Even though I am still over 1 year out from the “big day”, I know that there are certain parts of the planning process that are best booked early. The next item I’d like to check off my list: the photographer.
The amount of trust a couple puts into their wedding photographer is kind of unbelievable, don’t you think? Their job is extremely important: they have to capture your day in a way that will make the memory transcend years from now when you’re looking back or showing your little ones those pictures. That’s not a small feat. Being a graphic designer, the photographer Olive dude and I choose is overly important to me. I want artistic photos that I can use to decorate the current empty walls in our place. Olive Dude and I have the potential to look super awkward in pictures, so we need someone who will make us feel comfortable and be able to catch the moments when we think they aren’t looking. God bless them.
My fiancé, Apple Sauce, does not like to have his picture taken. For as long as I’ve known him, and as far back as his childhood memories reach. He says it’s because he’s a “private person” — so he probably doesn’t appreciate me blogging about it, whoops! — and he doesn’t like to be the center of attention.
As you’d expect, this poses a problem pertaining to our wedding, i.e. the most photographed day of our lives. So before we ended up with a photo album full of shots of a bride without a groom, we needed to tackle the issue head on, to throw him into the belly of the beast and work through his fears with a little immersion therapy. We did an engagement shoot … in public.
I talked about our sudden need to find a new photographer in a former post.
As much as we enjoyed his photos, we decided not to take the risk of not having a photographer on our wedding day.
So we started on my favorite local resource, Today’s Bride. Being 6 months away from our wedding, I also contacted every bride I know and asked about their photographers and recommendations. But almost everyone I contacted was not available, or didn’t actually get back to me! Why would a photographer not respond and lose a possible client?
Finally I found three different photographers who had our date and fit our budget.
Photo by Chatman Photography
It was during finals week, so we didn’t have time right away to interview photographers so I kept in contact through email with all three.
Finally once Christmas break hit, I was able to set an appointment. So I picked the photographer who was most courteous and conscientious in our emails. That’s how we ended up at Starbucks with Joni Chatman or Chatman Photography.
We had hired a photographer who had everything we wanted. And then I briefly told you about my photographer shooting a wedding out of state (California!) the day before our wedding. He wasn’t sure he’d make it back in time for our wedding but made arrangements to send his 2nd and 3rd shooters in his place if he’s not able to be there. Well now for various reasons his back up shooters are not available. So we can gamble on having a photographer at our wedding. (Did I mention he booked the May 27th wedding months after booking our May 28th wedding?)
I know many people have posted wondering if engagement pictures are ‘worth it’ and I can say, without a doubt, that YES, yes they are.
If you are getting married in the Boston, MA or Providence, RI area I recommend that you set up a shoot with Heather Chick Photography
Heather is not only an amazing photographer but she has such a wonderful personality that you’ll feel like you’ve been friends forever!
Violet Dude can be kind of a shy guy, but from the moment we met Heather at our location (A park where Dude grew up playing Baseball) he was completely at ease. In fact, at the end, he said “That was so much fun, I want to do that again!”
We are huge Red Sox fans and our wedding theme is vintage Baseball. Heather took this and really ran with it! She even brought props for us! (Red Sox stickers, Lolipops and Cracker Jacks!)
We had ideas of our own and Heather worked with us to create exactly what we had envisioned. We loved her so much that we changed our wedding date so that she could be our wedding photographer! (She was booked on our original date) We cant wait to see our wedding photos, and in the future we’ll have her take all our family photos!
I adore flower girls! My flower girl was my husband’s niece (now my niece too). She did an amazing job. Her mom told me that she practiced for months and the day of our wedding it showed. She was perfect before, during and after our ceremony.
I LOVE my new little niece. Her flower girl dress was made for her.
With her fancy dress and perfect hair do, she looked like a little princess. Her dress matched mine with the Ivory color.
Shortly after I got engaged and started browsing the internet I fell in love with idea of having a photo booth at the reception (and then saw how expensive it would be to rent one). So Poppy Dude and I are rigging a homemade backdrop and having our photographer take the pictures.
We also want to have a prop table to encourage people to let loose and have some fun. After some more browsing I found these cute and quirky mustaches. I decided to try my hand at my own DIY version…
Dandelion Dude and I have been married for over a year now. For the first year or so, I had stopped looking at wedding blogs and magazines because I was scared I would have wished I had done something different. I’ve come to realize that ideas will come and go. My love for the art or craft of a wedding will never go away. I enjoy going to weddings and being a part of them.
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda is going to be things I love NOW. Am I planning another wedding? HECK NO! Just blogging new or older ideas that match my wedding style.
One thing that would have been awesome to have at our wedding that wasn’t very important to me at the time was a videographer. A few weeks ago we went to a wedding in Orange County, California. I was wondering why there were like 3 or 4 cameras in the front of the chapel. This is why…
What seemed to me to be like an excessive amount of photographers/videographers, turned out to be ElmanAdams Films. They make the whole getting ready process look graceful, the ceremony so romantic, and the reception like the best party of the year!
This past weekend Poppy Dude and I made the two hour journey home with our friend and photographer, Toni of TM2 Photography. As we set out that morning the air was cool and crisp…it was the perfect fall morning. I had been sick earlier in the week and was happy to be feeling better for our session. I can’t tell you how happy we were that Toni agreed to come home with us! Toni has taken many pictures of us in Lincoln, but for our engagement pictures Poppy Dude and I wanted the backdrops to be familiar places, places that hold meaning to us. Our session was an all day event! We took pictures in my backyard in the morning, and headed out to the church where we are to be married after lunch so everybody could take a look around. After that we headed to the family farm where Poppy Dude grew up. Toni was nice enough to share some proofs with me to share with you! Here are a few of our favorites:
As you know, the goal of our beach wedding was to get married at sunset. We had read so many wonderful things about sunsets in the Florida Keys, and had even seen amazing pictures of them. We figured we would be lucky if we got even half a sunset as some of the shots we had seen. Wow, was I in total awe once we arrived in Key Largo and had a chance to witness the amazing beauty with our own eyes.
Here are a few of my favorite sunset shots that absolutely took my breath away!
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