P.S. If you wanna see more from Nikki or Darcee’s wedding click on either name.

P.S.S. Staring next week I’ll be running the Top 10 of 2011 contest for 5 categories. (Wedding, Engagement, Bridal, Rings, & Mug Machine)
Great ready to win stuff!

How crazy fun is that?  She has a SuperSquare of “regular” wedding images AND one of all her crazy Mug Machine shots.  I am totally in love with this idea and demand that more of my couples do this.  It’s the perfect way of showcasing how great your friends are and just how “unique” they can be with a little bit of alcohol in them.

Thanks Sarah for the great idea and thanks to my manly fence for letting me hang these SuperSquares on it.

The best part is the author.  It’s written and updated by a super famous and established wedding photographer. (He shot Tom Cruise’s wedding)   I know many of you spend a lot of time on wedding blogs but the reality is some of those do not give you an accurate image of what a real wedding day looks like.  Some of those sites are run by 20-something year old girls who have been to a total of 4 weddings in their life.

This dude is legit and he knows his stuff.

You’ll find out things like:

Shot Lists: Pros & Cons

Why Shoot An Engagement Session

What NOT To Eat The Week Of Your Wedding

Full Sun Weddings & Expectations

How To Stay On Time

How to Choose A Photographer

(That last one is probably not relevant since you are on this site.)

Go read everything right now.

A few days ago, we were all outside playing and we had an impromptu “family shoot.”  I set up my camera and let the kids go nuts with a water hose.  They had fun. I had fun. We had fun.  AND, awesome pictures came of it.

If you are anything like me, sometimes it seems like life is moving at like 4,391 miles per hour.  Regardless of how much you try to slow down, things just keep piling up;  that is part of the reason that our family practices a Sabbath once a week. But even then it’s like we don’t get enough breaks.  More and more we are realizing that we have to be intentional about stopping.  We have to “plan” to do nothing.  Maybe it’s just us, or maybe you struggle with this too.  If you find yourself seeming to never have time to “play,” you may need to just schedule it.  Put it on the calendar.  Make it the most important part of your week.  The cool thing is, the more we have time to rest and refuel, the more ready we are to get back to work or let our creative juices flow.   I LOVE some of the images we got and can’t wait to work this idea into an engagement session.  You know you want to be cool like my kids.  Email me if you are brave and want your engagement session to be H2O-wsome!!!

(Yeah I just totally put my logo on those colors.  If you upload them to Facebook I want proper credit!!! )

The thing that will make your marriage and relationship better is you.  Not your photos.

Look at it this way: 

Time spent reading and looking at wedding blogs will help your relationship about 0-5%. 

Time spent saying nice things to each other will help you a lot more than that. 

Take the 3 minutes you would have spent on this site and fire off a real live 4-6 sentence E-mail telling someone why you love them.

(I”m also closing comments because any time you have to comment should also be put towards your I Love You E-mail.)

Ready GO!

Super awesome right?  Anyway, I have no idea where the wallet size photos that she got 15 years ago went.  Even the mighty 8×10 prints have gone missing.  The only thing that stood the test of time was this 12 inch tall cut out.  I can’t even begin to guess what her dad “overpaid” for this thing?  29.99?  49.99?  Did he drop 74.99 on this?  I don’t know and I don’t care, and the reality is he does not know or care either.  I’m just glad we have it.  It’s a tangible thing we can pick up and hold, our kids love to look at it and it’s one of our most valuable family heirlooms.  (That might be a stretch but you get the point.)

The same is true of your wedding album.  Today everyone Facebooks and tweets photos left and right and it may seem silly to get a big giant book that tells the story of your day, but the reality is hard drives crash, prints come and go, and how would you feel if all your awesome wedding photos were only on MySpace.  Yeah, exactly.  A nice wedding album will last a super long time.  It’s something you and your kids will eventually look at and something that will get passed down.  How awesome would it be to have a wedding album from your grandparents wedding?

The thing is, you don’t have to just take my word for it.  A few months ago I photographed another wedding photographer’s wedding.  Megan is super computer savvy and takes more photos in 1 week than you might in 3 months so “digital files” are something she knows how to deal with.  But she also knows that just having a “disc” is not enough.  In the end she wanted an album.  I’m super glad Megan & Mitch got one and it’s heading out the door to them today but before it left I thought I’d share a few images with you and let you take peek inside.  Enjoy.

You can take a look at her whole album below.

So we all grew up knowing that the guy is the one who rescues the girl.

Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, they all needed a guy to help them climb out of their problem.  Then somewhere along the way everyone decided that women do not need to be rescued.  They are capable of rescuing themselves.  Women can do anything men can do.  Better.  The irony of this way of thinking became super clear to me when my sister-in-law asked me to “help her move.”  One of the things she could not move was a giant, heavy framed poster you may recognize.

Ladies I’m here to let you in on a secret.  We need to be rescued just as much as you do.  Your fiance’ may not tell you this because he’s still trying to impress you.  But, somewhere along the way, you will realize that he is just as insecure and doubtful of himself as you are.  The longer Danielle & I are married, the more willing we are to open up about our fears and shortcomings.  This is not something that happens instantly when you get engaged or married.  This is something that takes years of practice and work.  AND, as men it’s something that we resist.  It’s super hard for us to admit our faults.  It’s scary to tell you that we are nervous about commitment. We are told by society never to look you in the eye and say “I do not have everything under control.”

But, as scary as it is for me to open up about my shortcomings to Danielle, it’s even scarier for me to hide them.  I LOVE that talking to her is safe.  I love knowing that she likes me regardless of my failures.  This has happened because time and time again when I have opened up, she has never recoiled or pushed me away.  She has never made fun of me in public.  I know that everyone around could be pointing at me and laughing and she would stand and defend me to the end.

My advice to you ladies is this: if you want your guy to open up, if you want your guy to “talk” to you, then become his number one cheerleader.  Never criticize him in public.  Never “compare” him to another man.  The more you stand by him publicly, the more likely he is to open up to you privately.  You both need to be rescued and the sooner you work on rescuing him, the sooner he’ll be ready to rescue you.

OK, so maybe it’s time we re-think this whole “guest book” idea.  I mean, we ALREADY know everyone’s names right?   (I know you know because you had to hand write them on 372 freaking invitations!)  We also know who came because they jumped into the Mug Machine and took a snazzy photo.   So, instead of collecting names like a high school detention teacher, why not have a bit of fun with  the guest book?

SO…… without further adieu, I give you the Greatest Utility Ever Seen To Be Ordered Online Keepsake.

I call it GUEST BOOK for short.  (clever right.)

Anyway, here it is. Boom.

It has a photo wrapped image from your engagement session that looks AMAZING in person.

The best part is the inside.  It’s plastered full of photos from your engagement session & it’s full of clever little questions for your guests to answer.  Some are about the two of you, some are open ended, and some of the pages are just blank for your non-creative-we -just-came-for-the-cake cousins.

You’ll also get more than just 1 hour’s worth of use out of this thing.  You can take it to all your showers & have those friends fill in some of the answers.  You can throw it on a coffee table to show off your photos.  You can also pull it out 6 months or 6 years after your wedding and see how well your friends really knew you.

Anyway, I just love these little albums and know you will too.  Also, any bride who orders one before the end of the month will get a sweet deal on them.  So there you go.  You know you want one.  E-mail me and we’ll make it happen.

Then I was like… wait…. you totally need to draw my whole family.  How awesome is this??!!??!!

Then I was like… wait… I have an idea.  Draw these people.

And she was like.  Bada bing, bada boom.

How great is that?  You can get anything done, I had her do a wedding portrait, but how fun would it be to have a drawing of where you became engaged?  You can use these everywhere, Facebook profile pics, a print to frame and hang in your new home, wallpaper for your iPhone.  How about as custom stamps for your invitations?!?!

So here is the deal.  You need to give her a call, she is hooking you up with a discount for being a blog stalker.  She normally charges $50 for a couple but is giving you 20% off so it’s only $40.  (That’s like what you’ll spend on 1 person to eat at your wedding.

Email her here and mention my site.
(eightyniner89@gmail.com)

Ready…. GO!

Today I wanted to give a HUGE shout out to HOUSEofLOVELY.  Lauren is the mastermind behind everything there and she is based out of Dallas.  Her work is fantastic and it’s just the type of thing I know my brides would love.  Take a look at some of her work.

She has plenty more on her Etsy site and even has started doing some flower girl designs.

This is the coolest part.  Because she is so cool, and because you are so cool, and because I am so cool she is hooking you all up with a discount code!

Enter the code “alexmphoto” to get 15% off anything at HOUSEofLOVELY!!!  Not bad eh?  She’ll even let you pick it up locally so you can save a bit on shipping!
You can put all that money you are saving towards something else. (Like upgrading you SuperSquare size.