Today’s tips are on choosing your wedding cake.  Who better than the amazing ladies from Edible Art to help you with this choice.  Check out their work.

1)  Plan early- there is nothing more disappointing than to wait until March to plan your June wedding cake to find out the date is already booked.

2)  Have ideas- research/look at pictures on the internet, magazines, do you like square, round cakes, flowers, no flowers, etc..

3)  Make appointment with wedding cake designers-  Have designer look at your picture ideas, listen to your ideas, sketch out your design so both of you have the same vision of your dream cake. Be sure to ask to taste the flavors of cake.  Taste is as important as the design!

4)  Once you have chosen your cake designer- pay a deposit asap and get you wedding date of the books. Brides are so disappointed when they wait 3 months and come back to find another bride booked her wedding date and now the designer cannot create her cake.

5)  Confirm everything 30 days before your big day- Make sure the designer reviews your dream cake and both of you have the same vision.

(A note about Edible Art’s payment plan.  We work with families on these large cake orders.  We have “Cake Lay-a -way” available for wedding/large events.  Once a deposit is made, we are all about working with our brides.  Payments can be made in any amount at any time for the months leading up to the big event. Our only requirement is the cakes be paid in full 10 days before the wedding/event. If their choose to pay a deposit and wait until then to pay that is ok too.  Ask your bakery about a payment plan to help you get your dream cake.)

Edible Art
504 West South Street
Longview, TX 75601-7052
(903) 234-2114
Give them a call today!

Here are 5 ways that a good DJ can make your wedding better.

1. Announcements.
Having a DJ that can announce the toast, cake cutting, and the occasional lost set of keys, and be heard and understood is a huge plus. The person on the microphone has to be able to cut through all the chatter and get everyone’s attention.

2. Mixing music that suits your guests.
A good DJ can look at any group and sum up a play list that fits. And he can only do this if he/she is familiar with many genres of music and it’s era. (Adult Contemporary, Pop, country, hip hop, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s)

3. Quality equipment.
While it doesn’t necessarily make a better DJ, quality equipment can provide a better experience and service that not only sounds good, but looks good. A “rats nest” of wires on the DJ table or around the Dj’s setup tends to take away from the nice  center pieces, cakes, and linens that make up your reception decor. Especially in smaller rooms.

4. Be prepared.
Having an outline of the order of events for your reception and any special songs that go with those events will allow your reception to run much more smoothly. If the DJ has a digital setup, making “folder” in his DJ program with all special songs for the reception, or putting all special songs on a single CD and having them ready for use ensures all those important songs are accounted for and ready to play on cue.

5. Knowing the wedding etiquette.
You can’t take a karaoke jock from a bar, and expect them to know how to pull off an elegant and fun wedding reception. This is how that could turn out. ((insert blog link to that couple taking for ever to load the first dance and mother son dance.)) You will want a DJ that has wedding experience and references. When the budget needs to be cut one of the first things they think of is the DJ entertainment.  Because all the DJ does is play music right? By getting a cousin to man the iPod, or a friend that has a big music collection, you stand to lose many if not all of the tips mentioned here. If you’re on a small budget, try to budget more for the services that really affect your wedding, and cut some smaller things that may not be quite as important.

CMB DJs
http://cmbdjs.com/
903.724.3192

Also, here is a list of some of her wedding vendors which she loved so much as well as a few favorites of mine from each of her sessions.

Cakes: Chez Bazan
DJ: CMB DJs
Flowers: Michele’s Flowers by Ela
Venue: Villa di Felicita
Videography : Vanessa McKellar Productions

The preacher man.  Follow him on twitter
The grandparents ROCKED the Mug Machine.

Another fantastic shot of the grandparents.

There were a TON of Aggies at this wedding.  I found a few of the Longhorn faithful and we had fun.

There were FIVE past AlexM couples at this wedding. Some of them left the wedding early.  Those who stayed late get some blog love.  Here are Davi & Marcie.  Marcie is great with child.

Katherine& her dad share a treat from the candy bar.

The tasty and fancy cakes were done by the umber talented ladies over at Edible Art.

Some First Look goodness.

The flower girl spent a few minutes scratching Katherine’s back and relaxing her before the ceremony.

If you look over to the right of the photo you can catch a glimpse of RuthAnne.  She was rockin’ the harp and did a swell job.  You should book her for your wedding.

Of all the weddings I have shot at the Villa di Felicita, this was the first I ever saw or heard an airplane fly over.  I’m assuming it was heading towards the island for the LOST series finale.

CMB DJs kept everyone dancing the whole night long.

The Mug Machine was also at the wedding so be on the lookout for those later this week.

I think it’s important for brides to see a “history” of work.  Anyone with a decent camera can shoot a good image every now and then. However, shooting a wedding week in and week out is what really helps me “know” what’s going to happen next on your day.  So, this is a way of showing you that I’ve been shooting for a little while, and it’s also a way for my past brides to flaunt their stuff on my blog again.

Anyway, here they are, in no particular order, my favorite images from April 2009.

Enjoy the slideshow guys.  (You can also click the little box on the lower right and make it super big. )

Come back tomorrow for and interview with one of my most-est favorite wedding vendors.

What better way to start this series than with one of my all-time favorite couples: Lauren & Brent.

These two had an incredible wedding at the Villa di Felicita in Tyler about a year ago. I visited their place in College Station to chat about the wedding process, photography, and even asked them if they still like their wedding photos. (You’ll have to watch the video to get the answer.) 

Also, many of you may not have seen their wedding images so here are just a few of my favorites.

So, every so often I get couples who are so cool and amazing that I can’t wait to get home and edit their images. I had a feeling that Ashley and Brock would be one of these couples. We had only had a few phone calls and some E-mails prior to her booking but when she sent in one of her payments with this post it note attached I started to extra like them.

One of the things I ask my couples is what do you guys like to do together. Some bowl, others play tennis, some are musical. I love capturing couples in their element. Sometimes people say “We just like to sit on the couch and watch movies.” That’s an OK answer, but not really something that would be amazing to photograph.

When I asked Ashley the question, this is the E-mail I got back:

“okay, so we’ve been thinking.. and this is the list we’ve come up with..
-We like to cook together and probably the thing we cook the most is spaghetti
-Try different wines
-Bowling
-Look at the stars (corny i know, haha but true!)
-Playing this dart game called killer
-Traveling/driving around together
-Getting ice cream
-Volleyball, Knockout (basketball), throwing a football around
-Board games
-Watch movies
-Go to football/basketball games”

I tried to figure a way to work ALL of these into a session but soon gave up and just went with the first one.

This will be a great photo once they are married. She can PROVE that he is capable of cleaning and remind him that he used to do it.

We then headed out into Aggieland for some “real” engagement photos.

This was their first time walking under the Century Tree.


These next two are great. I’m not sure what was happening in the first.
The second is how I feel Ashley negotiates with Brock anytime she wants anything.

Oh, one more thing… Since these two were so much fun to work with I went ahead and edited their WHOLE Session! That’s right, less than 24 hours after shooting it, it’s done and online!

Thank you guys for an amazing session. – AlexM