It's always a fun day when we find out one of our couple's weddings has been featured online or in print. We're so happy for Vanessa and Chris today, as their Agave Real wedding has been featured on the blog of the most widely known wedding experts, the editors of The Knot. We loved this Halloween-Gatsby themed wedding, especially the gold bridesmaids dresses! 

Lifting Our Glasses & Clinking Champagne,

Luke & Cat

It’s no secret that we work with the best people in the wedding business. From stunning brides to outstanding vendors, we understand that it takes a village to make the dream of a fairytale wedding come true. 

That’s why, when we were learned that Two Bright Lights named Luke & Cat Photography as 2015 Editors’ Choice Award Winners, we couldn’t just hide the honor away in our scrapbook or bury it in our blog. Instead we blushed, thanked the heavens, and swore we would share the love (after popping a bottle of champagne, of course). Now that we’ve got a glass of bubbly in hand, we want to raise it to the people who made this award possible—you!

The Editors’ Choice Awards honor Two Bright Lights’ members whose talent was continually recognized by top publications. For us, this year included places like The Knot, Burnett's Boards, and My Wedding, to name a few. Two Bright Lights is a vast organization, home to over 40,000 photographers and event professionals from over 100 countries.  Winners of the Editor’s Choice awards represent the top 5% within the community, which, according to some, makes the odds of winning as slim as kissing a frog who transforms into a prince.

We know better. True love and happily ever after are our specialties, at home and at work. We owe our success to each other (marrying your best friend is great, but running a business with that person is even better!) and to the community of people we work with every single day. From the brides who trusted us to capture their memories, to the vendors who set the stage, we want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts. This award doesn’t just belong to Luke and Cat Photography—it belongs to all of us! (But we hope you won’t mind if we keep it safe here at the ranch.)

Here’s to doing it again next year!

Lindt truffles & Cristal,
(okay, maybe just chocolate kisses and Andre, but still…we’re excited!),

 

Luke & Cat

I (Luke) was doing a little bit of organizing the other day and stumbled across a stack of magazines that I have been saving for a very special reason - the cover images of these magazines were shot by either Cat or myself.

Cat and I live on her family's cattle ranch, V8 Ranch, and sometimes get so caught up in what is happening in the city, that we forget to appreciate what is right out our back door. We were a guest speaker for a photography workshop last week and we visited with the attendees that our location has been one of the biggest blessings to our business. Not only do we have thousands of acres to roam around and make beautiful portraits of couples, but we have been able to reconnect with so many past friends that we knew from our agriculture and ranching backgrounds.

When we started our business, we weren't aware that one day we would have to make the difficult decision to leave Cat's family's business and venture out on our own. We just didn't have the time to do both. In a way we were sad that our times spent at cattle shows and other events would be limited because of our wedding photography schedule. What we didn't know was that we would be able to reconnect with our friends down the road. Many of our past friends have followed along with our adventures and when the time came, they have reached out to us to shoot their wedding.

Not only were we able to pick right up with our conversation where we left off, but the great thing was we were now able to talk about more than just cattle or needing rain. We were a part of a new stage in their life and we were able to have a deeper relationship with them. Aside from the top left cover of our Shorthorn cow, Myrtle Bo, these magazine covers have all been shot for our clients and friends.

We cannot wait to see what is next for us and our "ranchers turned photographers" adventure. The next stop on our travels is the North American International Livestock Exposition. We are joining forces with Ranch House Designs and bringing a marketing and photography workshop to Louisville, Kentucky for our livestock friends. We are so excited that we will get to see so many of our friends again at the show!