Calling all clients:) Do you have a personal wedding website to share information about your wedding plans to your family and friends? Some of my clients have let me know their website address. It really helps me get a little background on your wedding, plus I just LOVE looking at them. If you have made your own wedding website and haven’t given me the info, I would just LOVE it if you would share it with me, either by leaving a comment below with the website address or emailing it to me.

If you haven’t created a personal wedding website and think it’s a cool idea, here are a few sites where you can make your own:

• Ewedding
• The Knot
  
• WedShare.com

I hope everyone’s wedding plans are coming together! I am just so excited for the upcoming season…I can’t wait!!

I just LOVE this wedding trend! I had two couples have a “First Look” last year and it was perfect. I know many brides and grooms don’t want to break the tradition of seeing each other before the ceremony since supposedly it’s bad luck, but I can tell you it will make your wedding day so much more enjoyable. I would like to share with you some of the benefits of seeing each other before the ceremony with a “First Look” session.

1. Imagine your make-up and hair are fresh, perfect for pictures.
2. Imagine seeing each other for the first time privately without having hundreds of people staring at you. It’s just the two of you and your photographer discreetly off in the distance capturing your emotions during this amazing moment. You’ll still have that moment of having everyone stare at you as you walk down the aisle and your husband-to-be up at the altar nervously gazing at you, but some of the butterflies may have died down because the two of you have just shared this wonderful moment together.
3. Imagine not having to rush through formals and not have to worry where one of the groomsmen disappeared to or why Aunt Jane keeps trying to talk to you during the pictures. Typically you get an hour to get through formal portraits; the wedding party is just dying to get to the reception and everyone’s impatient to start celebrating. By setting aside more time before the ceremony to photograph the formals it can be a more relaxing and fun session and everyone gets to head straight to the celebration after the ceremony! They’ll thank you!
4. And then, imagine being able to enjoy the cocktail hour with your guests. Since formals typically take place during the cocktail hour, couples usually miss this start to the celebration.

So think about it…..

If you’re one of my couples and are interested in planning this for your wedding, please feel free to contact me if you need any assistance with planning the time line of your wedding day.

These are some pictures from Tara and Pradeep’s First Look.

It doesn’t matter to me:) No matter where you’re getting married I’d love to be your wedding photographer! This year I’m excited to expand my coverage to anywhere in the US and beyond. I’ll be photographing Kelly & Bryan’s wedding in Stone Harbor, New Jersey which I am so excited about!!

Right now I’m concentrating my marketing in Florida where I have family, so I recently started advertising with an online ad on Brides.com. I look forward to hearing from you no matter where you’re getting married.

Everyone’s heard of a wedding gift registry, but what about a honeymoon registry! This is such a cool idea:) Brendan and I are huge travelers and this is what I would do instead of having a gift registry. We don’t need all that stuff, but having our guests help us experience our dream vacation would be an amazing gift. My dream vacation would be an African Safari. You can set up your whole trip on this site and your guests can buy different things for you… one would be a hot air balloon ride over the African plains…how cool would that be! This is one website that offers the service The Honeymoon: Because Memories Last a Lifetime

When you are looking for a wedding photographer, you’re not only hiring someone to take your pictures, but someone who spends time with your images after the wedding day making them look even more amazing then they would right out of the camera. This is what we in the “biz” call post-production work and each photographer has their own techniques, style and vision for their wedding photography. If you gave a group of photographers the same image file out of the camera, we would all come up with something completely different for that same image. Some photographers provide “shoot and burn” packages, meaning they spend very little time doing post production work. They take the pictures right out of the camera, then burn them to a CD for you. This is not my style of wedding photography. I view my wedding images as art. They are as special to me as they are to you and I spend a lot of time with them. Some images I spend more time with than others because they mean something special to me…maybe it’s a moment or a detail from your wedding, that I hope will bring back an amazing memory for you.

Here’s an example from Lara & Brian’s wedding. I just love this picture! It was right after their ceremony and they had just walked down the aisle past their family and friends and stole a kiss during a private moment in the chapel foyer. It was such an intimate moment between them, a moment I wanted to capture for them to remember forever.

and after…

You’re planning a wedding in a far off and exotic location, maybe because it’s a special place for the both of you or maybe you just have a sense of adventure. Your closest family and friends will be there to share your love and celebrate the beginning of your new life together. Planning a destination wedding can be daunting. You may not be able to travel to the area before the wedding, so most of the planning will be done long distance, trusting in the vendors you have chosen to make your day special. One of the most important things to remember is that you will want the most amazing pictures to remember not only your wedding day, but this gorgeous and romantic place that you brought the most special people in your lives to. It’s hard enough to hire other vendors that you won’t have a chance to meet beforehand, but if the photography is one of the most important aspects of your destination wedding, why not find and hire a photographer who is near you; a photographer who can get to know you personally beforehand and someone you feel comfortable with. As a destination wedding photographer I share that love of adventure and travel with you and offer the opportunity to not only capture your wedding day, but those special moments before and after. Since you will be spending more time at your destination wedding location, opportunities to explore the area and photograph the two of you in either a “we will” or “we did it” sessions in the place you have chosen to start your new life together are a great way to capture more relaxed pictures of the two of you. My second passion next to wedding photography is travel. I’ve traveled all over the world, from South America to Europe and many adventures in the United States and Canada and each experience has provided me with so many amazing memories. I’m available for several destination weddings each year…I already have one booked for 2007 in Chicago, which I can’t wait for, it’s where I was born:)

I recently met with a couple who is getting married next summer and one of the questions they asked me was how soon they should book the photographer. No matter who you choose, when you find a photographer that meets or exceeds all that you are looking for, book them right away. Photographers do not guarantee dates until the contract and retainer fee has been paid and it is never too early to book any vendor, including your photographer. It would be awful to have your hopes set on a photographer only to find that another couple had booked the date before you.

I recently met with Kristen Brogna-Taupier of Weddings by Kristen, a wedding consultant in the greater Boston area. We had a great time sharing our wedding experiences and chatting about the industry, and before I new it we had spent an 1 1/2 hours in the Barnes & Noble cafe.

While some couples enjoy planning the wedding, some couples might be stretched for time…overwhelmed with decisions, a consultant might be for you. Consultants can provide some valuable advice and expertise, particularly if your ceremony or reception site does not provide a coordinator for you. They typically offer different packages, much the same way photographers do and can provide services ranging from vendor selection assistance to complete wedding planning services, which I think would be extremely valuable if you are planning a destination wedding.