Ways to make your wedding STRESS FREE!!!

Weddings and stress sometimes go hand and hand. Here are some ways to help relieve some of that headache.

• Hire a coordinator – They can take full control if you want and its like hitting the easy button
• Hire a decorator – Picking the perfect decor can be hard and professionals with hundreds of weddings under their belt can guide your vision.
• Avoid the drama – Ok this is a big one for some. A lot of emotions come with wedding days and so does the drama. For the day of pick a contact person that you trust. You should not be handling any phone calls day of. So choose a bridesmaid or someone who you love being around and can take control of emotions and strike down issues. A lot of people try to take your day and make it their day. Which it is not and if you want something for your wedding day do it or something you don’t, don’t do it.
• What Traditions will you include – Ok I know this may seem a little weird but you do not have to do any of the quote normal traditions. Its 2023 and we are changing things up, no matter what any one tells you. If seeing your spouse before calms your nerves and makes everything feel better do it. If you don’t want your new spouse going up your dress and getting a garter then don’t. If you don’t want to dance with one of your parents because relationship issues don’t make that a stress to your day. Once again this is your day and stand firm in that.
• All Vendors you hire check their reviews ahead of time – Check multiple places google, facebook, instagram, Wedding wire and The Knot are good places to start. Sometimes vendors try to hide those reviews that they don’t want.
• Make yourself a wedding Binder – This will be the place you can keep all of your wedding invoices, contracts and you can add a calendar to outline all of your due dates. Everything all in one place helps keep organize and less stress.
• Timeline – So you have a lot of people that need to be places at different times. A great way to communicate is a google doc that you can update. That way it is sharable and you can give control to certain people to update if allowed. As a photographer I help out with timelines a lot. Other vendors that will be helpful with this is your coordinator, Church,DJ and also caterer so food is hot.
• Venue – Outdoor weddings can be so beautiful but have a backup. If there can be a tent for rain or a back up location completely. Renting a dance floor for a tent is so worth it as well. If you have a down pour it could make the ground a muddy mess. A dance floor helps that problem. If you are planning in spring or fall have heaters available to rent. In ohio our days go from 80 to 40 in a day so you don’t always know what you are going to get. Heaters have saved a lot of my weddings.

Every wedding day comes with a few challenges. Something is always going to go just a little different than expected and its best to just roll with it. Its even better when the couple doesn’t even know it happened.

I hope these few pointers help you have the stress free wedding you deserve!

What Season to Plan Your Session

We always think oh it is time to get our pictures updated but how do we plan the perfect time.

There are a few key factors to think about:

Scenery

Do you have the perfect setting in mind? So many times families have a great location on their property without even knowing it. I love to work with backyards, front porches, ponds and outbuildings. You would be surprised with what looks great as a background. This way too it has a meaning and preserves that time in your life. On the other hand maybe there is a neat location you have in mind but you have to think how you want it to look. Do you want it to have all the green? If so June – early September would be perfect months. If you want those first flowering trees, we want to look at late April and May. You want bright colorful fall leaves, then Mid October to early November. Winter snow session, well those have to be scheduled last minute so we know we have snow.

Clothing choices

What do you want to wear? That is always a tough decision. We all have a certain comfort level when it comes to clothing. You wouldn’t want to plan an August session and wear layers. Trust me you will be a sweaty mess and no one wants that feeling in front of the camera. So if you know you want to wear your cute shacket and hat, plan for cooler weather. Want that sleeveless dress and shorts, summer is the way to go.

Weather comfort on Temperature

So I absolutely love winter sessions. They can be so moody with Ice and snow. That being said I don’t suggest it for the little ones. They will not last long. Unless you want to plan a quick shoot. I also don’t suggest if you have someone that has a hard time getting around. It can be difficult if there is Ice and can be a hazard.

Time of Day

Typically I suggest a time that has the best lighting. Some are not able to make it work once we get to October. The days get very short and we have to do sessions earlier. If you know you can’t take time off of work I would plan for summer. When we can do them later in the evening.

Where will you celebrate these images later

Yes one more thing to think of is where in your house you will enjoy these. Will a winter shoot with snow go in this room all year round. Will those bright orange trees of fall look great even in the spring. Think ahead so you can have the perfect piece of art for your home.

What Season will you choose. Of course we always have a studio option as well. We are always here to talk all of these options through. Its not hard just have to take a minute and think a few options through

The Moment

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Let’s face it wedding planning is stressful!

It may not even be the bride or groom that carries the stress,

a lot of moms or grandmas take on that task on too. Even the most chill couples I have had the pleasure of working with have stress or even just the thought of being anxious. I know not usually what you want to talk about for the best day ever. Well, I am here to tell you it’s all worth it for this moment. The moment you let all your nervousness out and realize here you are with your official husband or wife. I love to see how couples just let them self finally go in the moment as they are walking away from the officiant.

The thought of I am standing in front of all of these people, the thought of did I pick the right dress, the thought of what is my one family member going to do all goes away.

Its the moment, The moment where everyone else disappears and all that is felt is the love between two people in the room. Its also the thought of did that just happen and are we really married after all of the planing and anticipation.

It’s also the moment that is the beginning of the whole story. The moment you get to call yours and yours alone.

So the stress, especially all of you that get to plan during a pandemic, is it worth it? Absolutely!

Mr. and Mrs. Mullins

 

Mr. and Mrs. Axe

I had the chance to shoot a Halloween wedding this year!  It was perfect for these two who love the holiday so much.

We started the day getting ready…

These two are truly best friends and it defiantly shows.  They planned there outdoor wedding at the shelter house downtown St. Marys.  It was a brisk day but with the fire roaring it made it perfect.

They defiantly added some of their own fun, from their little Ring “Bear” to there unity volcano.

We had a lot of fun with this crew!

Then on to the Reception.  The fun continued with a caricature artist, pirate themed cake, toilet rides and Photo booth!

It’s a Girl

Today I want to share a happy story.  There are so many negative ones out there and especially this time of year we need a bit of joy!

A little girl joined us in this world at 3:55 on Friday December 4th.  She is perfect ten toes, ten fingers but best of all she has two parents that could not love her more.  They knew they wanted another bundle of joy, but that wasn’t so easy for them.  They turned to using a surrogate mother.  Here is their birth story….

It was a day of excitement, anticipation, a bit of waiting and killing time.  Her name was even decided that very morning as they waited for her arrival.

The anticipation for labor to kick in really got mom excited.  She was smiling the whole time.  I can only imagine what she was feeling.

Contractions were getting closer and  mom to be helping out as she could.

She finally makes her arrival!!! Tears of joy were spread through the room.

What a beautiful gift that was born.  A gift that had so many put love and extra care into.  Parents that can have a happy ending because of the love a stranger was able to provide for 9 months!