Like Noah & Laura, who got married on a chilly January day… a day which happened to be their 10th anniversary! They’re only married a month, yet they’ve already been through so much together! Even though it was freezing outside, they braved the cold because it really was a beautiful day. And, it was a great idea to have a dance instructor during the reception because day weddings are usually a little more relaxed, and this got everyone up and moving!

The details:
Wedding Coordinator –  Marrero Weddings and Events
Hairstylist – Amanda Andella (Salon d’Emilio)
Makeup –  Christine Savas (Savas Studios)
Dress Designer(s) – Pronovias USA (bought at La Reine Bridal)
Officiant – T. S. Deacon Economos
Florist – Karla Cassidy
Cake – Cakes For Occasions
Band/DJ – C-Zone, DJ = Max Baun
Invitations – weddingpaperdivas.com
Israeli Folk Dance Instructor – Malka Benjamin

Yes, in those two photos, she is a happy and compliant model. But this is what she looked like most of the time. Man, that hand is yummy!

Step 1: Commandeer Bouquet.

Step 2: Hold bouquet with both hands

Step 3: Bring the bouquet down. Almost everyone naturally holds it too high.

See how nice it looks at this height? And, if you leave a little space between your body and your elbows, it has a slimming effect:

Step 4: Pretend that you’re resting your forearms on your hips. That’s the right height. See here:

Step 5: Point the flowers out just slightly, so that when I’m taking photos, I see a bit of the top of them, not just the side.

Step 6: Stop worrying that you’re holding them wrong, because it doesn’t really matter. Now laugh. You smiling is all that anyone cares about seeing.

Mandi and Jay had a classy wedding that wasn’t Halloween themed, but was inspired by the day: http://cirasphotography.com/2010/12/wayside-inn-wedding-mandi-and-jay/

http://www.weddingsmarthasvineyard.com/blog/spotlight/talent-spotlight-interview-heather-ciras-ciras-photography

I kid about the title. I have never actually wanted to kill any of my brides, though in the beginning there was a little drama concerning timelines. It had mostly to do with me, as I wasn’t assertive enough to tell my brides and grooms what I thought was best way to get good photos on their wedding day. (Though Jesse might contend that I’ve never not been assertive enough to say anything!) Not anymore folks. This is my way to help you budget time better on your wedding day, and preferably not at high noon when the sun overhead makes you all look like raccoons. Well dressed raccoons.

The photo above perfectly illustrates the need for a good wedding day timeline that allows room for awesome photos. Lisa looks unstressed and happy as she approaches Eric, and Jesse was able to get this artsy photo that we had brainstormed before the wedding. (I love when we say in the car on the ride over “Hey, I want to get a photo of the bride approaching the groom, him cropped from the chest down and out of focus” and it happens! yay us!)

There are a few priorities that we have for good wedding day photos: a clear timeline that tells everyone where to be and when, a timeline that allows the bride to be unstressed, and preferably the times when we’ll be outside taking photos will be when there’s nice lighting conditions.

General Tips for the timeline:

1. Raise your hand if you look cute stressed. If you were here, you’d notice that my hand is not raised. I furrow my brow and squint when I’m stressed and that is NOT pretty. So tip numero uno is that even if everything goes horribly wrong, just smile. In the end, you still get to marry your best friend and have kick ass photos.

2. On a more practical note, remember to factor in travel time. Even if you have the ceremony and reception at the same place, it takes at least 10-15 minutes to move all the bridesmaids across a country club, because everyone will need a bathroom break, half of everyone will forget their purses, and hey, you know you don’t move all that quickly with 15 pounds of dress on and a 30 pound bouquet in your hand!

2. Plan in time to take a breather. At our wedding last Saturday, we did portraits outside for a while and then in the ballroom when the cocktail hour was beginning. At the end of the portraits, I gave the bride and groom 10 minutes alone to eat their appetizers and chat about the fact that they just got married. When they were ready, they came into the cocktail hour refreshed and happy, instead of tired from just doing 30 minutes of photos in the freezing cold.

3. Assume that things will run late, and be ok with that. Yes, you can have a timeline that has dinner served at 7, first dance at 7:20 and cake cutting at 7:35, but that is never going to happen. As long as you have a goal for these three things to happen back-to-back beginning around 7, I think that’s a good plan. Just don’t be upset if dinner isn’t served until 7:30 because it took longer than expected to wrangle all the guests from the bar at cocktail hour!

Here’s a great sample timeline that has worked well for us. Let’s assume the ceremony is at 6.

2:30-3:30 or 4: Getting Ready

Our goal for getting ready photos is to get a combination of fun girl photos, cool guy photos, and sentimental photos, like the one above where the dad is watching the girls get his daughter ready. This is one of my favorite times of the day- there’s a buzz of activity, people are really themselves because no one’s staring at them yet, and for the most part everyone’s happy! There’s no way to make this time completely stress free, but at least it can be fun!

4-4:30: Travel to portrait location

4:30-5:30: Portraits

We split the portraits into 3 sections: First look, family and wedding party portraits, your portraits. The first look only takes about 10 minutes, the family photos are about 20/25, and your portraits are about a half hour. We will absolutely welcome more time for this, but if you only have an hour that’s ok. We try and sneak some more photos in after the ceremony because the light will be awesome and you’ll be a little more relaxed.

5:30-6: travel to ceremony site from wherever we ended up during the portraits and relax

6-6:30: ceremony

6:30-6:45/7: a few more portraits that we can sneak in there (Both of the portraits above were taken after the ceremony when the light was gorgeous and both couples still had time to go to cocktail hour!)

6:45- 7:30: cocktail hour

7:30-9:30: Reception Coverage

All this being said, we make everything work. If we have 10 minutes in the ice cold darkness, we’ll definitely come back with a good photo or two. But, with some thinking done beforehand, we can aim higher than that and really get some awesome photos! Oh, and if our brides want to chat about your timeline, just shoot us an email and we’ll help you craft a custom wedding day timeline based on the time of your ceremony, locations of portraits and whatnot!

Notice how Jesse completely photo bombed my amazing shot?! If not, that huge arrow was courtesy of photoshop to illustrate how difficult my life is, dealing with rogue husbands whilst trying to take awesome photos. Oh, and I pretty much giggle like that all day long.