wedding

5 Reasons You Need Photos Of You Getting Ready On Your Wedding Day

Photog Blog

If you’re planning your wedding day soon you might be overwhelmed with figuring out what all you need for your special day. That’s why I’m here to help you figure out the photography aspect of your day. Wedding photographers can be very helpful to capture your wedding ceremony and your reception, but have you thought about having your photographer capture you and your spouse getting ready for the ceremony as well? In today’s blog, I’ll give you 5 reasons you need photos of you getting ready on your wedding day.

The Photos Will Show A Transformation- If you get photos of yourself and your significant other getting ready you’ll be able to see your transformation of getting make-up put on, getting your hair down, and getting changed into your clothes and accessories. It’ll be fun to be able to see before and after photos well. 

The Photos Will Be More Memories To Look Back On- Capturing these small moments can be beneficial when you want to look back and remember the full day and not just the ceremony and reception. You’ll be able to look through a photo album and remember the feeling of getting changed into your outfit and having fun with your wedding party and family as you got dressed. These photos will also be a good idea when your family members or possible future children want to look back and see photos of the day especially if they couldn’t be there. 

You’ll Get To See What Your Spouse Was Up To- Usually, the two people getting ready for the wedding do so separately. If you capture pictures of both of the parties getting ready you’ll be able to look back and see what your significant other was up to. You’ll see intimate moments of them getting ready and spending time with their friends and family members, moments that you normally wouldn’t get to see. 

You’ll Capture Intimate Moments With Family and Friends- During the wedding ceremony and a lot of the reception, the photographer may be focused more so on the couple getting married and not always on their interaction with other people since the couple is more likely to be together for most of the ceremony and reception. Photos, where you are getting ready with your bridesmaids or groomsmen and your family members, can be your chance to get intimate photos with those people on your special day. Whether you’re sipping wine in the room with your bridesmaid to calm down your nerves or telling funny stories with your groomsmen to remember all that you’ve been through together. These moments are worth being captured. 

Capture First Look With Family- If you don’t know what a first look is, then I’ll explain it here. A first look is when either family members or your partner that you are getting married get their first look at you all dressed up before the wedding ceremony. Some people choose to do first looks with their partners and others opt out of it. Whether or not you decide to do one with your partner is up to you but that doesn’t mean you can’t do one with your family during your getting-ready photos. This will be a good chance for your parents or grandparents to see you before the wedding. you’ll be able to get their authentic reactions as well up close. 

I hope this list is helpful with you planning at least one aspect of your future wedding. Let me know in the comments if you had a photographer capture you and your wedding party getting ready for your wedding ceremony. 

Life Events That Require A Photographer

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There are a lot of events in life that can be fun or exciting time. During these times you may want to consider inviting a photographer to capture the moment for you. Some events you may not even think of, which is why I made a list of life events that require a photographer. 

Engagements- Getting engaged is an exciting time in one’s life. It’s also one that should be professionally documented with photos. Whether you want to hire a photographer to take pictures of your spouse as you surprise them and propose or you’ve already proposed and just want to stage some photos for invitations and memories, a photographer can help you get the perfect pictures to remember this special occasion. 

Weddings- This is another big event in your life that you’re gonna want to document and look back at over the years. A professional photographer can capture both planned and candid moments of your day. They can make sure they get pictures of not just you and your spouse but your family members and the decorations as well!

Maternity- Having a baby, especially your first one can be an exciting and new experience for both you and your partner. This is another occasion that should be documented not just for you and your spouse but for your future child as well to look back on. A photographer can help you come up with themes and locations for this type of shoot. This will also be a good time to help the pregnant person feel special and pampered. 

Baby Showers- This event is another one that you’re going to want to capture once again not just for you and your partner but for your future child as well. This is a great time to capture family members as well who you maybe don’t get to see as often as you would like. 

Newborn Babies- New additions to families are another great time to get pictures taken. Newborn photos will be the first professional images you get of your bundle of joy and can share with the whole family. These pictures are especially important if you want to start a photo album for your child or family or use some of the images in their baby books. 

Significant Birthdays- These photoshoots are super fun for everyone to look back on over the years to see how you or your child have grown over the years. It’s also a great way to celebrate another year of life. Some birthdays people like to highlight include one year, ten years, sixteen years, eighteen years, twenty-one years, twenty-five years, thirty years, forty years, and fifty years. 

Senior Portraits/Graduation- These are important pictures to highlight yourself or your child when you graduate from high school or college. These pictures are a great way to celebrate graduating and starting the next chapter in your life. These pictures can also be useful for graduation invitations.

Prom- When your child goes to prom they are going to want some photos to remember the day and to show off to their friends and family members. These pictures can be great memories for them to look back on especially since some of their friends who they may take pictures with that day may be moving away for college soon. 

New Holiday Portraits- During the winter holidays, it’s a great time to take some family photos. These can be used for holiday greeting cards or just as a way to update your current family portrait. 

New Family Portraits- Family portraits are important so that you can have photos in your home and photos of everyone together at one time. It only gets harder to get family photos with everyone together s everyone gets older with busier schedules. If you welcome a new addition to the family or it’s been a while since your last family photo that means it’s time for a new family portrait. 

New Business Ventures- If you’re entering the workforce, starting a business, or haven’t updated your headshot in a while that means it’s time to get some new headshots. Headshots are essential when reaching certain work milestones. They can help give your client or job a good first impression of your personality. 

I hope this list was helpful to you and I’ll see you all next week!

4 Awesome Wedding Venues in Cincinnati

Photog Blog

Cincinnati has a lot of amazing wedding venues. If you’re new to the area or never looked at wedding venues then this post is for you. For today’s post, I’ll be highlighting 4 awesome wedding venues that I’ve shot at.

Ault Park- This is a beautiful and huge park where a lot of Cincinnatians host their wedding during the Spring, Summer, and Fall. I recommend hosting your wedding here in the Spring if it’s warm enough so you can see all the beautiful flowers blooming and maybe even the cherry blossom trees! In the gallery below you’ll find some pictures I took at the park. 

Abby’s Farm- This is a beautiful venue that gives you both a farm feel and a river view. There’s an indoor venue where you can host the reception or your wedding, a huge outdoor area where you could also have your wedding and reception, and a gazebo which is fantastic for photos. Find pictures of the farm in the gallery below.

Gorman Heritage Farm- If you love nature or farms then this may be the venue for you. This farm has a sunflower field in the summer that is truly a spectacular sight. This venue can be good for engagement photos as well. It’s a stunning sight that will truly wow your guest. You can find pictures of the farm and the sunflowers below. 

Sugar Event Loft- This is an indoor venue that I have shot a couple of weddings at and it is always decorated beautifully. The lighting is well and once you leave the indoor venue you can go outside to the Liberty Center to take some outside pictures with your bridal party. 

I hope this has inspired you to take a look at a couple of Cincinnati Wedding venues. Let me know your favorite venue in the comments section.

8 Engagement Shoot Ideas to Make You Say I Do!

Photog Blog

Engagement shoots are a fun time to celebrate the next step in your relationship and also a good way to get some awesome photos with your fiancé. If you don’t have an idea for the type of engagement photoshoot you want I’m here to give you five ideas that’ll make you say I do!

  1. The Fairy Tale-This theme is all about recreating your favorite fairytale or creating a whole new one! You can recreate a look by your favorite Princess and Prince (maybe even change it to two princesses or two princes, or nonbinary mages; we’re all about inclusion over here.) or you can just dress up as the King/ Queen/NonBinary Royal that you are! Fancy dresses, crowns, tiaras, and thrones can all be used in these types of shoots. 

2. All The Romance- Picture this. A gazebo decorated in beautiful lights just after sunset. In the center of the gazebo are you and your fiancé sharing a kiss or maybe dancing, whatever you think looks best! Still don’t see the vision? Okay, try this: One half of the couple on their knee proposing to the other who is standing up. They’re on a bridge covered in beautiful decorative lights. (I like the decorative lights look personally) There are many ways you can create romantic looks like these that remind you of a rom-com.

3. The Adventurous Couple- This theme allows you to explore beautiful parts of the city or maybe even beautiful places outside of your city! This theme could happen on top of a mountain with one person proposing to the other, on a beach with the couple walking during sunset, on top of a cliff with a couple sharing a kiss, or in an open field with one part of the couple picking the other spin their arms! The possibilities are endless.

4. A Night On The Town- This option is perfect for those couples who want something simple and in the heart of the city. This photoshoot would take place in a crowded part of the area or downtown. Pictures would be taken of the couple hugging by large beautiful buildings, walking down city streets together while holding hands, or even just standard poses in your favorite part of town. 

5. Straight Out of A Movie- This one is fun if you like t cosplay or if you just have a favorite movie as a couple. In this scenario, the couple would dress up as characters from any movie (or television show) and recreate the movie poster or scene from a movie. Common examples of movie scenes that are sometimes recreated include The movie poster from Queen and Slim (with them next to a car), the Notebook rain scene, and the Titanic Boat scene.

6. Glamorous and Sexy- For the sophisticated couples, this shoot involves you grabbing your most fabulous Tuxedos or Gowns, getting all dolled up, and taking glamour pictures. This can be done well in a studio or outside. If you like this theme but are a little awkward/uncomfortable at being “sexy” (like me) your photographer should be able to help you come up with poses!

7. A Walk In The Park- For our Nature lovers, this is the perfect concept for you! You’ll be in either a park, the forest, or the woods. Sitting or posing by trees and getting pictures with beautiful flowers. You can also go to a local sunflower field to get some beautiful romantic images. Or if you’re more into the country look, you can try a local farm–with permission from the owner of course!

8. The Blissful Boat Ride- A beautiful concept, this photoshoot requires you to get out on a lake or river and ride in a boat while the photographer captures some posed and candid images. You can simply talk to each other and look out to the shore when doing candids. And you can do some seed poses for the staged ones.

I hope this gives you some inspiration for your engagement shoot! Good luck!

4 Reasons You Need a Surprise Proposal Shoot

Photog Blog

So you know you’ve found the person that you want to marry and you just need a creative way to propose. What better than a surprise Proposal shoot to capture the moment forever? Here are four reasons you need to do a surprise proposal photo shoot. 

  1. Capturing a happy moment. A lot of times during engagements the special moment is only captured on cell phones if at all. Having this moment professionally captured will help you get an authentic reaction when you pop the question. It’ll also be professionally taken and Instagram-worthy. 

2. Less stress planning for the wedding. If you do a surprise proposal shoot, you won’t have to prepare and look into engagement session costs later down the road if you don’t want to. This will be one thing you can cross off your wedding checklist and one less thing to stress about when planning your big day.

3. Multipurpose use of photos. The photos taken at this session can be used on Instagram, as save the dates, and/or as wedding invitations. If you use the photos as part of your invitation or save the date, you’ll be able to get your money’s worth and check another thing off your wedding planning list. 

4. Less stress planning the engagement. If you don’t know how you want to propose to the love of your life, we photographers can help you come up with an incredible, creative, and picture-worthy surprise. We can walk you through any ideas we have done or seen in the past so you don’t have to!

What Season Should Your Wedding Be?

Photog Blog

You’ve just got engaged to the love of your life and now comes the next big question: when will the wedding be? Sure, there are lots of things to consider when planning when your wedding will be but the season is an important one. Let’s explore all the pros and cons of weddings in different seasons. 

Winter

A pro about having your wedding in the winter is that you can have a cozy feel. A warm fireplace with big windows to see the white snow outside can set the mood. Don’t forget to offer guests some hot chocolate in addition to their champagne!

Another pro about winter weddings is that you could save some money. Wedding vendors are usually not as busy during the winter since it’s not the traditional wedding season. That means vendors could have some deals or lower prices during this time. 

Many winter weddings are indoors but that doesn’t mean yours has to be. It just means you need to be a little more creative. You’ll need heaters, tents in case it snows, and probably an indoor option just in case guests get cold or the weather gets bad. 

The cons of a winter wedding are that you could be competing with winter holidays meaning some family or friends might not be able to make it for your special day. You may want to avoid late December and early January dates. A more ideal Winter date could be in late January or all of February.

Another con for winter is that you might not get as many outdoor pictures as you want on your special day. Cold temperatures could prevent you and your bridal party from staying outside for very long. Also with Daylight Savings, there are only so many hours of daylight before the sunsets. This could also mean it’s too dark outside to get pictures if your wedding is closer to the afternoon.

Finally, the last con with a Winter wedding, depending on where you live you might get a bad snowstorm. Snow emergencies can prevent you and your guests from attending the wedding.

Spring

Spring is a good option for your wedding especially if you would like it to be outdoors, everything is blooming and beautiful! It’s also usually warmer so you don’t usually have to worry about being cold while taking your wedding pictures or saying I do. 

Another pro is that spring is a less busy time of the year for your friends and families because of the lack of holidays or vacations planned. this means you’re more likely to have more people available to come to your special day.

The last pro for spring is that the days are longer. This means you have plenty of sunshine to take wedding pictures of, even if your wedding is closer to the late afternoon or evening. 

Moving to the cons of spring weddings. If you have allergies, this may not be the season for you. No one wants to feel sick on their wedding day.

Another con, the price of some of your wedding vendors and venues may go up. Especially in late spring when the typical wedding season begins.

Another con (which is very applicable if you live in the Cincinnati or Tristate area) if you have your wedding in early spring….the weather can be unpredictable depending on where you live. There’s been late March/early April snows in the past and just this week while I’m writing this article we had a hot week in the 60s and 70s and now we’re bout to have a cold week with light snow. You get the picture. You just might not know what you’re getting with early spring.

Summer

Summer offers more predictable weather and therefore you don’t usually have to worry about a freak snowstorm. You also get longer summer days and warm summer nights both of which are ideal for weddings and receptions, especially if you plan on having them later in the day. This once again means more sunlight for wedding photos!

Another pro for a summer wedding is that you’ll have more venue options(as long as you book early!!!). The reason you’ll have more options is that some venues are only open for warmer seasons like farms, sunflower fields, and other outdoor venues.

The final pro for summer is the honeymoon options. Your honeymoon options are pretty much unlimited. There are so many places nationally and internationally that you could travel to with summer usually being a great time for the weather. 

And now for the cons of summer. The Heat. if you do not like hot temperatures summer may not be an ideal season for you. Especially if your wedding gown has a lot of heavy materials, you could find yourself overheating a little if it’s outdoors. 

Another con for summer is the affordability. Late summer is the most popular time to host a wedding, and you can bet the prices for wedding vendors and venues are up at this time of the year. 

The last con is some of your guests may be going on summer vacation during the weekend of your wedding. This could mean certain people wouldn’t be able to attend.

Fall

A pro for Fall is that there is some natural beauty here just like in the spring. The leaves are changing colors, it’s still usually warm and sunny, and there are still some outdoor venue opportunities in the early fall. 

Another pro for fall is that if you are looking at late fall, the prices for wedding vendors usually drop since the wedding season is over. This could help you save some money which is always a plus!

Finally, fall weddings have the opportunity to have unique fall flavors on the menu. From pumpkin spice-themed desserts to Apple Cider drinks!

The first con of a fall wedding is that if it occurs during the late fall an outdoor wedding might not be possible due to the weather or cold temperatures. This is especially true if you’re planning to have one in the late fall. 

Another con to a fall wedding is that fall can be a busy time of the year in general. There’s back to school for kids, Labor Day, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. Not to mention some guests may be strapped for cash this season or lacking vacation time since the summer just passed.

Lastly, inclement weather could cancel your special day. During the late fall, snow can sometimes come out of the blue, especially in the Cincinnati/Tristate area.