My Wedding

Thu - July 12, 2007

invites : check

now that the June wedding blast is coming to an end, it's a bit easier for John and I (and all the other wedding vendors involved in our wedding) to move forward on different aspects of the planning process. On Tuesday night John and I drove to Two Paper Dolls in Wayne to meet with my friend Vanessa, owner of Two Paper Dolls, and discuss invites. We had so much fun looking at the different card stocks, printing options and layouts available. Vanessa is a design brain child, she is so talented at putting invites together. I remember one of the first times I worked with her, years ago in 2004, I thought she was immensely talented and wrote her immediately to tell her so. It's so funny to think that here we are several years later creating designs for my own wedding!

If you have not already, I highly recommend paying Vanessa a visit in her cool urban boutique.

Vanessa is thinking carefully about one of John's ideas:

Vanessa is so cute:

So many wonderful selections! We chose a long horizontal layout with letterpress text and left the rest up to Vanessa - I can't wait to see what she comes up with!

Posted at 04:25 PM |

Fri - June 29, 2007

cake : check

John and I are having a great time moving along our wedding 'to do' list - some things we're behind on but of course cake tasting quickly became a high priority task item once John realized we were going to be able to actually taste the cakes, not just look at them.

So last Tuesday we went down to local favorite Liz Marden's brand new cake shop here in Delaware to take a visit and taste some cake flavors.

We had a great time chatting with Liz and thinking about different types of ideas for the cake. I gave her free reign on the colors and design of the cake, as we happily tasted several different yummy flavors! I can't wait to see what she comes up with.

Happy fourth of July to everyone and I hope you have a great holiday week. I'll be back to blogging at the end of next week with some very exciting wedding updates!

Posted at 01:56 PM |

Wed - June 27, 2007

Photography : check

So since I got engaged people have been asking me "who's going to photograph YOUR wedding?!!" I always come up with some sort of cheeky reply like "oh I've been thinking about setting up a tripod on a timer all day as an artistic experiment" to which some people laugh and others look extremely concerned. Choosing a photographer for me has really hard - not because of trying to find someone who's work I love, but because there are SO many photographers whose work I adore. Many of those people are also friends and people I really respect, and others are those who I would just like to be a guest at my wedding and not work.

After talking for a while about it with John, we both decided that we wanted Anna Kuperberg to photograph our wedding. We love her sense of humor and her ability to capture emotion... on a deeper level Anna and I have become close friends since John and I got engaged and I feel like in a lot of ways Anna is one of those friends who 'sees' people. Not just sees people like "yeah i saw her walking on the street" but sees people, gets them, understands them. She gets who John and I are and what we are about; in the same way I really try to see who my clients are and photograph them in a way that represents their personalities.

So we are very excited and sent Anna our contract this week - so far we are not the model clients with a month long wait on returning our contract but I've been busy with other people's weddings!

Here are some of my favorite images of Anna's:

and i have a feeling this is going to be me with February weather!

Thanks Anna, for being part of our day.

Posted at 12:52 PM |

Tue - June 19, 2007

save the dates, check.

Our save the dates finally went out this past weekend, and i can't wait for people to get them! They were printed on this very cool pearl paper that is new with our lab with a 5x7 horizontal fold which we've never done before. The response so far has been great (Ok, so my mom loved them).

In the save the date we put a separate little card that links people to our wedding website, which my web designer Adam Cambridge created for us with his wife Amber called Amber Chic. They have a new venture that allows couples to purchase cusomizable flash wedding websites designed to match your wedding print media. He also gave me the idea of photographers including the websites with engagement session packages, which I love!

Posted at 10:47 AM |

Mon - June 18, 2007

06.13.07 : Dress Shopping

Last Wednesday I went dress shopping with one of my bridesmaids Tracy, and two of the three women who work at Jennifer's Bridal in Delaware: Jennifer and Debbie (the owner). I was so excited for this day, it's been something I've been looking forward to for a long time. I love fashion and shopping so wedding dress shopping at couture designers in NYC is, for me, the perfect day!

I knew we were going to have fun when we drove by Mecca on our way to our first appointment.

Tracy is on the left, with Jennifer in the middle and Debbie on the right in the backseat of our cab. Here you can observe the face of small business ownership: a cell phone permanently attached to your ear!

Our first stop was Amsale:

I tried on all these dresses! And I loved them all! What a decision.

Emily, who works at Amsale, is a goddess. She knew exactly what would look right on me and was really open to creativity with the dresses. I highly recommend paying her a visit if you are in NYC dress shopping!

After that we were on our way to Melissa Sweet

I was so overwhelmed by how pretty the salon was that I totally forgot to take photos of it! I did get a shot of the fabulous Melissa Sweet (on the right) and her right hand gal Joy (appropriately, on Melissa's right) with all the beautiful dresses in the background:

And our last stop was Birnbaum and Bullock, which is truly a custom shop in every sense of the word. All the dresses are chosen, fitted, sized and produced right there on the floor. Here is Robert Bullock explaining something to Tracy, Jennifer and Debbie (who are looking very fascinated with Robert).

Their studio reminded me a lot of the resourcefulness of a small business (like my studio!) using fabrics and textures to create space.

So throughout the day I tried on all these dresses:

but I didn't get any of them! I got a totally different dress than anything you see above.

Overall I found dress shopping fun, but extremely difficult - Melissa Sweet said something to me when I had one of her designs on that I think is very much true; "You are going to find a lot of dresses you like that work well on your shape so it's going to be a matter of which one is 'you,' which one represents who you are and what your personal style is." No wonder so many people find dress shopping challenging, it's like going to a spiritual self-discovery retreat amongst hundreds of yards of silk tulle and chiffon.

But I did find a dress that I think is very 'me' and I created some modifications with the help of the designer to make it truly custom. Tune into the blog after Feb. 2nd 08 to see what it looks like!

Posted at 10:00 AM |

Fri - June 8, 2007

Destination: NYC Wedding Dress Shopping

For weeks now I have been looking so forward to this Wednesday, June 13th to go wedding dress shopping in NYC with my friends from Jennifer's Bridal in Delaware. I received an email from Jennifer last night outlining the day, where we will be going and I am incredibly excited to get started! Jennifer and her business partner, Debbie, are taking me right to the designers in order to customize something really unique and different. I am also taking along my good friend Tracy, who is one of my bridesmaids, just to make it extra fun.

After seeing so many beautiful brides in the last several years I never really stopped to think about what I would like for myself. I do love fashion and have a great admiration of design and texture so this will be an adventure. I know that I

- don't want strapless because it's going to be winter
- am not going to be very traditional in my choices
- am probably not going to wear stark white because... well... to quote Miranda from Sex & the City when she was wedding dress shopping "the jig is up"

Click on the 'read more' link at the bottom of this post to see where I'm going and the dresses that I like (at least on the websites!). Just make sure that you don't leave the window up and walk away from your desk if you work with John ;)

Our first stop right when we arrive into the city is going to be Amsale which also houses Kenneth Pool and Christos. What a great selection! I only have an hour at each designer so I will have to think quick about which styles I like best. After visiting the Amsale website I know I want to try on this dress (which I LOVE):

and this one:

Stop two is going to be Melissa Sweet, which is a very different look than Amsale. I love her feminine style!

Even though I don't want strapless I really like the style and shape of this one - the back is very unique:

this dress is really great but I'm not sure if I could pull it off. Because I'm petite I might need a stiffer fabric to help give the dress shape:

and I'm totally digging this french veil:

The last stop of the day is going to be Birnbaum and Bullock - I originally wasn't crazy about the dresses on their site but Jennifer said that they have more non-traditional dresses so we shall see what they have as well. Be sure to check back later on next week to see the results of this dress hunt excursion!

Posted at 11:31 AM |

Fri - May 18, 2007

My wedding - vendor update

I've had some requests (ok, threats) to update my blog with information related to the wedding. My plan is to try to navigate through May and June's wedding & portraits, and then focus on my own wedding planning. Some recent updates are:

- John and I ARE going to have our reception at Archmere and have sent in our contract and deposit. The ceremony location is undecided at this point - it appears as though we might be able to have it in the Catholic church but need to meet with the priest in order to confirm that, which will happen in early June.

- Evantine Design will be helping us out with decor and lighting, with event design assistance from the ever-so-fabulous Melissa Paul

- Over the years I have heard lots of fantastic bands, many of whom I am very friendly with and greatly admire! From the beginning Kurt Tichnell has been a great supporter of me and my work, and we are honored to have Jellyroll from Brandywine Valley Talent as our wedding band.

more to come!

Posted at 05:47 PM |

Thu - May 3, 2007

Wedding plan - update

A lot of people have been asking me how the wedding plans have been going since I've been a little quiet lately on my blog about them. This is a little bit because I've been so darn busy with other people's weddings and family portraits, but it's mostly because John and I ran into a little glitch with the ceremony planning process. It appears as though we may not be able to be married in the Catholic Church (John's faith) due to a few technicalities. And since Archmere does not allow ceremonies on-site we are trying to decide whether or not to keep trying with the Catholic Church or go in a different direction and just have a non-catholic ceremony and reception in the same location. Right now we're waiting on responses from a variety of different people in regards to what is allowed and what isn't, but in the last few days we've been talking about different options.

So John and I were referred to the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts in Philadelphia by Melissa Paul at Evantine Design, who is helping us sort through things. Tonight John and I are meeting with Melissa and then stopping by the Kimmel Center to see what kind of wedding plans we can come up with together. Melissa has been an amazing help to us and I am excited to hear what her suggestions are.

Some photos of the Kimmel Center of where the reception and ceremony would most likely be:

I will let you know how it goes!

Posted at 12:40 PM |

Mon - April 23, 2007

Bridesmaid Notecards

This weekend John and I were walking around in Old City Philadelphia and we wandered into The Paperie where I found these very cute notecards from Remanents. I picked up a few tins to write some personalized notes to each of my bridesmaids, thanking them for agreeing to be part of my day. The best part of the set is that they came with two camera themed cards, perfect for my two photographer bridesmaids!

Posted at 10:16 AM |

Thu - April 12, 2007

Reception site: check

While John is working on the church (as demonstrated in my color coded checklist), I have been spending some time over the last few weeks gathering reception information from various types of places. I knew this would be somewhat challenging just because I have worked almost everywhere from NYC-DC and I initially wanted to have the wedding at a location where I have never worked before. I quickly realized that this isn't very realistic simply because that rules out almost every nice venue around! Also once we decided on winter it limited us in terms of outdoor reception locations since I'm sure no one wants to stand around in a tent in the winter. John and I spent some time talking about what type of feeling we wanted our reception to have and after reviewing different options we've decided upon The Patio at Archmere Academy.

I really liked the Patio because it's really a different type of space, and the architecture is just beautiful... I can picture a really interesting type of winter decor there. I actually have only worked there once before so I think it's a bit of a hidden gem here in Delaware! Lisa Ferraro, the director of events at Archmere is super wonderful to work with and the best part about The Patio is that you can bring in your own linens, catering, etc. I know that for some people that might be a downside, but I am excited about that because it allows for creativity and I can choose vendors that I have a relationship with.

Here are some photos that I took last summer at Archmere

.

Posted at 09:20 AM |

Wed - April 11, 2007

getting organized

I was speaking with my good friend (and bridesmaid) Jessica Claire and I was mentioning with all this paperwork, contracts, proposals... I really wished I had a wedding binder to keep it all in! "Well you really don't want to have any old regular wedding binder, you should have a DELUXE wedding binder with all the stickers, and glitter, and tulle you can get your hands on" she quipped. Ideally, I would have been able to find a trapper keeper like any good child of the 80s would have - but instead I went to Target last night and purchased a regular three ring binder, along some materials I think she might be able to do something with considering how amazingly creative she is.

I'm shipping it out to California today and I can't wait to see what she comes up with!

Posted at 11:55 AM |

Mon - April 9, 2007

Tell me I'm not the only one...

Happy Easter/Passover! In my family we celebrate both so it's always a good time.

Friday afternoon the studio was closed to I started working on wedding plans. Please tell me I'm not the only one who has made a color coded to do list? Or does this just mean I am already completely losing it?

See.. pink for me, blue for John, green for both! Let's see if my friends are still talking to me after this...

Posted at 10:55 AM |

Thu - April 5, 2007

Save the Dates...

So I really don't have very many wedding plans yet - the only thing John and I have decided upon is the date, which will be February 2nd of next year.

Why Feb 2nd?

- Winter is the best time for me to be able to leave my business since it's the slowest. Hello, honeymoon!
- Winter is also the best time for me to be able to invite all my friends who are in the wedding industry
- John's sister, Julie, is getting married in April of 2008 so we didn't want to overlap the time too much.
- I'm already booked for a wedding in mid-January of 2008
- Off season discounts

Finding a date was not as easy as I think we thought it would be. With my crazy schedule and other things going on our families it was an ongoing conversation for a few weeks. I'm so glad though that we have a date - gives us a lot to look forward to.

So of course I had to make save the date cards right away! I think I had way too much fun with these.

The front:

Inside:

Back:

These are wide format 5x7 cards on pearl paper from my lab. I know I totally geeked out with these, but I did it because I can :)

Posted at 02:25 PM |

Wed - April 4, 2007

Viva Las Vegas

This week I just arrived home after spending most of last week in Las Vegas for the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International Conference. It is always great to meet new friends and see old ones!

I am incredibly lucky to have such amazing friends within the wedding photography industry. One of my closest friends, Jessica Claire sprung for a limo ride to go wedding dress shopping. We never did find any wedding dresses to try on - but it was a really good time as you can see!!!

Jess' killer camera bags; the SHOOTSAC - got lots of love from myself, Susan Stripling, Jaclyn Kaiser (The Image is Found), and Amelia Lyon

Along with several mentoring sessions, a few speaking appearances at the WHCC booth on the tradeshow floor, I also had the opportunity to speak about business and photography to about 500 people during the convention (photo also taken by Jessica Claire):

Note the awestruck look on the participants' faces; definitely not to be confused with boredom or confusion. Thanks to everyone who showed up, stayed, and listened (and even those who were playing games on their cellphones but pretended to listen). It was great to see you all!

Posted at 03:44 PM |

Engaged!!!

What does a wedding photographer do when she gets engaged? You'd think that I would have all these amazing ideas but alas, I really don't. Over the years I have really always focused on what my clients were doing and how I could do the best possible job for them taking into consideration their own personal tastes and styles. So now I have to think about what I am going to do! Don't worry... when I find out - you'll be the first to know!!

Here are photos taken of the actual proposal in San Francisco, expertly captured by Anna Kuperberg:

Several other amazing photos can be found on the Kuperblog!

Posted at 03:08 PM |

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