Tips on Hiring a Wedding Photographer

If you're in the process of hiring a wedding photographer, we have the perfect guide for you. Our friends over at My DeeJay posted an excellent article with advice from the top photographers in the area (including us!) on how to find, interview, and choose your photographer. The advice here is invaluable--a must read for any couple!

Excellent Tips for Saving Money on your Wedding

I found this post via a fellow photographer and wanted to share it with everyone, as it has some really great advice from wedding planner Amy Nichols. With all the gloom and doom economic news lately, I know couples are watching their wedding budgets closely. Amy Nichols gives great advice on what to splurge on and what to save on in this interview. A lot of her advice is not the conventional "cut back your guest list" wisdom, and definitely worth a read. Read the full story here.

Fun with Hair and Makeup

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of doing some portfolio photos for my good friends Kerry and Patty, who together make up Weddings by Kerry and Patty. Kerry is a makeup artist and Patty does hair. They actually did my own hair and makeup when I got married! I think they do fabulous work, so I wanted to help them do a few new looks for their portfolio. These are some of my favorites. You can see the before pictures on their website. The transformations are pretty dramatic! If you are looking for someone to do your hair and/or makeup, I highly recommend them--they will even come to you, which is hard to find.
Here are a few of my faves from the shoot.

Green Weddings

I've had a few couples here and there say they were trying to plan a green wedding but there was not very much information or resources available. I found a blog post today that has a lot of great resources on ecofabulous. It is a little skewed toward the west coast, but has a lot of great online resources and ideas for how to implement the ideas locally. Here's to happy green wedding planning!

Weddings + Kids

Over the weekend I got a catalog from Oriental Trading Company. I have not idea why, but I have a soft spot for party decorations, stationary, and stupid party favors, all of which the OTC has plently of! One of the things I noticed that was new was a whole slew of wedding themed items designed to keep kids busy at the wedding. I've seen many creative brides put together their own activity packs for kids, but these are a great alternative if you don't have the time or energy to make something yourself. They also have great flower girl and ring bearer sets that are only about $10 each. At that price, you could even get these for all the kids at your reception!

Weddings Unwrapped

I had such a busy week after the bridal show, I needed to get some relaxing time in this past weekend. I am a big fan of the Food Network and on Saturday I watched Weddings Unwrapped. It is a nice break from all the stress-filled wedding shows, like bridezillas or whose wedding is it anyway? All you foodies getting married should check it out when you are feeling like you need a break from all the planning :)