PenWeddings

Emily + Jeff | Mayo Hotel Tulsa Wedding Film

penweddings — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:37:13 +0000

I’m quite certain Emily and Jeff’s families are the exact kind of people who inspired the phrase “southern hospitality.” (and Jan, you can bet we’ll be taking you up on your offer to knock on your front door the next time we’re in Northwest Arkansas) This is a loud, friendly bunch that loves to laugh and dance. And Emily is a self-described tomboy, so for her huge bridal party watching her get all fancy was quite the to-do. They had a beautiful wedding at Holy Family Cathedral, followed by a stunning reception at The Mayo Hotel designed by Lynn Wheatley and her team at Lasting Impressions. But my favorite part of the day was when they exchanged notes, and then saw each other for the first time on the streets of downtown Tulsa. I cannot tell you how much we love weddings where we get to work with wonderful families and some of the best wedding professionals in the state.

Tulle, chiffon, & rhinestone Louboutins | Cortney’s Mayo & Philbrook bridals

penweddings — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 20:08:57 +0000

Cortney and Alex’s New Year’s Eve wedding designed by Christina Leigh Events was absolutely fabulous, and we’ll be posting their highlight film soon. But before that I wanted to share her stunning bridal portrait session that they brought us along for. (Check out her amazing bridals by Lisa Dunham here) Cortney’s dresses (yes, I said dresses, plural) were amazing. She actually had three; one for the wedding, reception, and after-party. For her bridal session she went with the first two. This girl has amazing style, which is fitting since she owns her own clothing boutique, Ketch The Spirit, featuring cute collegiate teamwear. We spent a lot of time inside the gorgeous Mayo Hotel since it was crazy windy outside (hello Oklahoma). But we did get out in the sunshine for a trip to the Philbrook Museum of Art, and to get some shots with a vintage Cadillac El Dorado brought over by the girls at Zinke Design. And in addition to the over-the-top florals Anne-Marie with The French Bouquet made for their wedding, she also put together a beautiful bouquet for the bridal session. One of my favorite things was looking over my shoulder a couple of times and catching Cortney’s sweet mom Cindy getting a little choked up. It was such a fun day. Thanks for asking us to come along!

Anna + Drew | OKC Museum of Art & Myriad Gardens wedding film

penweddings — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 02:46:53 +0000

So, Anna is kinda’ crazy… in an adorable I want to run up and hug her kind of way. I mean, how can you not love a bride who is willing to play in water in her wedding gown? These two are so cool, so fun… and so willing to go with the flow when things don’t go exactly as planned. Their first reception venue is a new ballroom that ended up not quite being ready in time for their wedding. Not to worry, they could set up a tent in the beautiful Myriad Gardens for the party, right by where their ceremony would be and next to the building where dinner would happen. Cue Spring in Oklahoma… a bad weather system moved in that caused tornadoes all over Oklahoma and the Midwest the day before the wedding, and Saturday looked like much of the same. So the amazing Robyn Martin with The Wedding Belle found a new ceremony location in the OKlahoma City Museum of Art (keep in mind, this is the DAY BEFORE THE WEDDING). High winds meant no tent, so the entire reception got moved into the dinner room. Amazingly it all worked out perfectly, and short of some crazy winds it really was a beautiful day.

p.s. Anna and Drew own In The Raw in Oklahoma City, so you two can bet you’ll be seeing us many more times in the future. You’ve been warned.

Behind The Lens | Family Heirlooms

penweddings — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 04:29:21 +0000

Prepare yourself, I’m getting personal in this blog post. Originally I was just going to write about family heirlooms. I had planned to sort of “gloss over” the reason behind the post because I know most people are more private than I. If you’ve not figured it out already, I’m pretty much an open book… probably too open sometimes. Haha. But I asked my mom for permission to share a little more. So here goes. Grandma Lulu, this one is for you.

As I write this, I’m listening to a steady rain just like I was a year ago today. Tonight, we’re in a hotel room; on the road for a beautiful wedding. One year ago today, we were in a hospital room with my mom, cousins, aunts and uncles. It was my 30th birthday, but that was the last thing on my mind. My grandmother Louise, or “Lulu” as we called her, had suffered a stroke months earlier and we knew it wouldn’t be long before she saw Heaven. I took a lot of pictures during our time there, and this one always seems to touch me the most. I still can’t look at it without crying. That’s my mama, kissing her mama.

Lulu died in the middle of the night. We’d been at the hospital for days (some family members, months). My mom, aunts and uncles took “shifts” making sure someone was always there with her. That night was no different. But those who were there eventually gave in for a short time and dozed off in their chairs. That’s when she left us. The next day, someone said “You know, she did this on purpose. She would have wanted it this way.” So strong, so independent, Lulu was never one to want people to fuss over her.

It’s amazing how fun the next day was. Of course it was emotional. Of course we were sad. But looking at family heirlooms, going through old photographs, and sharing memories in the house where my mom, her sister and two brothers grew up truly was a happy time.

That night, I got an unexpected treat; a little impromptu birthday celebration at the dinner table with one of the best gifts ever. My aunt, I believe, had the idea to pick out one small thing from Lulu’s house that they knew I would love. I’ve always told my mom how much I like her antique pink transferware collection, and my grandma just so happened to have a couple of pieces too. So they picked this out as my gift, and said, “happy birthday from Lulu.” I cried like a baby.

It rained (strike that, stormed) again the day of her funeral… which that year was the day before Easter. In a way, it seemed fitting.

As you can imagine, the larger family heirlooms went to Lulu’s immediate children, but they did allow the grandkids to make “requests.” Somehow I actually ended up with the one thing I’d always wanted from my grandma’s house… a pew from the church where many members of my family grew up, and where my mother and grandmother got married. They moved to a new building years ago, but the old church still stands. This is the best picture I could find of it online.

Although this was not my childhood church (as I grew up in a different state) I still have many memories of this place. So now, a pew from this church sits in the entryway of our home.

The antique stained glass window hanging over it, not sure where that came from. Haha Although I am very interested in trying to track down its history. It was a Christmas present from my parents. Someday it will be passed on to my kids, who will pass it on to theirs. Heirlooms have to start somewhere, right?

Vintage Enchantment | Wedding Inspiration at Skelly Lodge

penweddings — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 05:08:43 +0000

I am in love with this inspiration shoot we did for the guys at Bridalifestyle. Skelly Lodge was the perfect setting for a chic vintage design. Major props to the awesome wedding pros who pulled this together in just a couple of weeks. The golden autumn leaves made for the perfect backdrop for bird cages filled with bright yellow flowers. Grace with Paper 8 made some fabulous custom stationery and even the “Mr” and “Mrs” signs on the back of the chairs. And one of my favorite things was the cake table, featuring an amazing cake by Ann’s Bakery that was surrounded by all kinds of goodness including moon pies, caramel candy, and Jones Sodas. We were so thrilled to be part of this styled shoot along with some of our good friends. It was a fun and fabulous day. Cold. But fabulous.

Whitney + Tyler | Crossings Church & Skirvin Hotel wedding film

penweddings — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 23:34:03 +0000

One of my favorite things is when a bride & groom write each other little notes on their wedding day. But with Whitney and Tyler it was a bit different. Tyler’s note to Whitney wasn’t exactly “little.” And Whitney’s note to Tyler wasn’t a note at all, it was a fill-in-the-blank book where she wrote all the things she loved about him. Throw in kettle drums, bagpipes, and some of the best wedding pros in the state, and you have one fabulous day.

Behind The Lens | Mom’s Lasagna Casserole

penweddings — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 18:35:35 +0000

I thought it would be fun to do some blog posts here and there called “Behind The Lens”… little tidbits of what’s happening in our lives when we’re not shooting or editing. Admittedly, most of my time is spent editing, sleeping or shooting, in that order. Which leads to my first Behind The Lens post. The subject: Easy Lasagna Casserole. What’s the correlation you ask? Time. I’m a pretty decent cook, really I am. But you wouldn’t know it by the way Rick and I eat. The problem is time. Thanks to our work schedules we don’t often have evenings together at home, so we usually end up making or buying “dinner for one” when mealtime rolls around. It’s such an afterthought. (edit: I’ll probably get in trouble if I don’t give Rick props for how good he has been lately about making salads and taking them to work with him. Way to go babe.) But yesterday morning I decided I wanted to cook something “real” for dinner… planning ahead, what a concept! I broke out the book of recipes that Rick’s parents gave us for our wedding. (I say “book of recipes” instead of cookbook because it’s not a published book, it really is a bunch of family recipes that my mother-in-law wrote out and put in a recipe book for us). I decided to tackle her always-popular lasagna casserole. Was it smart trying a family favorite on my first go-round? Maybe not. But I figured it would be a hard one to screw up. Seriously, this is one tasty dish that’s quite easy to make. Try it for yourself…

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp cooking oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lb ground beef (I substituted ground turkey)
1 15oz can tomato sauce
1 15oz can petite diced tomatoes
1.5 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
12oz bag dumpling noodles
1/2 lb grated mozzarella cheese
3/4 lb cottage cheese
1 c grated parmesan cheese

Preparation:
- Boil dumpling noodles
- Drain noodles and set aside

- Brown ground beef/turkey in oil and garlic
- Add tomato sauce, tomatoes, salt, pepper and oregano to meat
- Simmer over medium heat for 8 minutes

- Stir together cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, and half of the parmesan cheese

- Butter 9×13 baking dish
- Spoon in a layer of the meat/tomatoes, then add a layer of noodles, and then the cheese layer (it can be a little thick, I patted it out with my hands and laid it on top of the noodles). Add the remaining meat/tomato mixture as the next layer, and then the remaining noodles as the final layer. Sprinkle the rest of the parmesan cheese on top. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. And you’re done!

Southern Weddings | Arkansas Wedding Film feature

penweddings — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 22:32:39 +0000

We were so thrilled when we learned that Southern Weddings wanted to feature Catherine and Sean’s film from their adorable wedding in Bella Vista, Arkansas back in July. If you follow our blog or Facebook page at all, you know how much we loved this wedding. Southern Weddings also did what they call a “Southern Spotting” on Catherine & Sean’s hilarious “Traylor-Parks” bar, featuring the photos of the fabulous Cristina Wisner. Thanks ladies for sharing!

Lindsay + Matt | Crossings Church & OKC Farmer’s Market Wedding Film

penweddings — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 03:13:49 +0000

Lindsay and Matt hold a special place in our hearts. They moved us with their love story (watch it here), made me cry (I admit it) with their beautiful ceremony at Crossings Community Church, and then had a reception that totally rocked (side note… I love, I mean LOVE the Oklahoma City Farmer’s Market). I’m not sure I’ve ever heard so much cheering at the end of a ceremony. And let me tell you about the surprise dance at their reception. Lindsay has been a dancer all her life and is a former NBA Thunder Girl (hashtag ThunderUp). We knew this dance was coming, but didn’t realize just how awesome it would be. Talk about a fabulous way to start the 2012 wedding season.

Behind The Lens | Oklahoma City Thunder Game

penweddings — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 00:32:04 +0000

Shooting someone’s wedding film really is a privilege, so we’re always trying to think of different ways to say “thank you” to our couples. I often have the Oklahoma City Thunder NBA games on in the background while I edit, and one night it hit me… why not take our couples to a game?!?

As popular as the team is, it wasn’t easy getting group tickets. But we pulled it off, and had a blast. Rick dubbed the group the “PenWeddings Posse.” We’re sad not everyone could make it, but thankful for those who were able to be there. Thanks for making it an awesome night!

We may not have had the best seats (we’re talkin’, the last two rows up in Loud City), but we most definitely had the best company. Oh, and one hilarious side note… the guy on the right in this last picture wasn’t part of our group. We’ve never had a wedding crasher, but now we’ve had a photo crasher. Haha. (thanks to our friend Rebecca Manney of RM Photography for snapping this pic)

Of course I had to shoot a little video, even if only with my iPhone.