Welcome to our weekly blog feature, Tip-sy Tuesdays! Every Tuesday you can come HERE to get our tips and advice for what makes a wedding easy to photograph – from a professional photographer’s point of view. When you think about it, your wedding photography is the only thing that you have left when everything is said and done. It’s the only thing that will take you back to that special day and make it seem real again. So, why not choose things for your wedding that will look good AND photograph well? Just have an AH-HA moment? Got ya thinkin’, didn’t I? That’s the point!

//EDIT// – Pinterest got their search bar back so we’ve completed our board

Well…I’ve had this week’s Tip-sy Tuesday idea in mind for a few weeks now and was anxious to get my Pinterest board all pinned and ready to go and then whadda ya know…Pinterest’s search bar went missing.  Hopefully it’s just missing and not gone for good!  This makes gathering my pins extremely difficult and time consuming!  Hence the whopping 8 images we were able to gather.  I’m sorry!

How fun would it be to add a little something extra unique and fun to your bridal party shots and bride/groom mini session?!  Having a fun prop planned out for this portion of the day will not only make your wedding day images extra special and something that everyone will remember but it’ll help with capturing more fun and candid images.  During your bridal party shots, props will help your camera shy friends feel more comfortable by giving them something to hold on to and interact with which ultimately results in more honest and candid images.  Same goes for your new hubby…they are usually camera shy at first, too!  We love these ideas below!  Can you think of another fun prop?!  Let us know by leaving us a comment below!

Welcome to our weekly blog feature, Tip-sy Tuesdays! Every Tuesday you can come HERE to get our tips and advice for what makes a wedding easy to photograph – from a professional photographer’s point of view. When you think about it, your wedding photography is the only thing that you have left when everything is said and done. It’s the only thing that will take you back to that special day and make it seem real again. So, why not choose things for your wedding that will look good AND photograph well? Just have an AH-HA moment? Got ya thinkin’, didn’t I? That’s the point!

To capture all of the different kinds of images on this week’s Tip-sy Tuesday Pinterest board, it takes a bit of planning.  As your wedding photographer, it is part of my responsibility to keep the flow of the day before the ceremony as smooth and on-time as possible.  Why so?  Well, everything that you do on your wedding day requires picture taking and we need to communicate with you about how much time is needed to capture each portion of the day successfully so that you are ultimately thrilled with the aesthetic and quality of your images.  We work together with all of our brides and grooms to gather their requests and expectations for us and our services and then work to create a timeline for the day (before the reception) to allow for each.  Many things you may not even think of that we will tell you is necessary!  We only plan the timeline up to the reception.  At the reception, we want to be more of observers.  Usually your wedding coordinator or DJ will coordinate the timeline for your reception and alert us before major happenings occur.

An advantage of booking a husband and wife team such as Jeremy and myself is that it helps with the flow of the day tremendously.  While I am working with the bride, Jeremy (my second shooter) is able to work with the groom.  This lessens my responsibilities on wedding day and in turn helps me to be more creative and hands on with the responsibilities that I do have and Jeremy with his.

When creating this timeline with each of our clients, we always allow more time than necessary for each portion because after all, it is a wedding and something is bound to go not as planned.  Below is a timeline that we have created recently with one of our couples getting hitched in February.  This couple isn’t for a first look so the gap between the end of the ceremony and beginning of the reception is an hour and 35 minutes (with 35 minutes of this as travel to the reception site).  They also have to be out of the inside of the church by 4:30PM so I have planned accordingly so that one of her family members is able to gather her belongings and her bridesmaids are able to gather theirs in time.  I have also set the groomsman and bridesmaids portraits at separate times so that the bride and groom don’t come across one another before the ceremony accidentally.  And lastly, I’ve had the bridesmaids portraits scheduled before the groomsman’s portraits so that early arrive-rs don’t accidentally catch a glimpse of the bride before the ceremony.  It’s much better to see the groom than the bride!

FOR JENNIFER BEFORE CEREMONY (WITH JENNA)
12:15PM – Girls arrive at church (considering hair and makeup are already completed elsewhere)
12:15-1:15 – Getting dressed and detail shots
1:15-1:45 – Pictures with bridesmaids
1:45-2:15 – Refresh and moments with family (pictures taken)
2:15-2:30 – Gathering wedding party and preparing for ceremony
2:30-3:30 – Ceremony

FOR JOSE BEFORE CEREMONY (WITH JEREMY)
12:45PM – Men arrive at church
12:45-1:45 -  Getting ready shots and moments with family (pictures taken)
1:45-2:15 – Pictures with groomsmen
2:15-2:30 – Gathering wedding party and preparing for ceremony
2:30-3:30 – Ceremony

AFTER CEREMONY FOR GUESTS
3:30-4:05 – Guests travel to reception venue (35 minutes away from ceremony site)
4:05-5:20 – Cocktail party

AFTER CEREMONY FOR JENNIFER, JOSE, BRIDAL PARTY AND FAMILY
3:30-4:00 – Immediate and extended family shots
4:00-4:15 – Entire bridal party shots (outside or nearby church)
4:15-4:45 – Bride/Groom Mini Session
4:45-5:20 – Travel to reception

So, to conclude…our tip this week is book a wedding photographer that is ORGANIZED and concerned about such details!

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Welcome to our weekly blog feature, Tip-sy Tuesdays! Every Tuesday you can come HERE to get our tips and advice for what makes a wedding easy to photograph – from a professional photographer’s point of view. When you think about it, your wedding photography is the only thing that you have left when everything is said and done. It’s the only thing that will take you back to that special day and make it seem real again. So, why not choose things for your wedding that will look good AND photograph well? Just have an AH-HA moment? Got ya thinkin’, didn’t I? That’s the point!

While preparing this week’s Tip-sy Tuesday, I am reminded of a potential wedding day disaster that I was able to avoid – thank you LORD!    I chose a make-up artist (who’s name I will keep to myself) by browsing various websites via Google.  I called her up and cleverly scheduled our consultation the same day as my bridal shower so that I didn’t have worry about getting ready AND I’d look (even more) amazing!  We’ll, I sure am glad I scheduled a consultation, which by the way was an extra cost and only suggested and not required.  When I arrived, she sat me in her chair and swung me around so I couldn’t see until she was done.  This, by the way, drove me crazy and rattled my nerves and anticipation.  She used a sort of creamy waxy base and LOTS of it!  While she was working on me, I remember thinking, ‘gez…natural must not be what she’s going for’.  Not something you want to be thinking when getting your wedding make-up done, right?!  Well, she was finally done and braced me for her big reveal.  She had a wide smile on her face and was excited to show me her skills.  I swung around and my jaw dropped.  Not by excitement but by pure mortification.  OH MY – it was TERRIBLE!  My skin was so pale looking, I had a pound of blush on and I looked like an ugly China doll.  UGH!  I wasn’t sure what to say but she got the message by the look on my face. I was SPEECHLESS!  Needless to say, I didn’t enjoy my only bridal shower as much as I would have hoped.  Not only did I look literally ridiculous, my make-up seemed to be separating and melting right off my face as the day progressed!  I am so thankful that I went through with the consultation.  I ended up scheduling with another great make-up artist that did an ah-mazing job!  Thank you, Sara of Cara Dulce!  She air-brushed my foundation on and she nailed the exact look I was going for!

So, this week we’re encouraging some major wedding day make-up research and CONSULTATIONS with these potential vendors.  The quality of your hair and make-up artists are detrimental to the outcome of your big day so choose carefully, schedule a consultation and don’t skimp and choose someone because they are cheap.  Also, when choosing the ‘look’ you’re going for…consider a natural or ‘so you’ look.  Don’t surprise everyone by looking so not like yourself on the biggest day of your life!  Good make-up choices will be key to loving your wedding day images!

Check out this week’s Pinterest board where we’ve gathered wedding day make-up looks that we LOVE!

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AND, a beautiful sneak peek of Natalie and Eric’s recent engagement session.  I have SO many more to share and can’t wait to get the rest posted!  Keep an eye out!  She’s just gorgeous, isn’t she?!

Welcome to our weekly blog feature, Tip-sy Tuesdays! Every Tuesday you can come HERE to get our tips and advice for what makes a wedding easy to photograph – from a professional photographer’s point of view. When you think about it, your wedding photography is the only thing that you have left when everything is said and done. It’s the only thing that will take you back to that special day and make it seem real again. So, why not choose things for your wedding that will look good AND photograph well? Just have an AH-HA moment? Got ya thinkin’, didn’t I? That’s the point!

This week on our weekly Pinterest board, we’ve pinned some beautiful wedding color schemes that caught our eye.  Your color scheme is so important and key for representing your personalities through the look and style of your wedding decor!  Certain color scheme choices can come across differently such as whimsical, bold, elegant, fun, vintage, classic and so on…

A tip that we LOVE – once you’ve chosen your official wedding color, for example blue, play with it and make it a little more interesting by having many shades of blue all around instead of the same shade of blue everywhere.  A great place to start is heading to the paint department at Lowes.  Yup, you heard that right!  Color swatches start with a light shade and fade to a dark shade AND always perfectly coordinate well with one another.  Once you’ve found a paint swatch that speaks to you, Viola!  You’ve found your perfect color scheme!

Another great tip – don’t think you have to pick just one or two colors.  Play with all sorts of colors until you’ve found the perfect grouping that speaks to you and you feel represents your personal style the best!  MANY great examples of this below!

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Welcome to our weekly blog feature, Tip-sy Tuesdays! Every Tuesday you can come HERE to get our tips and advice for what makes a wedding easy to photograph – from a professional photographer’s point of view. When you think about it, your wedding photography is the only thing that you have left when everything is said and done. It’s the only thing that will take you back to that special day and make it seem real again. So, why not choose things for your wedding that will look good AND photograph well? Just have an AH-HA moment? Got ya thinkin’, didn’t I? That’s the point!

This week, we’re talking about my obsession with yummy, gooey, warm and buttery evening light.  AAHHH, it’s a beautiful thing!  One thing that we offer ALL of our wedding clients is something called a Bride/Groom Mini Session.  These typically take place after the ceremony and official wedding day pictures with the bridal party and immediate/extended family and is usually 15-20 minutes long.  This is YOUR time to take a breather and actually enjoy being alone (aside from myself, of course) on your wedding day while soaking in the first few minutes of the rest of your life as husband and wife.  The shots captured during this mini session are the most beautiful shots you can expect from the day.  While your wedding day is technically YOUR special day and all about you as a couple, you’ll find that it’s hard to actually spend good quality time together because you are too busy entertaining your guests as hostesses!  I know…weird, right?!   Because these shots are so special, it may be a good idea to plan your entire wedding timeline around the light for this mini session.  As photographers, we LOVE and prefer any sort of evening light.  It is just so gorgeous and allows us to be more and more creative with our shots as the sun is setting.  When working with us to create a great wedding day timeline, you’ll want to consider how much time each portion of the day will take, for instance; the ceremony, immediate/extended family pictures, bridal party pictures, etc. so that we are able to begin this mini session 30-35 minutes before the official sunset time.  Nowadays in November, it’s about 4:50-5PM because the sun is completely gone about 5:30.  The look and aesthetic that you fell in love with while browsing our portfolio requires some sort of natural light so it’s important to heavily consider the light and when your ceremony is set to begin so that we are able to achieve the results you were expecting when booking us!  Now, we realize that you probably aren’t totally in tune and obsessed with light like us photographers are so we’ll work with you and give our suggestions and tips for what time of day and specific location spots work best.

We just love the light in these bride and groom shots that we’ve gathered for this week’s Tip-sy Tuesday Pinterest board.  Check it out in more detail *HERE*.  Not on Pinterest?  HOLY MOLY…you are missin’ out!  It’s by invitation only so if you’d like to get started, contact me and I’d be happy to send an invite.  What is Pinterest?  Basically a virtual pin board that allows you to pin images that you would like to use as inspiration to categorized and organized boards so that you are able to come back and reference it later!  The great thing about Pinterest is that the images are always creative, whimsical and totally inspiring!  Check out all of my personal boards *HERE*.

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Welcome to our weekly blog feature, Tip-sy Tuesdays! Every Tuesday you can come HERE to get our tips and advice for what makes a wedding easy to photograph – from a professional photographer’s point of view. When you think about it, your wedding photography is the only thing that you have left when everything is said and done. It’s the only thing that will take you back to that special day and make it seem real again. So, why not choose things for your wedding that will look good AND photograph well? Just have an AH-HA moment? Got ya thinkin’, didn’t I? That’s the point!

Us photographers LOVE anything unique.  When we show up to a shoot or wedding and there’s unique-ness and beautiful details all around, it’s pretty much better than a lifetime of Christmas mornings.  Um, I’m totally serious.  A unique reception location has the potential to make your wedding one your guests – or wedding photographer – will never forget.  It’s all about creating an experience!  I know when I was planning our own wedding, I had a really hard time finding an indoor banquet hall type reception place that I was absolutely crazy over.  They usually have low ceilings and way outdated floral carpet that nobody wants to work with.  It may be better for you to start from scratch and make your own reception look the way you envisioned at a place that is totally not run of the mill.  Why not find an old beautiful barn or a huge open field with wild flowers or a friend’s beautiful backyard or even a vineyard and transform it into something truly gorgeous that meets all your dream expectations?!  It may take some extra planning on your part to have your reception somewhere that isn’t usually a wedding venue because you’re not booking a package deal but just think about how amazing and unique your wedding will photograph and the experience you’ll give your guests!  The good thing about doing something like this is anything goes.  A wedding venue usually has guidelines and contracts with certain vendors that locks you into something you may not even like or want like certain food caterers, your wedding cake bakery, music DJs or table linen providers.  We love some of these ideas below!  Check out this pinterest board and many of our others *HERE*.

Love what you’ve just read?  Let us know by clicking ‘like’ below or re-tweeting about this post using the ‘tweet’ button also below!  Happy Tuesday, all!

And, we’re anxious to share more from Jessica and Jesse’s recent engagement session with their pup Zoe on our blog SOON!  For now, here’s a little tease!

Welcome to our weekly blog feature, Tip-sy Tuesdays! Every Tuesday you can come HERE to get our tips and advice for what makes a wedding easy to photograph – from a professional photographer’s point of view. When you think about it, your wedding photography is the only thing that you have left when everything is said and done. It’s the only thing that will take you back to that special day and make it seem real again. So, why not choose things for your wedding that will look good AND photograph well? Just have an AH-HA moment? Got ya thinkin’, didn’t I? That’s the point!

Everyone loves gathering tips from Pinterest and The Knot (awesome resources!) for reception decor and centerpiece ideas and dreams about their wedding looking just like the magazine-ish looking pictures you’ve used as inspiration. I bet ya that your centerpieces were the first thing you thought about when you started to imagine how your reception would look, wasn’t it? I know it was for me! Well, this week, we’re not just discussing centerpieces, we’re talking beautiful tables in general. If you think about it, most of the ‘detail’ shots from your reception will be on a table…your cake, food, refreshments, centerpieces, table numbers, favors, dessert table, etc. So, why not really plan out ahead of time what each table will look like?! Here are a few good tips for great tables:

1. A professional wedding planner’s secret – fill your table and leave no dead space! A great way to fill your tables is with flowers. Now, flowers can become expensive so think of ways to get around it. For example, choose a large type of flower like say, hydrangeas, or group multiple vases with little bundles of flowers in each. There are great examples below! Hydrangeas are usually in season all through out the year, come in all sorts of colors and are usually pretty affordable! Another way to fill your tables is with knick knacks like colorful jars, table numbers, picture frames, candles or props that go with your theme. Another great tip – full table settings complete with plates, napkins, silverware, glasses, etc. And my favorite tip of all that I actually used for my own wedding – rectangular tables. Not only is it a unique and modern take on wedding receptions, but rectangular tables offer plenty of room for your guests to chat and pig out BUT have less room to fill! Just look at some of the tables below!

2. Make a dessert table and offer a big variety like cupcakes, cake pops, different types of candy, or cookies to be displayed around the biggest dessert of all, your wedding cake. Your guests should appreciate this table the most!

3. Create a background for your food tables so it’s not just a plain wall behind it. Add hanging ribbon, banners with flags or cute wording. Another great idea is hanging frames that feature and display pictures of old family photos, pictures of fun and exciting things from your relationship so far, or your engagement pictures!

4. Create height with tall centerpieces, hanging lanterns or chandeliers over each table. Now, creating height is good but be sure your guests can see who is sitting across from them. They might just end up moving your beautiful centerpieces out of the way which is something we’re sure you don’t want!

5. And, last but not least – we’ve said it once and we’ll say it again – colored table cloths! Don’t skimp on wedding linens if you can help it! Colored table cloths add SOOO much to the look and feel of the reception – who wants plain white anyway?! Unless, it’s part of the carefully planned look you’re going for, of course, which CAN look just as beautiful! If white is your only option, be sure to pick out lots of colorful things to fill the space!

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View this Pinterest board and many of our others *HERE*.

Welcome to our weekly blog feature, Tip-sy Tuesdays!  Every Tuesday you can come HERE to get our tips and advice for what makes a wedding easy to photograph – from a professional photographer’s point of view.  When you think about it, your wedding photography is the only thing that you have left when everything is said and done.  It’s the only thing that will take you back to that special day and make it seem real again.  So, why not choose things for your wedding that will look good AND photograph well?  Just have an AH-HA moment?  Got ya thinkin’, didn’t I?  That’s the point!

I could pin wedding bouquets to my pinterest all day long!  I just love the possibilities!  This week, we’re encouraging a little imagination and creativity when it comes to your wedding bouquet.  These days, bringing personality and individuality into your wedding bouquet is the ‘in thing’.  Let’s toss out the conventional solid bouquets and replace them with pops of whimsical color, different textures and all sorts of different flowers in one bouquet.  These three things will absolutely guarantee beautiful bouquet shots!  In my opinion, the look of your bouquet is almost as important as choosing your perfect wedding gown.  Why?  Because it is your biggest and most important accessory on your wedding day and completes the ‘look’.  It will also make a majority of your wedding day images, especially the most important ones like your ceremony, bride and groom shots and your bridal party shots.  So, why not make it reflect your individuality?!

Be sure to consider what types of different flowers may be in season at the time of your wedding.  Your favorite flower may be in season several months out of the year but only available in certain colors during certain months.  That’s a big deal when considering how it will coordinate with your color scheme!  When we were deciding on our own wedding flowers, we were a bit saddened that our favorite flower types weren’t in season for our October wedding.  So, we had to find unique look a likes instead.  However, we were told that anything is possible if you’re willing to pay for it.  So, always keep that in mind, too!  We love every single bouquet that we have pinned to our ‘Unique Bouquets’ pinterest board!  Anything catch your eye?

Happy Tuesdays, all!

Welcome to our weekly blog feature, Tip-sy Tuesdays! Every Tuesday you can come HERE to get our tips and advice for what makes a wedding easy to photograph – from a professional photographer’s point of view. When you think about it, your wedding photography is the only thing that you have left when everything is said and done. It’s the only thing that will take you back to that special day and make it seem real again. So, why not choose things for your wedding that will look good AND photograph well? Just have an AH-HA moment? Got ya thinkin’, didn’t I? That’s the point!

This week, we’re encouraging a little creativity! DIY projects are the perfect way to personalize your wedding day and make it as unique as you are!   Little creative things here and there will give us something sweet and special to photograph and will help your personalities shine through in all of your wedding day pictures!  We’ve created this ‘DIY Wedding Projects’ pin board to our Pinterest to give you some creative and fun ideas!  Yes, yes, lots of Pinterst talk lately but we did warn you we were going to start incorporating more of our Pinterest boards into our Tip-sy Tuesday’s posts =)

These tissue paper balls or yarn balloon balls so SO NEAT!  What a great way to save money AND bounce color around your ceremony and reception!  These also come across as a bit whimsical which I love.  Check out this board by clicking *HERE*.  A great thing about Pinterest is all of these pins sometimes have an external link to them that will give you a tutorial with step-by-step instructions on how to make that specific project.  Yep, pretty much the best resource for brides, ever.  If you fall in love with Pinterest (which we know you will!), go ahead and join!  Follow us and we’ll follow you!  Sometimes you need an invitation to join so if that’s the case, just let us know!  Now…beware!  Pinterest is a bit addicting so I haven’t been getting much sleep lately because I tend to start pinning late at night.  I guess I’ll learn soon enough!

Happy pinning, Ya’ll!

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