The CGP Cookout

Sunday we had several of our past and present CGP couples over for a cookout. We loved introducing them to Darcy and meeting their babies and fur-babies as well! I set the camera out and forgot about it as always, but I'm glad we got these two quick shots at the end of the night.

Whenever I decide to plan a party, I start pulling out my fancy dishes and planning cute menu items. But I let all that go this year. We ate off of paper plates. I didn't style a single thing. And I let my baby drip watermelon juice all down his sweet little belly. Every inch of counter space in our kitchen was covered in food (including the stove top) and our back deck was covered in chairs. And it was perfect.

I can't wait to do it all again next year!

Timeline vs Wedding Day Time

I know what my clients are thinking when I tell them how long it will take for portraits on the wedding day. “There’s no way we need that long!” And they're right. I know we’ll never see that entire hour for bride and groom portraits. There’s no way. Weddings always run behind. And some weddings run REALLY behind.

On the wedding day, the timeline is never exactly what we wrote down, but it always works out, no matter how far behind we are. Here are some real examples from past weddings:

- The bride was an hour late getting dressed and we were taking all the pictures before the ceremony. Instead of 2 hours for bride & groom, bridal party, and family portraits, we had just over an hour. We had planned 30 minutes for the family portraits, but got it all in 10. (Thank goodness it was a short list!) We had planned 1 hour for bride and groom portraits, but had to crunch it down to 24 minutes.

- The ceremony ran long and family pictures started 35 minutes late. Sometimes there's only so much you can do, especially when you have a lot of family portraits to get through. But we managed to shave 15 minutes off of the estimated time and the bridal party entered the reception only 20 minutes later than we had planned.

- The bridal party got ready at a separate location and were 45 minutes late leaving for the venue. In order to keep the rest of the day on schedule, we lost 20 minutes of our bride and groom's portrait time. (And we were already planning to use some of our portrait time to drive to a second location.) But we worked fast and got a lot of beautiful portraits.

These are just a few examples where I compared the timeline to the time stamps of the photos we took on the wedding day. It is rare for us to run this far behind schedule, but sometimes it does happen.

In most cases, the first thing that gets sacrificed is portrait time for the bride and groom. You can only photograph a bridal party so quickly, especially if there are a lot of people! That's why I try to allocate an entire hour for the bride and groom. Because I know it's very rare for us to get the entire hour. Bride and groom portraits are SO important, so a buffer is really necessary.

Wedding days always run late somewhere, so each portion of the timeline has a few minutes built in for a buffer. Yes, it's possible to shoot a first look with dad in 7 minutes and a short list of family portraits in 10. But it's definitely not ideal. And so I write down 15 minutes and 30 minutes instead.

Running behind on the wedding day is also why I love having Ryan with me on the wedding day. When we're in a time crunch, I can round up the family members while he's taking the shots. Ryan can grab photos with the groom and each groomsmen before the reception entrance, while I'm on the dance floor ready for them to walk in. And he is able to get quick detail shots, like photos of the venue, while I'm shooting something else. And when we're both shooting bride and groom portraits, we get twice as many photos in the same amount of time!

So that's why the timeline looks so long. Trust me. I know we need that extra time built in. And if by some miracle we aren't running late at that point in the day, we'll have some extra time for beautiful portraits!

 

Want More Wedding Photography Tips?
Advantages of a First Look
Timeline VS Wedding Day Time
The Family Formal List
The Must Take Shot List
Budget Wisdom from Every Last Detail
Sunset Time on the Wedding Day
What About a Rainy Wedding Day?
Options for Your Wedding Exit
What To Do With Your Wedding Photos

Budget Wisdom from Every Last Detail

Today's post is a little unusual, but it's a great follow up to my recent post about the cost of wedding photography. I've found some really great information on wedding budgets from Every Last Detail, and I wanted to share them here for our couples to learn from.

A super helpful article that explains what you should expect to pay for each piece of the wedding. The total comes out to a $35,000 wedding with all professional vendors. But that doesn't mean you can't have a beautiful wedding for less than $35,000. These stats give you a really great starting point of comparison to your budget. After you see what a realistic budget with professional vendors looks like, you can determine which parts to prioritize and which parts to cut back.

And how to evaluate vendors without comparing them like apples to oranges. Don't forget about the intangibles, like experience and quality.

 

Want More Wedding Photography Tips?
Advantages of a First Look
Timeline VS Wedding Day Time
The Family Formal List
The Must Take Shot List
Budget Wisdom from Every Last Detail
Sunset Time on the Wedding Day
What About a Rainy Wedding Day?
Options for Your Wedding Exit
What To Do With Your Wedding Photos

Glamorous Jewel Toned Wedding Inspiration at the Obici House

Today I'm excited to share a glamorous jewel toned wedding inspiration shoot that our Tuesday's Together group put together last year at the beautiful Obici House in Suffolk. If you've been following me for a while, you know that I LOVE jewel tones, so I was so excited to see this beautiful design! And with marbled fondant on the cake, beautiful calligraphy, sequined table linens, and a stunning model, how could you go wrong?

Pages from the Sequel: Our David & Goliath Moment

As anyone who's ever read a love story knows, the wedding is usually the last chapter of the book. But in a real love story, there's so much more to be told. So much happens in the happily ever after. And that’s what the sequel is for: to tell the story of two people as husband and wife as they live and grow together. So here are pages from our sequel.

OUR DAVID AND GOLIATH MOMENT

Ryan and I stared at each other in disbelief. We stood only a few feet apart in our kitchen, a single ice cube on the tile floor in between us.

Dinner that night had started just like normal. I had buckled Darcy into his highchair so I would have two free hands to get our food on the table. After placing his bowl of pumpkin oatmeal just out of reach on the table, I knew I had less than a minute to put our tacos together and get back to the table before he would start reminding us in his own excited way that it was time to eat.

I set two plates on the island and topped each one with taco shells while Ryan dropped ice cubes in his glass. In our hurry, his arm looped through mine like an old fashioned wedding toast. I moved my arm, adding shredded cheese to my taco shell, before crossing to the stove to scoop on the meat. As I turned back to finish the tacos off with tomatoes and lettuce, Ryan picked up a stray ice cube that had fallen to the floor, a common occurrence for our overly-enthusiastic ice machine. He tossed the ice cube softball-pitching-style at the sink just as I moved perfectly in the way, landing the ice cube right between my eyes, David and Goliath style.

 

Pages from the Sequel:
Return from Jamaica
The Little Blue House
The Ugly Yellow House
The Flea Episode
The Bathroom Leak
The Dinner Disaster
Baby on Board
The Story of Lucy
The Vanishing Bread
Midnight Dance with Darcy
Nighttime Feedings
Our David & Goliath Moment
Beach Day
I Love You

The Secret Jobs of a Wedding Planner

Over the last 50+ weddings, I've seen a lot of wedding planners taking on all sorts of tasks and challenges. They really are the unsung heroes of the wedding day, because the goal is for the couples and their guests to enjoy the day without seeing all the crazy that happens behind the scenes. They should never feel the stress of putting on the event or have to worry about how 'such and such' is going to get fixed. Today my friend Sterling of Sterling Dawn Events is giving us a peek behind the curtain at some of the secret jobs your wedding planner is likely taking on at your wedding.

Take it away, Sterling!

The responsibilities of a wedding planner on wedding day are pretty straightforward. We tell people where to go, make sure vendors put things in the right places, and signal the parade of bridesmaids when to walk down the aisle, just to name a few things. Cut and dry stuff, right? Well, at almost every wedding, I have done many things that venture off the beaten path. When it all comes down to it, I will do whatever needs to happen so my bride and groom enjoy their big day.

Here are just a few of the random tasks most people don't think about:
-Stow gifts in designated car. Ever wonder who is going to move your gifts? Ever hear of wedding gifts walking off on their own? (Sadly, I have.) Well, right after my bride and groom sit down for dinner, I gather all of their gifts and make the trek to the predetermined vehicle for safe keeping. Your mom, dad, or maid of honor shouldn't have to take time away from celebrating to do this!
-Follow the bride around and bustle her train 100 times. Seriously. For one of my brides, I ended up using every large safety pin in my kit to keep her heavy train secured and it STILL fell down after that. And on several occasions, I have re-bustled a dress while the bride was rocking it on the dance floor. Mad pinning skills!
-Make last minute craft store runs. Forget your ring bearer pillow? Need more this, that, and the other for your DIY place settings? Either myself or one of my assistants have paid a quick trip to the nearest retailer for those emergency needs.
-Keep guests at bay. One of the most challenging things I do is keep guests away from the bride before the ceremony. Unless someone is specifically noted to come back to the sacred getting ready space, I pull a Gandalf and bellow, "You shall not pass!" Not exactly in that way, but this happens in one fashion or another at every wedding. I see this time as special for the bride, her parents, and bridesmaids to gather one last time of reflection. I love the engaged and excited guests who want to be part of it all, but I always encourage them to save it for the ceremony. 
-Conceal the truth. Let me clarify. I don't lie to my brides. If I'm asked what is wrong, I will either tell them or let them know it's not important for them to know. On wedding day, any unexpected snag in the day could seem like the most traumatic thing ever. So, instead of starting a frenzy, I keep it to myself. However, sometimes alerting the couple is unavoidable. 

Perhaps you are still on the fence about hiring a planner to make your day run a little more smoothly. I encourage you to think of the unexpected! Trust me when I say you will want to have a seasoned right-hand gal (or guy) there to manage the miscellaneous, random, and sometimes weird wedding day duties. 

 

Want more Tips for Brides?
Makeup: Splurge or Save?
How to be Inspired by Pinterest
Do I Really Need a Wedding Coordinator?
Because They Hired a Wedding Planner
Secret Jobs of a Wedding Planner
6 Things Wedding Guests Will Love
The Importance of the Stupid Wedding Decisions
10 Things That Should be on Your To Do List
Choosing Your Bridal Party
Taking Time Off
Wedding Day Emergency Kit