Patrick Motola Photography Blog

I am always excited to shoot a wedding at Vintage Villas.  Wonderful venue, great staff and incredible views.  The weather was perfect.  I knew Natalie would be an exceptionally beautiful bride.  The images we captured went far beyond even my expectations.  The way she looked in her dress, glowing on her wedding day, the great light at Vintage Villas – all combined to create some stunning images.  As you will also see below, we had some great fun with our photo booth.  I even got a series of shots with Natalie.

This was an incredibly beautiful wedding.  We began at the historic Saint Mary’s Cathedral on Brazos and East 9th in downtown Austin.  This cathedral dates back to the 1800s and was designed by Nicholas Clayton who also designed the St. Edwards University Main Building.  If you are familiar with St. Edwards, you will notice the resemblance.  We were a bit short on time as a mass preceded the ceremony, but as you can see below, we still got some great shots of Will and his groomsmen in and around the church.  As we do with all weddings, we checked with the officials at Saint Mary’s to be sure our photography would respect the cathedral and their policies.  Once we establish respect and trust, most officials will help us to get the best images possible while working within their policies.  Saint Mary’s was no exception and we appreciate their help.

After the ceremony, group shots, some bride and groom shots and a lovely horse drawn carriage ride, we walked the 3 blocks down to the historic Driskill Hotel for the reception.  Check out the incredible night shot of the Driskill below (next to the last row of images).  As I have mentioned in other posts, the Driskill is beautiful, but it is also dark with wood paneling that can reflect flash if you are not careful with your lighting.  We were able to position our lights to get great images of the reception.  We also stole Will and Jordan-Anne away for about 15 minutes before the reception to get some great images at the balcony of their room and the mezzanine balcony at the Driskill.

Congratulations Jordan-Anne and Will – and thank you for the opportunity to be your photographer!

Jennifer and Joshua were married at the beautiful St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Pflugerville.   One of the many things I love about wedding photography is getting to know the couples better and their families.  That was certainly true on this day.  What wonderful families both Jennifer and Joshua have.  I was struck by the love and support they both have and the love the two of them had for each other.  It was an honor to photograph their wedding day.

The reception was at the Star Ranch Golf Club.  Of course, if you have looked at my blog, you already know I love this venue.  Very professionally managed all around.  My special thanks to Samantha Fulford and Kassy Throop.  A besides an excellent facility, we have the beautiful grounds and sunsets from the hill that the country club is set on.  You can see many of those below.  Star Ranch offers special Patrick Motola Photography packages as an option with their all inclusive weddings.

As a reminder, you will see many of our “creative, fine art effects on the images below”.  We provide these at no charge as a part of every shoot we do.  Our clients also receive each of these images in their original color version as well.