Belen's Bridal Portraits

Well, once again I have fallen behind on my blog posts...but that just means I'll have lots more to share over the next 3 or 4 weeks!

We had a fun and exciting June here at the studio, photographing several beautiful weddings.  I'll be posting my June brides portrait sessions here this week and next, and then will rewind all the way back to February with some work I did in New York.  Then we'll work our way back up to May, with lots of weddings and portrait sessions.  Stay tuned!

Here is a shoot I did for Belen's Bridal Portraits.  We photographed at the Houston Country Club, and had beautiful day.  Belen looked absolutely stunning!

Beth and Judd Featured on 7Centerpieces Blog!

Today, Beth and Judd's beautiful wedding was featured on 7Centerpieces blog!  We posted about Beth and Judd's wedding a couple months ago, you can view that post here.  Hope y'all enjoy 7Centerpieces, it's a great new blog!

Kate and J.J.'s Bayou Club Wedding

At the end of March I photographed a gorgeous wedding at the Bayou Club.  You might remember Kate and J.J. from their engagement shoot at Kate's family ranch, or from one of my more recent posts about the Bahamas!  I've had such a wonderful time getting to know them, and it has been a true honor to document this very special time in their lives.

We had perfect weather for their beautiful outdoor ceremony.  Kate and J.J. chose to marry under a large oak tree, and the reception was tented by SPF.  Kristin McShane with Keely Thone Events did an incredible job making sure everything went off without a hitch (as she and all of their team always do).  Events and Bloom's flowers and decor and Pro/Sound's lighting created the perfect atmosphere, while 31 Films was there to film the weekend.  Sauce brought the house down, with a special guest appearance by groom J.J. and his brother Greg.  The delicious cakes were created by the incredibly talented Susie's Cakes...can you believe that Yankee's Stadium??  Stationary and invitations were by Sicily Eason, and bridesmaid dresses were by Bella Bridesmaids.  Ceremony music was provided by Divisi Strings.

It was an unforgettable weekend to witness and capture.  I hope y'all will enjoy all of the photos below.  I've also included a little time lapse movie from their ceremony that I already posted a month or two ago...check it out if you haven't already.

Thank you, Kate and J.J.!

Kate and J.J.'s Wedding from Chris Bailey on Vimeo.

Kate's Bahamian Bachorlette Bash

In February I traveled to the Bahamas to photograph Kate over her bachelorette party weekend.  Kate and her friends had traveled to an island called Green Turtle Cay, and I met up with them for a couple of fun days.  We had such a great time hanging out and getting some fun pictures.

On my second day there, we boarded a boat that left from Brendall's Dive Shop.  Brendall is world famous for his dive tours and his delicious cooking.  Brendall himself was our captain, and we set out with our snorkel gear ready for the day.  I of course had my cameras.

What followed was some of the most beautiful snorkeling I have ever done.  We found a large reef that was full of incredible wildlife.  Shark, stingray, barracuda, and all sorts of colorful fish swam around us.  Some of the girls even saw some baby sea turtles.  While we snorkeled, Brendall swam around and gathered lobsters for us.  It was incredible to see him work.  He would hold his breath and dive down, searching out the nooks and crannies for lobster.  As you can see in the photos below, he caught us a feast!

When we were worn out from snorkeling, we headed back to the boat to break out the rum punches.  Brendall returned with his catch, and took us to a beautiful stretch of beach on a small neighboring island.  We unloaded, and walked the beach, finding an abundance of sand dollars and starfish.  While we enjoyed the waters and wildlife, and took some photos, Brendall was hard at work cooking up an awesome lunch.  After about 45 minutes, he blew his whistle for us to return and eat.  I have never tasted anything more delicious in my life!

We returned that evening late hoping to take some bridals of Kate.  Kate had brought her short wedding dress, one that she was going to change into in the middle of the night at her wedding.  We only had about 5 minutes to shoot before we lost all light, so we moved quickly and got a couple keepers.  The next morning we woke up for sunrise to get some more photos of Kate in her dress.

Here are some of my favorite photos from an incredible weekend in the Bahamas.

Thanks Kate for everything!

Kate's Bridal Portraits

You might remember Kate from her and JJ's ranch engagement shoot late last year or from the short movie I made a couple weeks ago of her wedding ceremony.  Kate has been a dream to work with, and I've had so much fun capturing all of the parts of her and JJ's wedding.

We took Kate's bridals at Shadowhawk Country Club on a windy and cloudy day in February.  When she arrived to Shadowhawk, the weather didn't look good.  We shot with what we had, using some nice soft window light.

After we finished up around the club house, I wasn't totally content.  Kate was wearing her mother's beautiful cathedral length veil, and I really wanted to do something to feature that.  I had come up with some ideas and locations on the course to shoot that would feature her beautifully in the veil, but they didn't really fit the weather we were dealing with.  So I decided we would just head over towards a hill that I had seen earlier, and try to make the best of it.

It was a good thing we decided to give it a try, because right after I posed Kate on top of the hill, the skies began to open up just a bit.  The sun had made its way down, and there was too much cloud cover for a much desired dramatic sunset.  However, the sky opened up just enough to give us a nice, deep blue and purple sky, which was a welcomed sight after having nothing but cold, grey skies all day.  For the next 15 minutes we just played with the wind and light, and had so much fun getting these photos of Kate.