they are the first to start inflating.  (Don't say the balloons are "blowing up" - they don't like that!  haha)

 

I love this balloon! 

This guy was from the Albuquerque area.  I'm not sure which tribe he is with, but he was pretty funny!  He was there with his wife and they both did some singing and story telling.  It was fun!

 

The Darth Vader helmet balloon is a huge hit!  The balloon comes in complete with Darth Vader himself, some Storm Troopers, and some other characters that I have no clue as to what they are... I loved the looks on these little boys' faces!  They weren't afraid, but they were definitely trying to figure him out.  Oh yeah, this balloon claims it's home in Germany!