Many years ago, Darby and I were sisters in Kappa Delta sorority at Texas A&M. We participated in something called Songfest, where a sorority was paired up with a men’s group (in this case, a group of fun, outgoing guys called One Army) and had to perform a song and dance routine. For weeks, we gathered at the Kappa Delta House to plan our skit to a medley of Beauty and the Beast songs. That was definitely one of the more fun experiences I had in college: goofing off in the Kappa Delta dining room, reliving our childhood through Disney songs, trying to figure out how to make a candelabra costume. It’s amazing to think of what came from that simple activity.. I met Corey Oliver, who would later become one of my best friends and the husband of my college roommate, and Darby would meet Mark, who would eventually become her best friend and husband. Their wedding was a real treat for me because I knew so many of the weddings guests, plus the light was perfect all day (which makes SUCH a difference in the photos), and Darby and Mark really went out of their way to infuse aspects of their personality and background into the wedding. This wedding was completely “Team Z,” from beginning to end.

Because there are SO many photos that I love from this wedding, I’m going to break it up into two parts. Here are the pre-ceremony and ceremony favorites:


Darby is one of my favorite people to photograph because she completely wears her emotions on her sleeve. She’s so outgoing and expressive, and it seems like she’s got a huge smile or a hilarious expression on her face in every photo I took that day.




After Darby got dressed, we headed to the Texas A&M campus to get some fun photos of the wedding party.  We just happened to run across a guy in a shirt with a big Z (Mark’s last name is Zahradnik) on it – talk about luck!












The ceremony was held at St.Mary’s, the catholic church in College Station. What a gorgeous church!  There was so much beautiful light streaming in through the windows, and the church pretty much gave us free reign to shoot wherever and however we want, which is incredibly rare.  Ironically enough, it seems like Catholic churches are the least strict when it comes to photo rules, at least in my experience.  Go figure!

Tomorrow morning I will post the second half of this wedding, including their First Look under the Aggie Century Tree and the INSANELY fun Grand March at the reception!