Samantha and Todd married on the family farm.  Todd spent his summers and every Holiday working and playing on his Aunt’s Arabian horse farm that has been passed down, from generation to generation. Samantha grew up over the pond in France.  For Samantha, it was love at first sight.  Both for Todd and the farm!

Planning a wedding in the country, 100 mile from home had its challenges but the rewards were great.  Catering, wedding cake tasting, tent rentals, and music all had to be booked.  Countless trips to a small near by town as well as meeting vendors in their home town of Charleston was required in order to check items off the list.  Hotels were blocked off for  out of town guests (nearly everybody), maps were created to ensure the same guests could arrive on time and the photographer was secured.

Samantha really wanted to have her bridal portrait made in beautiful Charleston.  We started in White Point gardens, know to visitors as Battery park, and set up on the band stand.  A light drizzle hampered our timing a little but soon cleared.  Umbrellas and a white sheet helped to protect her stunning dress.

Next on our list was the beach.  Keeping the dress clean is not so easy in sand but the effort is worth it.  Samantha’s dress was ready to go with just a little touch up along the bottom…  Beach bridal portraits are fun, challenging and produce stunning photographs.  I love large panoramic photographs!

Samantha dressed and prepared in the main house while Todd and the groomsmen took over the “little barn”.  Almost on cue the girls popped the champagne corks at the same moment to boys cracked the tops on a round of beer. We started with Todd and his groomsmen. Storytelling images of good ole American guys.  Rough housing around the way only close friends tease.  Fumbling with cuff links and rented tuxedo vests.  Last minute shoe polishes and last minute rounds of pool.  The girls continued with champagne and hairstylists and exploding suitcases and laughter and tears and hugs.

Samantha walked down the aisle with her father in the front lawn of the 100 year old home.  Todd stood next to his father waiting.  Nerves, excitement, anticipation.  Todd’s father was there to give his advice earlier as well.  The small ceremony was perfectly timed.  Samantha and Todd chose to have a receiving line and greeted each and every guest.  Off to take bridal party portraits and family portraits and then the party began.  Under a large tent in the side yard, Samantha and Todd danced their first dance while the DJ’s bubble machine surrounded the dance floor.  The night continued with a special song performed by the groom and then a LOT of karaoke.

We staged a send off photo earlier so the party could go on and on…

While I am the last to admit it, no person is perfect. I know it is a huge blow to some of us, me included. That being said anyone involved in the planning process is going to have to let go of some control. No one can be everywhere all the time. For some people it is easy, for others…it is a nightmare. Make some lists before you even pick up the phone. Sit down with some close friends and family for help with this one. Make lists of what your planning strengths and weaknesses. Ask your friends what they think about your lists and be prepared to cross some things off and put them on the other list. Don’t concentrate on which one is longer. This process is going to help you decide what you need to delegate for your own bridal sanity.

During the planning process a bride is bound to have friends and family who want to get involved. Some of them will feel entitled especially if they are financially bound to the event. Today there are no rules to a wedding, especially for young couples who are getting help from both sets of parents. I have noticed so many different funding situations that have emotional impact over the years. I have brides that pay for their entire wedding themselves, others who have some parental help from both sides, some have extended family financial funding and more along the more traditional line of the brides family funding the wedding. With financial funding come opinions and lots of suggestions. Suggestions can be a good thing, remember most of these people have been through this before and with experience comes wisdom. Most likely their style is not your style and addressing that in a polite response so not to offend anyone is tough-especially if it is your mother.

While I am the last to admit it, no person is perfect. I know it is a huge blow to some of us, me included. That being said anyone involved in the planning process is going to have to let go of some control. No one can be everywhere all the time. For some people it is easy, for others…it is a nightmare. Make some lists before you even pick up the phone. Sit down with some close friends and family for help with this one. Make lists of what your planning strengths and weaknesses. Ask your friends what they think about your lists and be prepared to cross some things off and put them on the other list. Don’t concentrate on which one is longer. This process is going to help you decide what you need to delegate for your own bridal sanity.

During the planning process a bride is bound to have friends and family who want to get involved. Some of them will feel entitled especially if they are financially bound to the event. Today there are no rules to a wedding, especially for young couples who are getting help from both sets of parents. I have noticed so many different funding situations that have emotional impact over the years. I have brides that pay for their entire wedding themselves, others who have some parental help from both sides, some have extended family financial funding and more along the more traditional line of the brides family funding the wedding. With financial funding come opinions and lots of suggestions. Suggestions can be a good thing, remember most of these people have been through this before and with experience comes wisdom. Most likely their style is not your style and addressing that in a polite response so not to offend anyone is tough-especially if it is your mother or your moher in law to be.

The following are a few guidelines that may be useful

• Give them tasks throughout the process and the day of.
• Be specific with what you want them to do. If you don’t want them making design decisions don’t give them that freedom.
• Include them in things like tastings and ask their opinion.
• Use open ended questions if you like their choices in general.
• If you don’t like their general choices give them A, B, or C option all of which are something that you can live with
• You have to be flexible.

At the end of the day this is only one day…I know, I know one really important day and I want it to be your perfect. But over your lifetime their will be more stressful things then making detail decisions about your wedding. Anyway the hard part is over, you found the guy (or girl).

I almost always photograph my friends weddings, something that I always recommend against. Why? you may ask. Well come now… how many armature photographers do you know that say they photograph weddings or someone who is a friend of the family. It is hard to turn down a friend though so brides are temped to say okay sure. Even Nancy though had her reservations when she asked me to photograph her wedding. I found out why later.

She had no clue what she was shopping for in a photographer and she was just unsure about everything. Her wedding was very small but wonderful. They didn’t want to spend a ton of money on it. So hiring a good photographer saved the memories. At her bachelorette party I brought a point and shot leica…not shabby but she leaned over to me and said, “you are going to bring a bigger one to the wedding right?”

Well I begged her to do a bridal portrait before hand so that we would have time to do something extra special. A bridal portrait ahead of time allows the bride to do the following:

1. Check out the make artist and try it out ahead of time (this should be free)

2. Trial bouquet (negotiate this with your floral order)

3. Improve personal connection with your wedding planner/designer

4. Sync with your photographer stylistically

5. Have more time on your wedding day to party and spend with your family

A great bridal portrait takes time so by doing it before hand your wedding day will be less stressful. Try to do it a few weeks before your wedding if you choose an environmental portrait in case you need to dry clean the dress.

Tips for you Budget
By having your budget on a spread sheet you have the ability to email it your blackberry for instant changes or important consults with the groom.
everyone involved in the budget can address it at the same time from different time zones.
You can see how tweaking it in different areas affects your bottom line instantly.
You are completely organized and this will actually save you money or help you find extra money for add ons that you really want.

-some brides run away from their budget especially if they are not dishing out the cash. Always know what you are spending, and be aware. The last thing that you want to do two weeks before the wedding is realize that you can not pay for what you expected and some venders may not be able to let you re-negotiate your deal.

This is  a previous blog but with the looming tropical season and weather I thought that I would repost it!

Tropical storm Barry came to visit us in Charleston over last weekend. It ruined every out door wedding in the city. On the beaches power went out, the wind howled and it poured.
We had a beach wedding that day with a reception in a hotel. Now for those of you unfamiliar Charleston, SC we have some really nice beach hotel. Well this reception was not at one of those. This hotel was decorated in the uncool late 70’s style.
Needless to say my bride was upset, she had no backup plan and was forced to make due. Her wedding was not the only one in the hotel that day, there was another one at the same time, with more people and a crew that was not as well adapt for any emergencies.
You may think that I am going to talk to you about back up plans…No.
I am going to talk to you about event insurance. Event Insurance you are now asking yourself what is it? You can purchase event insurance and in the event of bad weather, airplanes downed or some other major issue you can recoup most if not all of the money that you payed out for your event that didn’t turn out like you had expected. I first heard about event insurance from a friend who was a promoter. We were doing a Rock the Beach event and she was praying for rain. Turns out it only had to rain a small percentage at the airport and she was going to recoup her money.
This bride was fortunate to have vendors that were able to make her day better, this comes from experience as well as a sense of caring from her vendors. Her wedding was intimate, many guests did not come due to the weather but everyone danced to music when all the power on the beach went out the music was still playing and they were still dancing. A few days after we took the couple to the beach and spent sometime photographing them on the beach-so they still got those beach pictures that they were thinking of.
Had the bride had event insurance she would have recouped the money that she spent. My suggestion is that if you are getting married in an area that is prone to bad weather that may ruin your wedding you should purchase event insurance. For the few hundred dollars that it will cost you are insuring that you recoup any losses that could occur.
Now I know that you are thinking…what about the other bride? She was having a catered wedding on the pier. Her caterer had to plate the food in a hotel room at the other side of the hotel from their make shift reception. The hotel would not allow them to use their kitchen because the caterer was not affiliated with the hotel.