OK, so you’ve been coming here for a while and you totally love looking at my work.  You ogle over every image and can’t wait for the magical day when I take one of you.  Guess what?  It kinda does not matter that much.  I could post an amazing image or I could just post random colors.

(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!

So one of the many many perks of being married is you get to inherit a lot of “stuff”.  One of the items that made it’s way into our house was a wood cutout of my wife when she was a high school cheerleader. Take a look.

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. :)

Go ahead. Admit it. Ever since you were a little girl, you’ve dreamed of that special day in your life.  The day you invite all of your closest friends and family to come write their names in a small book with lots of lines and a puffy white cover. :)

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.

So a few months ago I was introduced to the work of Robin Annette.  She is a super talented artist and I commissioned a piece from her that I’m planning on using on my site when I redo it.  Take a look.

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!