-Ray Taix

Join us at Bridal World at the Pontchartrain Center by the Lake this Wednesday, April 4th, 2012.  There will be hundreds of wedding related vendors and services there, so don’t miss this great opportunity to see what everyone has to offer you for your big day.  Just looking?  Date not set yet?  Not to worry, you can just come browse or even just drop by to check out our booth!  It’s a fun time with live music, prize raffles for brides to be, and plenty of wedding cake samples – which would be enough reason for us to go even if we weren’t displaying at the show!  See y’all at Bridal World 2012!

Warmest Regards this Easter Season,
Ray & Jason Taix

We were overwhelmed by the tremendous number of people who came from all over Louisiana, and further in many cases, to be with us for our wedding.  It is a very touching thing to realize so many people care so much about you.  We had the time of our lives and everyone we’ve seen since is still talking about how much fun they had, in particular, how much they loved the Sonic Tater-Tot Bar (I’ll get back to that in bit).

Our rehearsal dinner took place at Vermilionville.  Two words, “Cornbread Dressing”.  My wife and I have been spoiled with the ridiculous amount of unbelievably good food we’ve had over the course of our wedding experience.  If you are getting married in Lafayette you may want to look into Vermilionville as a rehearsal dinner or even reception option (though for a wedding their larger venue is a bit more rustic than the traditional wedding reception hall).  The staff is absolutely terrific.  While the amazing food was being served our friends and family toasted and roasted us.  There were some tears, some beautiful sentiments, some poignant advice, and lots of laughs.  I could think of no better way to get ready for the biggest day of our lives.

The Wedding day started out nice and easy for me…I even took a nap (Grooms take note – if you have time take a nap, its the last chance you’ll get for a long time…but set an alarm, if you’re late your wife will hurt you).  The pace picked up briskly about two hours out as last minute preparations for the Bridal Suite were taken care of and the groomsmen began to converge on the Staybridge Suites where we got dressed.  Brides, as most of you already know, don’t get a nap on the day of…so get a good night’s rest before the wedding.  My Adrienne was up early getting hair and makeup done at Aisha’s with all her bridesmaids and our mothers.  After that it was on to her parents’ house for family pictures and video.

Onto the wedding already!  We had a unique experience just before the wedding that, traditionally, couples don’t experience – we saw each other before the ceremony.  I’m not superstitious or anything – except about things related to baseball – so we weren’t worried about bad luck.  Our priest’s parish doesn’t allow pictures after the ceremony, and it was really their only stipulation of consequence so we couldn’t complain.  As it turned out, though, it became a unique part of our wedding.  We had a private moment under the Evangeline Oak overlooking Bayou Teche.  It was like Evangeline’s lover coming for her…as opposed to the original story which is far more depressing.  Seriously though, it was an amazing moment as the limousine dropped me off and I walked toward my bride, stunning without epically beautiful scenery, standing on a brilliant, white, wood framed gazebo that looked like it was still 100 years in the past.  And, all this took place directly in front of the bayou in all its natural radiance as the day was just beginning to fade away.  I was jealous of our photographer at this moment because she got to take these pictures.  Its a rare thing that I would plug another photographer on our blog, for obvious reasons, but Gwen Aucoin was absolutely fantastic.  She embodied what The Brothers Taix strive for with every bride and groom; which is a fun, comfortable atmosphere for taking unforgettable, beautiful pictures.  (On that note, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention our good friend and business associate Greg Juan and his staff at Digital Video Breakdown for documenting our day with their typical level of professionalism and attention to detail.  Thanks guys!)  After our special moment we hurried on to take pictures in the church before guests began arriving and then split up till it was time to start.  St. Martin de Tours is an unbelievably beautiful church.  Its actually the oldest Catholic church in the state.  I originally thought seeing Adrienne before the ceremony might ruin the moment I first saw her enter the church with her father – nothing could be further from the truth.  It was still the most moving experience of my life to have Adrienne’s father bring his daughter down the aisle and place her hand in mine.  Seeing her before the ceremony wasn’t even registering in my mind at that moment.  Just in case anyone was thinking of doing something similar I hope that helps, but don’t do anything your uncomfortable with…its your day, make it perfect for you.

The mass was lovely, we had a full house.  Monsignor Courville was reverent, insightful, and pretty funny if I may say.  We left for the Petroleum Club, which is in the Oil Center in Lafayette, Louisiana in a very cushy, white Rolls Royce.  (Fun side story, I am hunting for a picture of something we saw on the way out of St. Martinville leaving the ceremony.  There was a controlled burn going on in the fields along the highway.  Not anything special, but on a cool, dark November evening it was absolutely dazzling.  People kept asking us if we planned to have the fields lit up for the wedding.  We did not, but we should have because it was beautiful.  I can’t say I would recommend lighting a field on fire for your wedding, though, as fire is rather unpredictable and I imagine you would have to own the land or it might be construed as arson.)

Finally, the reception!  The Petroleum Club makes some of the best food I’ve ever eaten.  Our cakes were amazingly tasty and beautiful.  My cake was a three tier German chocolate cake with an Atlanta Braves logo adorning the front…I got a little misty when I first saw it.  Our wedding cake was 5 tiers of beautiful deliciousness that we are still trying to exercise away.  It was also four different flavors of filling, which I recommend since its really hard picking just one!  I know y’all have been waiting to find out about the Sonic Tater-Tot Bar.  Adrienne’s father runs a Sonic Franchisee (Company that owns multiple franchises of Sonic Restaurants) and we love Sonic food so we toyed with the idea of having a Tot Station at our wedding reception.  It had all the fixins (chili, cheese, onions, jalapeños, and ranch dressing) as opposed to a pasta or potato station like many reception halls offer.  Well let me tell you something, we might be on to something.  When people talk about our wedding the first thing they say is, “Oh my God I loved the Tater Tots” followed briefly by, “the Petroleum Club’s food was the best I’ve ever had at a wedding”.  We set aside a small table for ourselves to eat before the reception, so we can attest to the fact that the food was unbelievably good.  Like I said earlier, we have been spoiled with delicious food.  Another tip, call Sonic and ask if you can get a Tater Tot Bar for your wedding.  There was a lot of dancing and some top notch live music from First Class.  We also had a Zydeco trio that played to people entering the reception, and it was just about the coolest idea ever.  Speaking of music, we chose “La Vie en Rose” for our first dance and it went beautifully – and despite a severe handicap when it comes to dancing I am inexplicably skilled at dipping my wife at the end of a slow dance, so that was really cool.  We left the reception through a tunnel of friends and family wishing us well and congratulating us one last time.    …best day of my life.

I’d get into the honeymoon but I feel like that’s a whole other blog post worth of good times, so I’ll save that for another day.

Glad I could share this wonderful day with everybody,
- Jason

When dealing with young kids, especially if it’s the first shoot with them, the environment can play a big part in the results of the shoot and not just the way the pictures look. The temperature as well (often ninety degrees in the shade here in New Orleans) can shut a little one down, and consequently the photo shoot, in minutes. In this particular case, we had gorgeous, spring like weather, and the biggest concern was keeping the little one entertained. Sometimes this can be the toughest part! I know from experience, as I have a five-year-old and a seven-month-old myself. Maximo was a naturally happy and curious child, and his mommy and daddy came pepared with every silly trick they knew to keep the show running.

For this shoot, as with many others, I prefer shooting families and kids in a natural way, meaning I capture the natural interactions they have with their environments and family. It’s so awesome to watch a little one explore a new place or interact with their favorite things.

Kids rarely respond well to posing, and even if they do you can be sure it won’t last long. Often times, they simply overpose and flash the big cheesy, fake smile, while the eyes wander about. For Baby Maximo, we decided on a City Park shoot. We had lots of spaces to explore, with lovely oaks and old bridges, as well as great environments, like Storyland.

Along the way we learned that “Mo,” as his mommy and daddy call him, loved the moon, and Storyland did not disappoint. Surrounded by color and characters, he discovered the cow who jumped over the moon, the Three Little Pigs, Snow White, and more. From there we wandered out into the park where he walked hand in hand with Mommy and Daddy and watched people feeding the ducks. The lovely oaks kept things shady while Maximo, Mommy, and Daddy sat beneath them watching the train go by. They were a joy to work with. The smiles were all genuine, the love was easy to feel, and the photos speak for themselves.

As you can see Maximo definitely earned his crown as Cutest Baby, and with a gleam in his eyes, he is already growing quickly into a handsome young man.

–Ray J. Taix

Don’t forget to check out the New Orleans Baby Fest web site. The show is once a year but the fantastic stream of resources and updates are year round!

http://neworleansbabyfest.com/

Here’s a few shots from the portrait session: