Posts Tagged ‘bride’

When I married my husband nine years ago, I hired a wedding planner. We had a big wedding. I worked full time and was trying to make wedding plans with 90 miles separating me from the groom AND the place where our wedding and reception was being held. It was the smartest thing I ever did.

Crista Tharp's Book

So whether a  bride that works with J. Love Photography hires a wedding planner or not, I have been thinking that I would really like to provide a special gift to help make the entire process of planning a wedding easier. I began searching for a book that I could give the bride and talked to a few wedding planners I know and trust.

To my surprise, so many of the books out there are painfully out of date not addressing so many of today’s bride’s needs (multiple sets of parents, outdated traditions and how to update them, stepchildren, etc.).  I also got tired of  the ‘weddings on a shoestring’ mentality. We all like to save money and get as much bang for our buck as possible, but creating a wedding on a shoestring budget is NOT the only kind of wedding.  After all, this is the biggest day of our new lives together! 

Today’s couples are very busy, holding down jobs, going to school, sometimes already raising children, etc. They don’t have time or the interest in making paper flowers for the tables and research, buy, and then MAKE all the invitations either!  There had to be a happy medium.  And I think I found it…

In my research, I came upon a wonderful wedding planning guide for brides called Blissfully Simple: Wedding Planning for Real Couples with Real Budgets. It is written by a savvy wedding planner named Crista Tharp to help brides; whether they have a wedding planner or don’t!  It’s a functional, three-ring binder system filled with tips, forms, lists, and problem-solving guides! It retails for $24.95. But any bride that books their wedding with J. Love Photography receives this planner absolutely FREE! So if you are bride getting married in the Dexter, Ann Arbor, or Metro Detroit area, or even considering a destination wedding, give us a call and see why hiring J. Love Photography as your wedding photographer will be one of the smartest decisions you make.

As far as professional wedding photography goes, the attention is in the details.  We look for the light.  We look for the perfect moment.  We love it when we’re working with artists from other professions such as culinary artists, floral artists, and even makeup artists. 

It isn’t just about any one thing that creates a perfect wedding.  It’s the ambience, the teamwork, the attention to detail… let’s face it, it’s hard work to create the perfect wedding!  Our bride last weekend, Julie, is an artist herself.  So she didn’t miss a thing and understood the value of hiring professional artists to help her create her vision.

So when J. Love Photography photographed Julie’s wedding, you can imagine how excited we were when we saw her touches being woven throughout the entire day in a myriad of ways, the artists she hired, and her own lovely work gracing the home where the reception was! A visual cornucopia!

There were candles and flowers everywhere.  Speaking of flowers… Theresa from Dexter Flowers is the most unique, talented floral artist! Her creations everywhere were unique, simple, elegant, and beautiful.

Chefs Matt Swickerath and Stephen Herman came in all the way from Atlanta to prepare the cuisine for this event. I can still smell the grits with bacon and cheese and all of the grilled delectable main dishes like tenderoin, shrimp, and chicken.  It was  fun to watch Matt and Stephen prepare all these dishes right in the center of the reception.  Their artful marriage of foods, flavors, and fun helped make the celebration what it was.

And let’s face it… the star in all of this is the beautiful bride. We spend a lot of time capturing that pretty face. And it’s important that the bride’s face be ready for a long day, with attention paid to every little detail, so 50 years from now she revels at how marvelous and happy she looked!  So Julie hired one of my favorite pros… Rachel, who has been the manager at Macy’s Dior counter forever.  She worked her magic and the bride was a vision of loveliness the entire day!

As I continue to photograph weddings, I learn something from every single one. But I know, that it’s the attention to the details that makes all the difference.  Each one is unique.  In spite of being challenging, it’s a joyful journey I get to share with people on the first day of a new life together.  And as Taylor Swift says, ‘capture it, remember it’, forever.

Today is Dan and Julie’s wedding. Happy 1st Day of spring!  It is a classic Michigan spring day in Dexter.  J. Love Photography is photographing their wedding at the beautiful, old St. Joseph Catholic Church.

I just went outside to clip some pussy willows.  Maybe it’s because I’m thinking ‘bride and groom’, but nature seemed to be singing that tune too!  Here are a few photographs I grabbed of two tiny buds on the lilac and the fully bloomed pussy willow in a pair as well.

Spring is renewing, refreshing, hope-filled. The earth begins again, with new life bursting forth everywhere.  It may not be sunny.  And it looks like rain for sure.  But the air smells sweet and is filled with promise for good things to come.

I pray that as Dan and Julie begin their new life together today, it is bursting with love and joy!