A Message From One Bride to Another....

 As a photographer, I get to meet a lot of very awesome people and through the process of their engagement, almost all of those people find a special place inside my heart and our friendship carries on way past their wedding day. Sometimes, I get asked to document a wedding by a friend or a family member, which is the case for this particular 2013 bride. Her name is Erin and we have been school bus buddies since elementary school. We grew up as neighbors (well, 1 mile apart is considered neighbors for us country folk), and years after we graduated high-school, she found me at a local park while shooting an engagement session and asked if I would be her wedding photographer!!!! Ummmm...... OF COURSE!! Erin is smart, beautiful, and super sweet. I knew working with her would be a photographer's dream come true. What I didn't know was that she also had a hidden talent... this girl is a writer at heart. I stumbled across her wedding blog while browsing through Pinterest and after reading tons of her posts and wonderful wedding planning tips, I asked her to write something for you, the newly engaged or soon-to-be-engaged couple!!

You’re engaged!!!

 It’s the happiest time of you life, and all your thoughts revolve around spending the rest of your life with the man of your dreams.  After the whirlwind of emotion, and love and best wishes from family and friends, it’s time to start planning your wedding.  Just one question…where do you start?!?!?!

  Planning a wedding can be one of the most exciting and stressful things you’ll ever do, so it’s important to remember to stay calm and live in the moment.  The best piece of advice I got during the early stages of my wedding planning experience was to remember that this day marks the first day of the rest of my life with my new husband.  So, start with the big picture…if there’s no venue, there’s no wedding.  Discuss possible dates with your fiancé, and contact your top church and reception hall right away to make sure you are at the top of their list.  After that, everything else will start to fall into place.  

  Once you’ve secured your date, contact vendors that need to be booked in advance (photographer, DJ, caterer, etc).  You can wait on selecting the paper for your invitations, but it’s heartbreaking if another couple books your dream photographer because you didn’t contact them right away.  Another piece of advice…leave these jobs to the professionals.  Sure, your “friend” might be willing to DJ for you for free, but you get what you pay for, and nothing is stopping them from backing out last minute.  

  Many of my friends got engaged and married before me, so I have had the honor of attending quite a few weddings over the past few years.  Every couple has their own personality, and every wedding was different, but one thing always stood out to me…it was the weddings with the most attention to detail that were the most memorable.  Little personal touches can make all the difference.  Guests love when they can see the thought and individuality you put into your wedding, because those little details are what set your wedding apart from all the others

  I am lucky enough to have a longer engagement (1 year and almost 11 months, to be exact), so I was able to take time and do my research so that I could plan the best possible wedding without breaking my budget.  It seems that when you have more time early on, wedding planning isn’t as stressful as it sounds.  I’ve somehow kept my sanity throughout this process, even while completing dental school, seeing patients, and studying for boards.  I relied on organization to keep me on task.  There are dozens of wedding worksheets you can find online to help create a timeline of when certain tasks should be completed.  I even went as far as purchasing a wedding organizer, so all our important wedding documents and information are together in one binder.

  My final piece of advice is to remember to always live in the moment.  If you absolutely love something, do it!  Don’t worry about whether or not it will still be in style 10 years down the road.  Years from now, when you’re looking back on all the memories, you may laugh at some of your choices, but you’ll know that each decision lead to the wedding of your dreams.  Your wedding should tell the story of who you are as a couple, and paint a picture for your guests that’s as unique as your love for each other. 

                                                                                                                             ~Erin

This is Erin meeting David Tutera. To read more of her great wedding planning tips, visit her blog! 

 

 Thank you so much for your advice, Erin! I can't wait for your wedding!!! :c)

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Jeff & Summer {Washington, PA Wedding}

 Let me set the scene... it's a Sunday afternoon. I'm comfortably sitting on my couch thinking about all of the things I need to do in a 3 week period so I can welcome my husband home from a 9 month deployment. Thanksgiving is a little less than 2 weeks away and I have countlessly told my sister 'no' to traveling to PA to spend it with her. (I have 3 small children... traveling 7 hours alone with them is not fun.) However, my sister is Italian so, she doesn't take 'no' for an answer easily. The phone rings, it's my brother... "Hey. We need you." My ears perk up. See, my brother had finally met the love of his life and they were due to have a baby on November 26th. I was thinking that maybe the baby was coming early and they wanted me to take pictures of the birth. The conversation continued... "Summer and I are getting married next Sunday." To say I was elated was an understatement. Anyone who knows my brother knows that he is a hopeless romantic who has been waiting his entire life to find the perfect woman to share his life with. WE (as in my sister and I) already knew that Summer was that perfect person, and we knew my brother also knew this, but to hear that they were setting it in stone was like hearing angels sing Hallelujah. (And I'm pretty sure my mom up in Heaven was singing along and grabbing hold of her camera.) So, my task was to come home and take pictures of the wedding, which I happily obliged.
 It was a small ceremony held at Life Church in Washington, PA. We took post ceremony pictures of their new 'Brady Bunch' family at Washington & Jefferson College and held a very small reception back at my sisters house. It was perfect and sweet. Summer was gorgeous as always and my brother wore a smile from ear to ear. It warms my heart to SEE the love between the two of them. And yes, you CAN actually, physically SEE the love go straight from his eyes to hers and vice versa. I am SO excited to have a new sister-in-law who I love so much, and now 2 more nieces and 2 more nephews to hug and kiss and spoil. :c) I am TRULY honored and blessed to have been in the presence of such love and to be able to be the one to capture it all and freeze it forever. Congrats Jeff and Summer... the two of you truly deserve your fairy tale!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Using Your Photos.... Off the Wall.

 If you've ever wondered how to bring more YOU into your wedding, never fear, ideas are here!! This post is to show you some ways one of my wedding couples incorporated their engagement session photos into their wedding to bring more of their personality to the event.






I designed save the date cards and Kerianne had them printed out as 3.5x5 inch prints. She also ordered 4x6 inch prints of one of her favorite engagement session images, purchased  invitations from Pat Catan's, and created DIY wedding invitations by printing out the wedding day information on a see-through overlay.

 

 Instead of purchasing a plain guest book with blank pages, I designed a personalized guest book for the happy couple using their engagement session photos. What a wonderful way to look at some of your favorite images while reading some beautiful words from your loved ones! To see all of the pages of the guest book... go here.








 Kerianne also used photos from their E session in some of the centerpieces. Other brides have opted to use their photos as table numbers. If you know you want to do this kind of thing before your engagement session, we can create the kind of photos that will display your personality or will portray the mood of your special day!

And to top it all off... starting in 2013, ALL of my wedding couples will receive a high-resolution disc with all of your edited images and it will be delivered to you on a professionally printed DVD, in a one-of-a-kind DVD case.

 With all of the wedding products and DIY idea's that are out there, I can help you create the kind of photo's that you imagine for your dream wedding. I would love to see some of your ideas and ways you would use your photos for your BIG DAY!!

 

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Kerianne & Carlo Part 2 {Pittsburgh, PA Wedding Photography}

 I normally don't do a blog post this big but, this group was so much fun and we got so many great pictures that I had to show them off! (And because they are my family I don't mind embarrassing them a bit.)    :c)    So, if you haven't already checked out part one... go do that now. Then, enjoy part 2 of this awesome couple's day!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations Carlo and Kerianne!!!!

 

 

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