On The Go Bride

Top 5 Reasons an Engagement Session is for You!

On The Go Bride — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:26:05 +0000

I am excited to share this guest blog post with you today from our vendor Courtney Aaron! Courtney shares the top 5 reasons why an engagement session is for you. Read through her personal experience and how much she gained through her own engagement session! If you are on the fence, these great tips and insight just might steer you towards a great session with your fiance.

Should you have an engagement session? Top 5 reasons an engagement session is for you!

He popped the question, you said yes and right before all the wedding planning starts you have that little bit of time to just take a deep breath and enjoy being engaged. That period of time is pretty unique. You’ve graduated to the fiance title, with just enough time to get used to it before you switch to the official “husband and wife” team. It’s an awesome time of anticipation and excitement about the big day. Shoot, you are in love and getting married- live it up!

Your friends may have done engagement sessions. The idea seems nice but is it for you? Is it just one more thing to add to the wedding frenzy? I always say, “to each their own,” but when I was asked to give some opinions on engagement sessions, I jumped at it. You see, I’m a wedding and portrait photographer. You’d think I’d be an obvious choice for the pro-engagement session campaign just because it’s what I do. Well, I am now but I wasn’t always that way. I wanted to share some of my experience in being on the fence about it when I was engaged and after the session when I was 100% all for it.

1. Vanity. It’s not a vanity thing. When I got engaged I was actually on the side of “what do we need more portraits of ourselves for? We will have the wedding images.” We’re private people and just didn’t see a need. We aren’t the type to plaster our faces all over the walls of our home. We’re simple and preferred to hang art with some teeny little snapshots here and there. That was until my wedding photographer told me I was crazy and insisted we do a session. I’m forever grateful she did. When I looked at the pictures, I was just in awe. I know what my husband looks like. I know what it feels like when he hugs me and what his smile looks like when he laughs. But when I saw the way he looked at me when I couldn’t see it, the way he smirked when I bashfully turned my head, his smile when I was in his arms…. it was pretty surreal. You could see the love, the connection and why we were meant to be together, all in a photograph. I wasn’t looking for flaws. Any normally unflattering angle was overlooked because I couldn’t get past the love that oozed out of the image. Someone else was able to capture it perfectly for us to see. Hanging those images on our wall, we walk by them everyday and are reminded of how true and awesome our love is. And since we ended up having over 100 favorites, those are in an awesome little album. Am I getting too gushy? Well, love can be gushy. The stubbornness of us thinking we were too cool for engagement portraits was instantly gone. I was a firm believer in capturing ourselves, in our civilian clothes (not wedding attire) and what we’re like everyday. I didn’t know how valuable those images were until we actually saw them. Vanity, shmanity. If you don’t want a poster sized canvas hanging over your mantle, don’t do it. But having portraits of just you two, no matter what size the print, is invaluable.

Image courtesy Emily Dawn Photography

2. Get comfortable and gain experience in front of the camera. Couples that have had an engagement session tell me that it was such a great way to get comfortable in front of the camera. When wedding day arrived, having a paparazzi was one less stress to worry about. Come portrait time, they immediately remembered how much fun their engagement session was and channeled that energy.

Image courtesy Courtney Aaron

3. Get to know your photographer. This is the single best way to see how your photographer works with you and you get a good taste of their personality. I believe your photographer should be someone you would want to hang out with outside of just taking pictures. The time spent together should be enjoyable and a time you can really let your guard down and be yourselves. It’s the way I get the photographs I want to get because my couples quickly realize I’m not some stuffy, business-only photographer. When your photographer shows up on wedding day, she/he is one more friendly face to welcome!

Image courtesy Courtney Aaron

4. Test run. If time allows and your just really not sure about hiring someone for your wedding day, you can book a session and go through the whole process to see how you enjoyed it. If you end up not connecting or you’re not satisfied with the images, you can shop elsewhere for wedding day. Ideally, you’re so blown away by the experience and the product that you have to hire them asap!

Image courtesy Courtney Aaron

5. Who doesn’t like pictures of their significant other? You may feel uneasy about pictures of yourself, but if all I’ve mentioned hasn’t sold you already, in the end, you’ll have incredible shots of your hot wife-to-be or stud-ly husband-to-be. I’d put my happy face on if I knew I was going to get a good shot of my man. I have a shot of my husband from our e-session and if it ever was destroyed, I would pay thousands to replace. It’s just that valuable to me.

Image courtesy Courtney Aaron

5a. Engagement sessions as an intro to portrait sessions. I’m a firm believer that engagements and wedding day are not the only days you should be professionally captured. Maybe scheduling an engagement session doesn’t work out for you, or you’re having/have had a friend do them out of convenience, or you’re reading this thinking, “Darn, we’re married now and totally should have done a session!” I absolutely love it when couples who have been married for some time schedule a portrait session. Why not celebrate your love and marriage through images. I call them “Just Because Sessions.” (Just because you’re in love, just because you want some updated portraits, just because you’re awesome folks who love photography!) Personally, I can’t wait for our next session! Mini-Aaron’s aren’t in the picture just yet and what we have planned for this upcoming session will be nothing short of awesome. You can stay tuned on my blog if you want to see the results!

I hope this has helped you form an opinion of your own on engagement sessions. There’s no doubt there are so many benefits and it’s really just all about you being in love, which is what all this crazy wedding stuff is all about anyway! Anything that celebrates love is something I’m a proud to support!

Note from Bride to Groom

On The Go Bride — Thu, 17 May 2012 01:06:46 +0000

Sweet, simple, and sentimental gestures always get to me. I love them! I adore them every time I see them and I love how they make me smile. I spotted this cute idea at We Heart It. What a wonderful little message for the bride to give the groom before she walks down the aisle. You can have your ring bearer, flower girl, or even a groomsmen deliver the message. Just a cute note to add to the anticipation!

Auburn, California Wedding: Megan + James

On The Go Bride — Tue, 15 May 2012 14:03:18 +0000

Monte Verde Inn is a gorgeous all inclusive wedding venue nestled in the foothills of Auburn, California. These gorgeous photos by Jak Images, bring to life the picturesque landscape surrounding this private estate. I love the white and lavender wedding colors sprinkled with light blush roses in the bouquets. And how about the bride’s stunning gown with simple embellishments? One of my favorite things are all the twinkle lights surrounding the dance floor. Perfect for the bride and groom’s first dance!

From the bride: James and I technically met in High School but re-connected at at friend’s graduation party from college. I recruited him to come work for my company. We spent time with each other after work and the rest is history! We are the ultimate opposites, but somehow we balance each other and are constantly laughing. The moment I will always cherish is when I was approaching the aisle, with my Dad next to me looking at James. I was overwhelmed with emotions and happiness. It was such an amazing day to celebrate with our closest family and friends. I loved every minute of it.

Megan + James

Details: Venue, Catering, Cake, Decor: Monte Verde Inn / Photography: Jak Images / Flowers: O’Shay’s Flowers / MC & Band: Dane Drewis Band / Hair: Bridget at Republic Salon / Makeup: Amber Graham

Johnstone Studios

On The Go Bride — Mon, 14 May 2012 05:10:48 +0000

Trevor and Tourine Johnstone, from Johnstone Studios, not only photograph amazing Lake Tahoe weddings, but own and operate a successful studio in midtown Reno. They are passionate photographers and spend countless hours in their modern studio space located in the heart of the art scene in midtown Reno. They began photographing weddings in 2005, the summer after their own wedding. Instantly they were a welcomed addition to the industry and have been awarded some of the top photography awards in their profession. Today, they photograph a maximum of 20 weddings annually and find themselves photographing at such amazing venues around Lake Tahoe, Northern California including Napa and San Francisco as well as various international destinations. Bringing passion and emotion to the weddings they photograph is carried through to all aspects of their business and life.

Phone: 775.722.8647

Email: info@johnstonestudios.com

Website: www.johnstonestudios.com

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Price Range: Starting at $3,200 (custom package options including bridal registry available)

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How to Find the Right Wedding Photographer

On The Go Bride — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:46:45 +0000

This is an important topic not enough people touch upon. I’m sure you have heard stories. Do you have that one friend or relative who did not get the best service from their photographer? How about the person who spent a lot of money to end up with less than quality photos? Or worse, the friend that ended up with blurry photos or the photographer’s fingers showing in not one, but multiple photos. This happened to me. This happens to a lot of us. So how come more of us aren’t talking about it? Why aren’t we sharing our experiences to educate each other and help more couples on this topic? Well, that is exactly what I would like to do today. I want to share my experience and educate others on how to find a quality wedding photographer for their special day. Because when your day is over, the photos are what you will have left.

Let me start with my experience. Planning my wedding was my first introduction into the industry. I had no idea what to do or where to look. I was also an on-the-go bride who traveled a lot for work, so my “in town” time was limited. Logically my first stop was the wedding faire in town. Makes sense, right? One location, multiple vendors; I was sure to find everyone I was looking for or would ever need. Boy was I wrong. Here is a little secret I learned later. A lot of the great photographers don’t do wedding faires. Now that is not to say you can’t find amazing photographers at wedding faires. They are there. I’m just trying to encourage you to look outside the box as well. Don’t let the wedding faire become your be-all and end-all for local vendors.

I am not going to give the name of my photographer or all the details, just a few of the important ones. I did find my photographer at a wedding faire. The work displayed in their booth was gorgeous! I was drawn to the style. I liked the modern, fashion, magazine-ish flair. The style worked for me and my interest was piqued. I had heard all the warnings about having a family member take your wedding photos as well as going for the cheapest photographer. I had decided in the beginning I was willing to pay for quality. My wedding was in 2010 and I paid $3800 for a 6-hour package. By no means is that price at the highest end of the spectrum, but in my mind it was a fair amount to expect quality work. Without going into all the details of ignored emails, missed deadlines, and not producing everything that was paid for…I will just show you the end product. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? So here is a great example of what I got. The photo on the top is from the professional photographer we paid for. The photo on the bottom is from my husband’s uncle who has a nice camera. Now I don’t have a photographer’s eye, but I can tell you which image I think is better of the two. I was pretty bummed when 95% of my “professionally edited” images seemed dull and missing all the color.

The photos I received looked nothing like the work I had seen. It looked nothing like what I thought I would be getting. I started to question if the work I had seen was really this photographer’s work? I also started to question what I had missed and where I went wrong? Through this experience and educating myself I discovered what I should have done and the questions I should have asked. That is what I want to share with all of you today. There are a couple important topics I would like to address and I am also including a wonderful questionnaire you can print out and take with you when you interview your potential photographer.

Your Photographer’s Work

There are a couple key issues that really go together. The first is verifying the work you are shown is actually that of the photographer. So how do you verify work? This one can be a bit tricky. There are a couple ways you can go about this. When looking at a photographer’s work, you want to pay attention to the style of all the photos. Do they all match? Do they all appear to be from the same person? One way to check is by asking to have the contact information for a few of the couples whose pictures you like. If it is the photographer’s real work then they should be able to give you contact information. This also doubles as great references. What better way to find out about your future photographer than to ask couples for their likes and dislikes of the service they received? Another way to verify the work is to ask your photographer to see the entire collection of photos from a specific wedding photo you like. If this is the photographer’s real work, then they should have all the images.

This also leads us into our second key issue. You want to make sure your photographer can produce quality photos in all different settings. Your wedding day usually spans many hours. When you look at albums or see photographer’s work at a wedding faire, you are usually seeing the single best image from multiple weddings. The truth is everyone gets lucky. Every once in a while everyone takes a good picture. By asking to view all the photos of a single wedding you are able to see the quality of photos that photographer can produce for an entire event. It will also show you if the photographer can shoot just as well outside as they can inside. If you have an outdoor ceremony and an indoor reception, these are important things to look at and good questions to ask.

Life Happens

There is no better way to say it…life happens. The important part is how your photographer handles the unexpected. What does your photographer do if a family member dies the day before your wedding? What if they go into labor or are in an accident? This is an important question to ask, and one that did not dawn on me until it had already happened. My photographer did not show up in their best form on my wedding day. The months preceding, they became almost non-existent. To this day (almost 2 years later) we still have not received everything we paid for and I doubt we will. I learned shortly after my wedding day that the photographer was in the process of getting a divorce. One that dealt with young children and I’m sure assets. I imagine that is not an easy thing to go through. Taking the chance that I don’t sound too selfish here… We never get our wedding day back. And that is how I honestly feel about the situation. We paid for a service we did not receive. I think on some level if the photographer knows they can’t be on their A-game the day of your wedding they should have a backup plan. Perhaps a few photographers they can contact to fill in for them?

Trust Your Gut

The best thing you can do is trust your gut. I had a bad feeling about my photographer after the engagement session. (Side Note – this taught me the benefit of an engagement session is getting to know your photographer). When I voiced my concerns to my mother and suggested finding someone else, she talked me into staying with him. I can’t blame her; we had already put down a significant deposit. But sometimes moms do not know what is best. She wasn’t there for the engagement session and I was. I should have went with my gut feeling and I would have been much happier with the outcome. When you meet with your photographer, is it someone you can picture yourself hanging out with? Do they try to get to know you as a person or are they all about business? Do you feel confident that they will give you their best on their big day? I can’t stress this point enough…trust your gut.

Printable Photographer Questionnaire

This post includes some of the major lessons I learned about finding a wedding photographer during my wedding planning process. I wanted to share these with you and I hope they help others. I hope they help you to find your wedding photographer that you will be happy with, by making sure to ask the right questions. To go along with this post I want to provide a questionnaire I created to help you remember to ask some of these important questions. Just click on the pdf below, print it out, and take it with you to each photographer you interview. And remember…trust your gut!

State Puzzle Guest Book

On The Go Bride — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:38:40 +0000

As you know, I am a huge fan of creative guest books. I love them! There are so many great ways to create a memorable guest book for years to come. When I came across this idea on Etsy, I just had to share it with all of you. You can get a custom wooden puzzle in the shape of your state. It could be the state you grew up in, the state you are getting married in, or the state where you will be starting your life out together. Guests can sign individual pieces of the puzzle at your wedding. Yup, I’m a fan!

Reno Wedding: Shelby + Aaron

On The Go Bride — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:48:19 +0000

I have an absolutely gorgeous wedding for you today. You might remember these two from their engagement feature (here). If you have never seen a wedding at the Tannenbaum, take a look at the amazing photos below. How gorgeous are those linens and draping? Not to mention the panoramic views of the surrounding mountains and valleys. To add to the scenic day, the bride chose some great colors. Loving those yellow bouquets and how amazing the bright yellow looks with black. Big thanks to our vendor Jeramie Lu Photography for submitting these photos!

Shelby + Aaron

Details: Venue: Tannenbaum / Photographer: Jeramie Lu Photography / Makeup: James at Sheer Bliss Salon and Spa / Hairstylist: Shannon Henderson at Sheer Bliss Salon and Spa / Wedding Gown and Suits: Blue Garter Bridal & Tux / Bridesmaid Dresses: Macy’s / Linens: Creative Coverings / Cake: Cindy Felix at Eldorado / Caterer: Alexander Catering / DJ: Moonlight Mobile DJ / Pastor: Mike Benke at St. Lukes Luteran Church / Mobile Tanning for entire wedding party: Bronze de Beaut

Sacramento Engagement: Aleysa + Alex

On The Go Bride — Mon, 07 May 2012 14:30:30 +0000

How gorgeous is this Sacramento engagement session! And how gorgeous is this couple?!? I love that they chose to stick with a neutral grey color for their outfits. Plus, how can you not love her dress?!? The colors go perfectly with the backdrops in each photo. Thank you Still Light Photo for this submission!

Aleysa + Alex

May Giveaway

On The Go Bride — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:53:53 +0000

Excited to share our May Giveaway with all of you! How cute are these vintage wedding cake forks from You Name It Jewelry? Such a great personal touch to add to your special day! Plus they would make for some wonderful photo ops!

Winner can choose the saying - “I Do” “Me Too!”, “Mr.” “Mrs.”, “bride” “groom”, or even the names of your choice (providing they fit). You can also choose the silverware pattern (subject to what is available at the time). Plus you can choose to have your wedding date on the handle.

How to Enter to Win

Leave a comment on this blog post telling me what your wedding colors are
Be a fan of us on Facebook
Click on the Facebook share button located at the bottom of this blog post and post to your profile with “I just entered to win these vintage cake forks for my wedding!”

Details

Must be currently engaged to enter
Your assigned number will the order of your comment on this blog post
I will choose the winner by using a random number generator
The contest ends at 12pm, Wednesday, May 30th.
The winner will be chosen on Thursday, May 31st and announced that day.

Wedding Shoe Fun

On The Go Bride — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:18:08 +0000

Today we are highlighting some great bride and groom shoes. Have you seen the fun embroidering and shoe decals? There are so many options and great ideas. Take a look at these fun options I found.

Details: I do converse via Etsy / Initial decals via Weddings by Color / First names converse via Etsy / Mrs. and Est. decals via Bridal Musings / Wedding date converse via Joyful Weddings and Events / I do and Lucky me decals via Etsy