I am SO excited to share today's wedding with you! It's hard to believe, but I have known Heath for 11+ years (ever since we were freshman at Clemson!) and I have also known Crystal for many years. I can think of few couples that I've been happier for than Heath and Crystal! Heath and Crystal have faithfully waited on the Lord's provision and timing and it was a true JOY to see them come together in marriage!
Matt and Teresa's wedding day was Christ-centered and full of emotion and joy! It was truly a beautiful day! Teresa wore her mom's veil and a gorgeous rose gold ring. Matt's reaction just as Teresa began to walked down the aisle was one of the sweetest I've ever witnessed. It was hard for me to fight back the tears! Throughout the whole day, it was very clear how much Matt and Teresa love Christ and love one another.
Matt and Teresa, thank you for allowing me to be a part of your special day! I hope you enjoy these pictures as you're on your honeymoon. :)
The Vendors Who Made This Day Possible:
Venue: Boulevard Baptist Church
Photography: DiPrima Photography
Bridal gown: Dimitra Designs
Bridesmaid Dresses: David's Bridal
Tuxes: Men's Wearhouse
Florist: Renee Burroughs Design
DJ: Heath Fulmer
Second Shooter: LC Photography
Catering & Cake: Family & friends
I have a "double header" wedding weekend (i.e. two weddings in one weekend) coming up this weekend and so it got me thinking about advice I would give to photographers who are considering or who have a double header weekend. I have shot a few double header weddings weekends before and have certainly learned from them! I actually like shooting double headers! It typically means that you're "all in" for work one weekend, but that you may have another weekend in the month completely free. Here's a few tips of advice:
1. Book Weddings that are Close
Whenever I've booked two weddings in one weekend, I've only done it if both weddings are within fairly close proximity to each other. I would not want to have to drive more than an hour to shoot each wedding if I'm doing them back to back. The idea of driving through the night after a wedding to get to a second wedding in another destination sounds dangerous, exhausting, and unwise to me!
2. Prepare Well
Communicate well with your clients and make sure you have timelines and wedding details figured out well before the weekend so you're not stressing about making plans for 2 weddings. Also, make sure you lay out all of your equipment in advance, clear memory cards, etc. I would also recommend making sure you have enough cards to shoot both weddings. Even though I always download images from weddings the night of or the morning after the wedding, I like knowing I have enough spare cards for 2 in case something happens with the images or I can get them downloaded for some reason.
3. Get Sleep
Do your best to get plenty of sleep before the weekend! You'll definitely want to be well rested since shooting two weddings back to back is exhausting and tough on your body!
4. Drink Water
Make sure you stay hydrated! It's easy to forget to drink water in the midst of a hectic wedding schedule, but it's important that you get enough water. You especially want to make sure you stay hydrated since you will have to go straight into another wedding the next day. I always carry my Swell bottle with me to weddings and sip on it throughout the day.
5. Give Both Days Your All
Remember that each wedding day you're photographing is an VERY significant day in the life of each couple! Each couple has a unique love story and deserves to receive your best work. Remember the importance of the day and the value of my clients memories keeps me motivated to work hard and push through exhaustion!
6. Wear Comfortable Shoes
Make sure you wear comfortable shoes or your feet will NOT be happy at the end of day 2. I always struggle with wanting to look professional and stylish, but also knowing I need comfort. For outdoor weddings, I typically wear crocs flats. Crocs flats are certainly not the most stylish thing, but they handle grass, mud, and rain so well and they are super comfortable and supportive! For indoor or dressier weddings, I usually wear my Sam Edelman flats, lace up flats, or Old Navy flats (surprisingly comfortable for being so cheap!) For winter weddings, I LOVE wearing my Naturalizer boots!
Here's a few shoe options:
Crocs Flats
Naturalizer Boots
Old Navy Flats
Tieks (I don't personally have these but I would LOVE to have them! I hear amazing things and my mother-in-law just got a pair and I tried hers on and was amazed at how supportive they are! I love the brown, poppy, pink, and red).
Sam Edelman Flats
Yosi Flats
Tory Burch Flats
7. Plan for a Day Off
Definitely plan to take the day after your 2 weddings off! Don't schedule any meetings or anything and plan to sleep in and get some much needed rest. Trust me, you'll be glad you did!!
I totally understand what it's like to be a bride who wants a beautiful wedding that is also affordable! When planning my own wedding, I received some great advice. I was told to pick 2-3 things that I want to prioritize and to spend money in those areas, and to try to cut costs as much as possible in all of the other areas. So I picked my most important priorities: Photographer, catering, and venue. Then I made a budget with those three thing being the priority and then limiting my costs elsewhere. It's really important that you make and budget and that you stick to it!
1. Order local, in season flowers
You can save a lot of money by ordering flowers that are in season. Look for a farm or a florist who buys seasonal flowers from local famers. For my wedding, I purchased flowers from a farm and my original plan was to arrange them all myself. That got a little too overwhelming and so I ended up paying a little more to have the farm owner put them together for me. If you plan to order local, in season flowers, it is important that you remain somewhat flexible with your colors and types of flowers. Local farms only have so many flowers available and they may not have the exact colors you imagined. However, I always prefer the natural, somewhat wildflower look anyway! Two great options for people in the Raleigh-Durham area are Spring Forth Farm and Pine State Flowers.
2. Rent furniture and decorations
Instead of buying 200 candle holders or multiples of decorations you'll probably never use again, why not rent them? I recommend searching for a vintage rental company. A great option for Raleigh-Durham area weddings is Plume Events!
3. DIY decorations
There are so many great decorations that you can make yourself! I made almost all the decorations for my wedding and I kept things really basic. Pinterest has a lot of great ideas for DIY wedding decorations! You can also find great ideas on Something Turquoise.
4. Serve a Smaller Cake
Wedding cakes can get really expensive! One way to save a lot of money on your cake is to display a smaller cake and then to have sheet cake in the kitchen that your caterer can cut up and serve to guests. That way, you still have a pretty cake display and your guests will probably never know that the cake they're eating isn't actually part of that display!
5. Buy a sample or secondhand dress
There are a lot of great wedding dress consignments stores out there these days! You can also find many wedding dress options on sites like Tradsey and Preowned Wedding Dresses. Also, you can ask bridal boutiques if they have any sample dresses for sale. Keep in mind that the average wedding dress sample size is a 10 so you may need to be a size 10 or less (if you are a smaller size, you can always get the dress altered).
6. Have a smaller bridal party
This was one that I really had no clue about when I got married! I never thought about the connection between bridal party size and cost and so I had a bridal party with 18 people! Now, I don't regret that at all and I'm so thankful for each person who was in our bridal party. However, if you're trying to cut costs, consider having a smaller party. The reason bigger bridal parties cost more money is because you have to pay for each bridesmaids bouquet (typically $50+/person!), boutonnières, and bridal party gifts.
7. Invite less guests
When planning my own wedding, I was also pretty unaware of how much each wedding guests costs. If you are serving a full dinner, you're most likely going to spend at least $35/person just on food! One of the things that can most significantly reduce the cost of your wedding is inviting less guests.
8. Borrow or make a veil
I saved $200+ by simply borrowing a veil from a friend. The bride in the picture below on the left had a friend make her veil with tulle and a brooch! You could also consider not having a veil at all.
9. Get married on a Friday/Sunday or during the Off Season
Choosing to have my wedding on a Friday evening was one of the best decisions I made! When you get married on a Friday or Sunday, venues are often less expensive and you typically have a much larger selection of vendors available to you.
10. Skip the favors
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy wedding favors and they're fun to photograph. But if you're trying to cut costs, wedding favors are something you can easily skip and I guarantee that people will not notice. At most weddings I've been to, I've found that over 50% of the guests don't even remember to pick up favors anyway! Hmm...maybe that's why I still have a huge basket of pink matches in my closet 1.5 years after my own wedding?!
I hope you found this post helpful! What are some ways you've found to save money on weddings?
It was tough to narrow down pictures for this post! Today I want to share with you a few of my favorite engagement pictures from 2015. Engagement sessions are one of my favorite parts of my job and I think they're very important! Doing an engagement session with your photographer gives you the opportunity to get comfortable in front of the camera and comfortable with your photographer. It also gives you beautiful pictures together in something other than your wedding dress! I cherish the engagement pictures that my husband and I took together and we have them displayed all over our house! Here's a few of my favorites from 2015:
