Kera & Dan | Engaged!

Kera and Dan's big day is quickly approaching! For their engagement session in August, we headed to downtown Madison.

For most of their session, the weather was great. There was one small bump, though. I have to admit, I have never had to find shelter and wait out a freak rain storm in the middle of a session before. However, that is what happened to us that day. Kera and Dan were wonderful about the "delay" and the rain stopped just in time for some sunset images by the lake, complete with a rainbow in the background! I think that means good luck with their marriage.

Here are some images from their engagement session.

Sarah & RJ | Wedding

Sarah and RJ had a beautiful day for their wedding. All the little extra touches made it memorable, like the family pin Sarah wore on her dress and the union chairs on their cake. Bucky Badger from UW Madison made an appearance and really livened up the dance floor with his dance moves!

Amanda & Jon | Wedding

Amanda and Jon's wedding took place in the Wisconsin Dells. The location is great for families that are traveling to the wedding destination. It's like a vacation built right into the weekend!

Kendra & John | Wedding

A few images from Kendra and John's wedding:

Too Much Of A Good Thing

You have your Pinterest account and you are following tons of people and accounts. How is that working?

Are you loving the ideas? Are they too much? Are you going to use any of them? Do you have this unstoppable desire to try to use them all?

So many ideas can become overwhelming. You need to know when to look at the pretty pictures and when to stop looking and start doing. No wedding will plan itself just by looking at the bridal eye-candy. These boards from our last post are meant for inspiration, but it's up to you to actually plan the wedding and follow through on all the details.

Remember that a couple of great ideas are all that you need to make your wedding fabulous.

You don't need to stress yourself out with trying to do everything that you see on blogs and Pinterest for your one day. Pick a couple that you feel are really fun or that would add special meaning on the day.

Then, forget the rest.

You want to be able to enjoy your family and friends on your wedding day, not stressing over the fact that you didn't finish your 64 DIY projects. Plus, some of the fun blog posts you see on wedding boards and sites are not even from real weddings, but from stylized photo shoots that were set-up just to show off cute ideas. The blogs know that you can't do everything on one day, so don't measure your real wedding by their pretend ones.

If you are looking for ways to use Pinterest better with your wedding planning, read this from mashable.com: How to Avoid Pinterest Wedding Angst

How do you use Pinterest? Is more better or can you have too much of a good thing? When do you draw the line in looking for new ideas?

All This Interest In Pinterest

Have you heard of Pinterest? If you have a bride planning a wedding, chances are you have. The online pinboard works like a chock-full magazine, flowing with a steady stream of new ideas that you can keep organized on a virtual bulletin board. This is the place to go when you are looking for inspiration for your wedding.

Whether you are looking for dresses, cakes or favors, Pinterest has images and ideas to help you create a gorgeous wedding. There is a search function that you can use to look for anything wedding. The best time to use Pinterest is when you are at the beginning of your engagement, at the start of your wedding planning. It's great to see what kind of ideas are out there to begin to organize in your head what you want to do with this big day.

To get started, we'd like to suggest some wedding accounts for you to follow:
Style Me Pretty
Wedding Chicks
The Perfect Palette
Martha Stewart Weddings
The Pretty Blog
Ruffled
Floret Cadet
Intimate Weddings
Brides
Bride Finds
Bride Finds From The Runway
The Knotty Bride
Bride and Joy, Vintage Wedding
Offbeat Bride
InStyle Magazine wedding hairstyles
Divinefrenzy, Invitations
Luxe Finds DIY wedding projects
Junebug Weddings
Southern Wedding Magazine
Lauren Grove, Every Last Detail
Vane Broussard, Brooklyn Bride
Postcards & Pretties, Wedding receptions

Do you have any favorites? Let me know if these Pinterest accounts are helpful or if you know of better ones. Where do you like to go for inspiration?

Save The Dates | Weddings

People are so much busier today than they ever were in the past. Weekends quickly fill up, free time just seems to disappear. When you are planning your wedding a year or more in advance, the date sticks in your mind. You want to make sure that your family and friends also block their calendars off for your big day.

But, if you wait until the traditional 8 weeks before to send your wedding invitations, alerting your family and friends to when the wedding will be, you risk their schedules already being booked.

Solution: Save The Dates!

These are designed to be saved! Many people will put Save The Dates up on their fridge, whether they are magnets or cards.

We offer several styles and sizes. We can do:

• Postcards, that send without envelopes;
• Two sided cards that go into envelopes ;
• Magnets, with envelopes;
• Magnets that coordinate with a card, with envelope

The size and style you choose may influence how much information you include on the card. It's a good idea to add your web address if you have a wedding website. If you have the room, hotel information is nice to include for guests that don't use the internet.

You can send Save The Dates at any time. Six months before the wedding is a good rule of thumb, but earlier or later can work, too. If your wedding date falls on a holiday weekend or a high-activity weekend (Badger game, etc.), then the sooner guests can start planning their visit and hotel stay, the better.

If you do Save The Dates, when will you send them out?

More Albums To Love

The great thing about an album is how personal it is and how custom it can be for each person. I love the cover options with the new Chunky Artistic album line. Combining leathers with custom photograph covers gives each album a unique look.

The top album shows the alligator leather, which is a beautiful texture! The bottom album is subtle marbled leather.

These two new albums will be available at The Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells and The Legend of Bergamont in Oregon to view while showcasing their venues.

Stephanie & David | Wedding

These images are overdue, as they have already been featured on the Wedding Planner & Guide website. Stephanie and David were prize package winners from the Wedding Planner & Guide bridal show. We had included an engagement session, which is how we first met them. We were honored when they chose us to also photograph their wedding. It was wonderful to see how much love their family had for them. It really was a special day for so many people!

Keeping The Romance Fires Burning

Romance [verb] to seek the attention of someone, especially by use of flattery, to seduce, to woo

When life gets busy and time runs short, romance often takes a back seat. We mean to do the sweet little things that we used to do, but we get distracted and forget. Or we remember the days when we had time to plot out elaborate ways to show our love. But work, schedules, family, obligation take over.

It can even leave you yearning for a sappy, commercial Valentine's Day card.

Fixing the romantic drain is actually very easy. And quick. And good for you. [wink, wink.]

Write a little love note (it can even just say "I love you"). Hide it somewhere your partner won't find right away, like a purse, wallet, coat pocket, etc. Then, later in the day, text your partner to look in the hiding spot. Feeling elaborate? Hide movie or concert tickets instead.

Do you have a special place? Where you first met or got engaged? Go there. If you can't actually get there, recreate it. Your favorite vacation was to Mexico? Go get margaritas or take tacos to the beach.

This website getromantic.com has 100 more ideas, both little and big, that can bring back the romance to any relationship. Have fun!

Carrie & Jose | Wedding

Carrie and Jose's wedding was a multicultural event for us. Jose's entire family only speaks Spanish and most of Carrie's speaks only English. However, on the day of the wedding, there were no barriers between the families. Even those that could not make the trip were included, through Skype. We loved seeing the Mexican traditions that were incorporated into the day.

The wedding ceremony was done in both languages, as were all the speeches at the reception.

Carrie and Jose worked hard to make sure that both families were represented and respected. Not being Spanish speakers ourselves didn't even cause us any worry. The day went smoothly, and the photographs were easy-peasy, with some translating from Carrie (and an app that Chris had downloaded to his iPhone). It was a beautiful day and a wonderful group of people!

Better Late Than Never | Album from 2006

Wedding albums are important.

We know the main reason couples choose to have photographers at their wedding- planning the family portraits, capturing little details, getting romantic shots of the bride and groom- is to be able to show off their favorite photographs afterward.

These moments are too important to allow just any old cheap digital camera or cell phone manned by a guest be the only way they are captured. And, throwing a few pictures on facebook is not the best way to remember the day. Couples know that is not how you preserve such a big event as two families joining together, creating a new family history. Yes, it’s fun to share images by email and on social sites. But, they know that the internet is not a substitute for an heirloom.

And we love that clients want photographs. They want polished portraits, images that show them at their best. And they want to share the story of their wedding in a way that only a wedding album can.

We are proud of the fact that 90% of our clients have wedding albums to remember their special day. We make sure that the images in those albums are the ones that tell their story.

So we were thrilled when Jane and Kaushik, who were married in 2006, recently came back to have their wedding album created. We loved knowing that this album was so important to them, that even after all these years, they held it as a priority to get it designed and made. It's not often that we are asked to make an album for a wedding that was more than 5 years ago, but we loved being able to do it.

And we know that as their family grows, they will be happy that they have this album to share their favorite wedding day photographs.

Album shown is the Artistic Chunky, with luster pages and leather cover with photograph.

Album Love

The finished wedding album was very important to Ashley. She knew this was going to be something she would cherish forever and wanted it to be perfect. Ashley put a lot of thought into how she wanted everything to look and worked with us to make sure it followed her vision. Ashley's mother was also very excited about the wedding and the album. She choose to go with a matching album in the exact same size as Ashley and Casey chose for their wedding album.

This album is the Artistic Skinny, with matte art pages and full custom cover. Ashley said it was perfect, that it turned out exactly how she wanted it. I'm sure she is having fun showing off her beautiful album and reliving her fabulous day!

Ashley & Casey | Weddings

Ashley & Casey were married at the Monona Terrace in downtown Madison Wisconsin last summer. They were married on the rooftop and their reception followed in the Grand Terrace and in a ballroom.

The view during the ceremony was stunning! The chuppah was on the lakeside of the rooftop terrace, so all the guests were able to see the couple against the view of the lake.

During the reception, we sneaked back up to the roof top for a few more images at dusk.

The room was beautiful! And the dancing was a blast! They did a traditional Jewish dance, Hora, that got more of the guests up and enjoying the start of the evening.

Ashley and Casey's album is complete, and I'll be sharing some of those images soon!

Emily & Eric | Album

I had posted about our new albums that we added to our line-up before the big bridal show in Madison (and I'm showing it again here). I was showing off the beautiful cover, which I *LOVE*, so now I'm showing some of the page layouts inside:

If you want to see more, call us to set up a time to meet! We would love to chat about your wedding details with you. :)

Emily & Eric | Wedding

Emily and Eric were married in Madison, Wisconsin, at St. Thomas Aquinas. Their reception followed at the Pyle Center, on the UW campus. Being a school teacher, Emily was able to have a fellow art teacher make their Thank You sign. We incorporated that into their Thank You cards after the wedding. It was a fun way to show off wedding images with their notes to family and friends.

We featured Emily and Eric's wedding in a new album style that we just started offering. I'll post a few of the layouts from that album soon!

Lisa & Zach | Engagement

Lisa and Zach are getting married in July 2012. While they make their home on the east coast, they are planning a Madison wedding. On one of their trips home, we were able to squeeze in their engagement session. The UW Arboretum was the perfect backdrop for the day. Lisa and Zach were such a fun couple to work with and we are really looking forward to capturing the wedding day, as well!