Amy is spearheading a revolution in wedding day groom activity.  Having your man and his groomsmen spend the morning at Uncle is a wonderful alternative to the golf course or other day-of wedding activity.  You and your ladies are probably spending the morning in hair and makeup so it’s only right that the dudes have some pampering as well.  And by pampering, I mean the most manly of shaves in a place that has sports on the TVs at all time.

Also?  You know how hard men are to buy for??  Problem solved.  Uncle offers gift sets in a variety of price ranges.  I promise you they don’t need another monogramed flask.  Get them a gift set from Uncle and they will thank you and so will their girlfriend!

And because Amy is so awesome, she has kindly offered up a gift certificate for a hair cut to one lucky reader’s man!  All you need to do is (a) live close enough to either the Belle Meade or Brentwood location for your Mr. to use it and (b) leave me a comment here telling me why your Mr. deserves a good manly pampering.

**Contest will end Monday, May 2nd at 5:00pm central time.  I’ll announce the winner later that evening.  Thanks for playing!!**

***Contest is now closed!  Our winner is Emily!  Thank you all so much!***

*I would also like to add the disclaimer that I was given a giftcard for John, who had not cut his hair since before Christmas.  He was thrilled with the service and the haircut he received.  I was thrilled that I no longer have to worry about him turning into a caveman.  Thanks Amy!!

So you’ve been stalking Style Me Pretty and all the “it” wedding blogs since the day he put the ring on your finger?  Here are some suggestions for helping make your wedding photos all you want them to be and more!

(1) You may have noticed that many of the photos on SMP and the like are taken in natural light.  Keep this in mind when choosing your venue.  As a matter of fact, you may want to tour your venue around the time of year and time of day you are wanting to have your ceremony, if possible, just to get a good feel for how the light will be on your special day.  The brighter the venue, the better, since most photographers do not use flash for the ceremony, either by choice or by venue rules.  This is also a big factor when choosing the time of year you get married – if you love natural light get married in the summer when the sun stays up until late in the day.  Alternately, if a winter wedding is a must and you still want that beautiful natural light, you need to have a daytime wedding.

(2) Have your make-up professionally done.  Yes, I’m sure you do a lovely job on your own make-up, but do you really want that added chore on your wedding day?  I know.  I’m a control freak, so I really do know how hard it can be to let go of something as important as your face on the day of your wedding, but it is worth every penny.  Find someone who is reputable (I can make suggestions!), do a trial run, and let go!  You will be so happy you did!  Not to mention there is something I just love about photos of the bride while someone else is applying her makeup.

(3) Think about where you will be getting ready.  If it is at the venue ask to see the room when you are touring.  What should you be looking for?  Big beautiful windows!  I can’t tell you how many times we have photographed a wedding and the bride is getting ready in what could equate to a bomb shelter while the groom and his groomsmen get ready in a room with lovely, large windows.  It should be the opposite – ask to switch, you won’t regret it.

(4)  Stick to your timeline.  If you are a person who is always late (don’t deny it – most of us are either early people or late people.  Own it.), tell the person preparing your timeline about this so that they can pad it with extra time to allow for your lateness.  Sticking to your timeline will do great things for your photos, such as allowing more time for creativity.   Additionally, if you are running on time you will look more relaxed and happy in the photos vs. hurried and stressed.

(5)  Smile!  I realize that sounds like a no-brainer, but weddings can be stressful and the last thing you want to see is a stressed scowl across your face in your candid photos.  If you are a person who tends to get stressed out (or even if you are not), please consider hiring a planner, or at the very least, a day-of coordinator.  Bonus!  A good planner/DoC (again, I can make suggestions!) will also help ensure your day runs on time, a la tip #4.  Do not let stress turn you into a grumpy bear in your wedding photos!

(6)  Don’t stress the dress.  It’s the only day you will ever wear it (unless of course you book an after session, which I highly recommend), so have a little fun!  Consider sitting, yes sitting, even on the ground!  There’s not much more romantic than a bride and groom all cuddled up together post-ceremony.

(7) Allocate plenty of time for photos.  This kinda ties in with the timeline bit above.  I am a photographer who does not care if you see each other before the ceremony or not.  That statement is pretty much blasphemy in some photography circles, but it’s the way I feel about it.  However, you do need to understand that if you choose not to see each other beforehand your guests will need to wait longer between the ceremony and reception while you have your photos taken.  It’s a trade-off and you just have to decide what is most important to you – the first look when coming down the aisle or not having your guests waiting at the reception for 1 to 1.5 hours while photos take place.  Just please don’t opt out of photos before the ceremony and then expect all photos to magically be finished up in 30 minutes after the ceremony.  Not. Gonna. Happen.

(8)  It’s all in the details!  You know those wedding blogs love their details.  And if you, in turn, love detail photos, make sure to HAVE details at your wedding for your photographer to capture.  Invest in custom paper goods (again if you need a graphic designer, I have suggestions).  Think outside the box in terms of activity stations at your wedding, consider doing something a little different than the standard candy bar.  Engage your planner in this – they will likely have some great ideas to help you out!

(9)  What does the ceiling look like?  Ok, really, this is just me being overly picky.  My shooting style is that I like to bounce flash off the ceiling at the reception.  So if your reception site has a tall, black ceiling that’s gonna make things a little bit trickier.  It can be done, I just don’t prefer it.  Give your photog a break and book a reception site with a white ceiling or use a white tent.

(10)  Dance, too much booty in the pants, dance, dance dance!!  WHEW!  Sorry for the old school rap reference there, but I couldn’t resist  This, of course, only applies if you are having a dancing reception; and if you are, you need to get your booty out there and dance!  Everyone looks to the bride to set the tone of the reception, and if you are out there having fun, then they will be too.  I just love a good candid dance shot of everyone out on the floor having the time of their lives.  L-O-V-E, love it.

Win a new copy of The DIY Bride Crafty Countdown!!!

I am so excited that the Hindsight Bride is growing. And I am as pleased as punch to be writing my 100^th post. I think this is as good a time as any to solicit some reader feedback and make the blog better. To sweeten the pot, I went down to my local bookstore (City Lights in Sylva) and picked up a brand spanking new copy of Kris Cochran’s The DIY Bride Crafty Count Down. I will give the book away to one lucky reader.

Some Rules:

1. To be eligible to win, please fill out this short 5 minute (or less) survey
2. Only one entry per person please!!!
3. Brides, grooms, bloggers, and wedding professionals are all welcome.
4. The contest will be open from June 9, 2010 to midnight on June 15, 2010.
5. The winning submission will be randomly drawn using Research Randomizer
6. The winner will be announced on June 16, 2010 (one week from this post.)
7. Please keep in mind that you must fill out the questions fully and provide a valid email address. I will not share your email address, but I do need some way to contact you.

Get yourself over there and enter!  I wish you all lots of luck in the giveaway!

What can you do when your DIY wedding photos suck? Nothing: A Hindsight Look at Wedding Photography Woes

When I was planning my own wedding I found so much inspiration on all the pretty wedding blogs. Though I only had a $5000 budget, I was determined to have a sweet, wonderful, beautiful wedding. With careful planning and lots of DIY spunk, I indeed had the wedding of my dreams.

We DIY-ed everything: our cake, the favors, our invitations, the bunting and pinwheel decorations, our centerpieces and flowers, the wine labels, and the iPod “DJ”. Everything but the bouquets and the clothes. It was an amazingly cute wedding. Many of our friends remarked that it was “so us,” and “so much fun” What more could a bride want?

Right now I want beautiful pictures to match the beautiful wedding we put so much time and love into creating.

Let me say that again:

Right now I want beautiful pictures to match our beautiful wedding.

In the thick of planning, I was happy to be saving so much by going the DIY route. I felt clever, empowered, and on top of the budget-bride, DIY world. When it came to hiring a photographer I scoured the wedding forums for advice. Lots of brides and budget-minding blogs were talking about hiring a student photographer.

Ding, ding, ding–I work at a University! What a perfect solution, I thought. I asked around campus for recommendations and found a student. I assure you ladies, I covered all of my bases.  I interviewed her three times: Once to get to know her and look at her portfolio; once to show her blogs and tear sheets so she would know what I was looking for. I met with her one final time so she could show me wedding pictures she found that she thought would appeal to me. When I saw that her style matched mine, we signed a contract, went over the shot list, and I paid her half of the $150 I had offered her. Note: You get what you pay for.

No framing, blown-out, and weird facial expressions. It seems like my photographer was either blind or didn’t care.

She showed up at the wedding with a borrowed Nikon D60 with a single, stock  lens. She proceeded to take snapshots, not portraits, not fun detail shots, snapshots. The real bummer was the camera’s owner had been shooting at 1600 ISO. My wedding was a mid-day affair. Nearly every outside image (mine was an outdoor fete, mind you) was blown out. The images that were not blownout had little interest, and were often shot too far away. I have no close-up portraits of the family together. They were all shot at a distance. Many of the so-called detail shots were shot at a wide angle distance, and her framing made even the sweetest moment look boring and commonplace. In short, she had no eye. My nine year old niece had a better eye than my photographer. Luckily some friends and family gave us sweet pictures that can go into an album. Still, the pictures we do have don’t compare in the least to professional photography.

Decent composition, but totally blown out

When I got the 9 CDs of images, she had compressed them all with iPhoto. They will not print at larger formats, nor can I correct the images because there is not enough information on each image to recover detail. Photoshop will only do so much. There is a saying that I think applies here: garbage in, garbage out.

She went from too light to too dark, ugh.

I cried, and cried, and cried. Almost a year later, my heart still breaks. As a blogger, I still cruise the wedding blogs looking for tips and inspiration. I see lots of the same DIY indie styles at the forefront of wedding trends. I see details similar to those I created for my wedding. The biggest difference: they are beautifully shot by a professional photographer, mine are not. I often find myself thinking, that could have been me with the lovely pictures. Sadly, it is not.

even sweet moments look commonplace without proper framing

I know I sound like a broken record here, but it’s important for budget brides to understand something: there is no substitute for professional photography!

Was she looking at the rest of the picture. Note the guy walking around.

So here’s my Hindsight Advice to you ladies and gents: Hire a professional photographer! Even if it’s only for part of the wedding. I have talked to Amber, as well as a several photographers in western North Carolina, at length about this. While some pros won’t shoot a few hours, many will.  Often it depends on how busy they are, and what time of year you are getting married. So here are some tips for those of  you who are “broke as a joke” and thinking of DIY-ing your wedding photography.

No close-up of our families

Don’t DIY your wedding photography! Instead:

Talk to photographers honestly about your situation. Let them know how much photography means to you and be honest about how much you have.

Ask them for advice and options for capturing your wedding

Ask if there are discounts of off-season weddings, or Thursday, Friday, or Sunday weddings

Ask if the photographer would be willing to shoot the ceremony and portraits, or shoot for a few hours rather than the whole wedding and reception.

Ask if the photographer offers a “photography registry”

Notice a trend here? Talk to professional photographers. Ask questions. Ask for advice. Also, free up money elsewhere by making Photography a priority.

This cannot be corrected because of the already outrageously high ISO + image compression

Other budgeting tips that you have seen everywhere but may cringe to think about them include:

-Limit your guest list

-Nix or scale back on the favors (homemade cookies are inexpensive and sweet)

-Scale back on flowers and centerpieces, use smaller containers, in-season flowers, or less expensive flowers (try ranunculus instead of roses)

-Scale back on attire (shop around for a once worn dress)

-Serve a signature drink instead of offering a full bar

-Limit your guest list (yes, I am perfectly aware that I’ve already said this)

Here my brother, the man-of-honor, and I have a sweet sibling moment that was NOT properly captured

Here’s the honest to goodness Hindsight Truth about weddings. Your wedding will mean more to you and your partner than it will to anyone else. A year later, friends cannot remember what type of flowers I had, nor the color of the bridesmaids dresses, nor most of the other details I put so much time and effort into. They had a good time and that was it. For me, my wedding was one of the best days of my life, and it was fleeting. I have precious little by which to remember off of the delightful little details of the day.

This is the only type of picture I have of our guests. Wide angle snapshots.

With the new indie-wedding style so popular, you can scale back on so much and still have a sweet wedding. Look at this simple wedding published on Once Wed. She had simple flowers, an e-Bay dress, homemade programs, and balloon decorations. Oh, and a professional photographer! Now her wedding is on a top wedding blog. Please don’t skimp on professional photography! You won’t regret having beautiful photos for years to come. {{{I’d also like to point out that one of our favorite weddings from last year – Kayla and Brock – were a DIY/Budget couple.  Their one splurge was us and now they have a wonderful record of the special day they worked so hard to create}}}

Thank you so much Hindsight Bride!  Please don’t forget to visit her blog and leave her a little comment love!

!!  It is the last day of our cross promotion with Kennedy Occasions and it’s the date for our 2010 Spring Charity Event!  There are still a few spots so e-mail me today if you want one

I also wanted to share with you a bit of money saving wisdom I ran upon today when I was blog stalking a friend of mine.  I had the pleasure of attending college with The Hindsight Bride – she’s smart, funny, and has some wonderful tips for those of you minding your budget.  I highly recommend adding her to your RSS feed and while you’re at it, leave her a comment and tell her I sent you  Anyway, I loved her latest entry on saving money – Sweet Little Centerpieces.  Expect to hear more from her around here soon!

Ashley has redesigned her site and not only does it look even more fabulous than it did before (which I didn’t even realize was possible), but it’s now easier for you to use than ever before. Just check out the headings on the top of the front page – a tab for DIY and a tab for Savings in addition to lots of other cool things!  There is even a DIY category in the inspiration gallery.  Clearly Ashley was thinking of my Money Saving Monday Brides when she designed the site  To check out even more of the great new features check out this post and don’t forget to poke around the site on your own as well.

Photo credit – Kristyn Hogan

I am so excited to introduce you to my latest wedding planning friend, Emily Humphries of Simply Yours Weddings and Etc.  I met Emily through Twitter.  Yes I’ve finally given in to being a “Twit.”  If you’d like to follow me my name is AmberVo.  If you’d like to follow Emily her twitter name is 1weddingwoman.  This little snippet from Emily’s bio does a great job of summing up what her business is all about:  ”I truly believe that EVERY bride deserves someone who is dedicated to focusing on her dreams, her worries, her heart and all the details that feel “little” no matter the size of the budget or the wedding.”  Well said Emily!  Without further ado, here are some tips Emily has shared with us about saving money in the wedding world.

I think every Bride has a place where she can save money. First of all, look at your budget, and figure out what is a priority to you and what is not. Is it a big deal for you to leave in a limo? If not, put that $100+ dollars into another place that does matter! An extra musician for your ceremony, or a bigger floral arrangement. Then, continue in this fashion through each aspect of your day.

{{{Taylor and Brett leaving their reception in a limo}}}

Second, there are a million and one ways to use Do It Yourself (or DIY) projects in your wedding day! Some Brides strive to be entirely DIY Brides and if they have the time to do all of these things (or an incredible set of friends and family to help!) it can truly be a major money saver. I’ve seen anything from making their own and their wedding party’s jewelry, to making their own invitations and programs, to favors. There are SO many blogs out their now that have wonderful DIY ideas that range in all levels of creativity. BUT before you dive into a list of projects, really check your time and see if you can do these things in a timely fashion without making yourself crazy!

{{{Kayla was an amazing DIY bride}}}

Every Bride is unique. She has her own vision of how things should look and be on her special day. Time, research and dedication to your budget is totally possible; you just have to be very intentional with your planning and budgeting!

For more helpful tips from Emily, add her blog to your RSS feed reader and give her a shout today!

Thanks again Emily

And because I’ve spent lots of time today going through old pics and organizing personal photos, here’s a pic I took waaaaay back in the summer of one of my friends and colleagues, Stephanie of Bella Flora.