Archive for the ‘The Garanimal Girl’ Category

10 Things You Should Do Once You’re Engaged

02
Nov
2012

Engagement season is just around the corner and there will be many ladies out there jumping up and down with excitement and a long list of todo’s.  The best thing you can do once engaged is keep your sanity while having fun.  Here are 10 things that you should do to help keep you sane and smiling:

  1. Head over to the nail salon –  Get a relaxing spa manicure because your hand will be looked at and held by many while they ooooh and ahhh at your ring.  You will also be showing off your ring on your hand in photos, so you want to be sure that your hands are in new bling shape.
  2. Tell friends, family and pretty much anyone that will be thrilled for you –  It is pretty awesome to hear a bunch of ‘congratulations!’ after you say ”yes”, so spill the beans.  Have fun and enjoy the moment.
  3. Get an idea of what your budget will be –  I cannot tell you how many of my brides say they are shocked when they realize how fast the budget gets eaten up, so list out the vendors, venue, dress, suit/tux, etc. and be realistic about what they will cost.  I often suggest to list the three things that mean the most to you and budget most of your money for those and then figure out ways to reduce costs on the other items.
  4. Book your venue, photographer, wedding planner and videographer – Your photographer & videographer will be documenting your wedding day and possibly other events leading up to the big day.  You will be looking at these preserved memories for many years to come, so be sure to research and book one that fits your style and personality.  A great wedding planner can not only help pull all the details together beautifully, but he/she can most likely save you some money too.  Venues, planners, photographers and videographers usually book up a year in advance, so don’t wait too long.
  5. Set a date – This one goes along with step 4 because you have to know your date prior to booking the above vendors.
  6. Start Pinning – If you don’t have a Pinterest account, sign up for one and start inspirational boards.  I Pin a lot and even share boards with some of my brides to get a visual on ideas that either of us have.  I like to Pin anything that I think a bride & groom might like and find useful. Here is my Pinterest page.
  7. Get a binder – You will want to keep track of all the details in one easy to find place.  This is where you will write down ideas, keep up to date with your budget, have a calendar of events, a list of vendors and ripped out pages from magazines.
  8. Insure your ring – Having worked in the insurance industry for 9 years, I can tell you that this is a must do.
  9. Work it out together – If you and your fiance’ don’t workout together already, consider taking an hour a day to get wedding day ready while having some stress-free time.  Maybe even sign up for a 5K as a goal.  Don’t like running?  Consider walking or riding bikes.
  10. Go on date nights & chill –  Don’t let the wedding planning process turn into a time of stress and frustration.  Remember, you are planning your big day and this should be a fun time.  Grab coffee & chat about anything other than the planning…just enjoy each other.
Have any other tips you want to share?  Leave some blog love so that others can benefit too 🙂
~lisa

Why I Work Harder To Capture You Better

01
Nov
2012

Some of my more creative ideas & thoughts happen while I am running.  I have often said it would be great to have a way to write them down while I run and not trip over my feet!  The other day I got a call from a bride in Florida and in the course of our conversation she asked me to describe my style in 2 or 3 words.  So I answered “Elegant & timeless with a lot of emotion and a touch of editorial fashion.”  Wait…that was not 2 or 3 words.  So if I had to use only 3 they would be elegant, timeless and fashionable.  But while that is the style of my images I have a shooting style too.  Some of you might think that is one in the same but for me they work together yet separately.  I use a shooting style to get you to the image style which is my final product.  My short Twitter ‘about’ section says “Lack of passion is fatal” and while that sounds a wee bit dramatic, it’s true.  One of my passions is making you feel really great during our shooting time and after when you view the final product.  When I see you feeling beautiful & elegant or handsome & confident while we are shooting, I leave with a huge smile!   I would imagine that most photographers can say they feel the same.  But I really believe I started my photography business nearly 9 years ago based on this very feeling.

Our world is based around numbers.  The size of our jeans, our wallets, the temperature, our age, the number of things to check off our todo or bucket lists.  It goes on and on.  Digital photographs are essentially made up of numbers as well.  Since we are usually critical of the daily life numbers, I want nothing more than to have your ‘photographic numbers’ to be a positively awesome experience.

For those of you that have visited my business or personal Facebook pages might beg to differ my next statement.  I typically shy away from my photo being taken.  Yes, there are a lot of me on there but I can say that is not how I have always been.  I would see a photo of myself and critique every single number that image was made up of and after nearly 9 years of being a professional photographer, many of you are somewhat similar.  I often hear “I am not that comfortable having my picture taken” or “My fiance’ really is dreading having his picture taken”.  These statements make me even more passionate about making that time in front of the lens something positive and fun for each and every one of you.   When my boys were babies I took them to a local portrait studio for family photos.  When I picked up the photos I left in tears.  Maybe that was hormones and fatigue but I was so sad that I didn’t feel like it captured ‘us’ and who we were and most importantly…I could see that I was not comfortable while the photographer was shooting.  The next month, I enrolled in photography classes, signed up for workshops, read books and had a mentor.  Why?  Because I really wanted to learn every single thing I could about how to create beautiful photographs.  My passion for wanting others to feel good about themselves would drive how I would interact with my clients.  While we still lived in Colorado I fell in love with the work of Carey Schumacher of Barefoot Memories in San Diego.  Since I did not have any photos that captured us as a family, I made it a point to go all the way to California to have a session with her.  They are still some of my most favorite pictures of all of us.

 

So if I end up using 3 paragraphs to describe my style it is only out of passion.  Out of a strong passion to make you feel really great and look back at those photos with a huge smile on your face or even a few tears of happiness.

Thank you to all my clients for the last 8 3/4 years!!  Thank you for sticking with me after a few moves and even through some business growing pains.  It has been really pretty awesome so far and I look forward to meeting many more of you 🙂

~lisa

 

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