My Two Favorite Brides

I have shot some amazing, beautiful and wonderful brides but if I had to make a choice these would be my two favorite brides of all time. Now, I am a little prejudice as these two are my own daughters so they do have a slight advantage over all you other amazing brides that have allowed me to be a part of your day.

As I was finishing up Rebecca’s wedding photos and moving all the files to the back up drive, I was reminded that we had done a very quick bridal shoot and I needed to get those on the disc to her too. On the day she had made plans for her hair and makeup to be done we had an unplanned medical situation with a family member and were going to be very short on time. Instead of going to an outside location we just put up the back drops and did a mini session so she could check out her look. She’s as gorgeous as ever and we might even send a few of these to the bridal store where she bought her dress.

I went back and pulled a few from Elizabeth’s bridal photos. When she got married in March 2007 I had neither a blog nor a facebook page and missed the opportunity to share any pictures from her bridal photos. So here a just a few of her.

These girls have many things in common but they are also so very different. They are their own individual selves and have been since the day they got here. May they love and lean on each other long after I am gone.

Back on a protography thought. I recommend to all brides that they do a “dry run” of their wedding day. Make-up, hair, and dress with the underclothes they will be wearing that day whether or not they plan on having any bridal pictures done. It gives them a sense of long it will take them to get ready (so many brides underestimate this). It lets them see how everything looks together and if they really do like their hair that way. I had a bride who wanted to wear false eye lashes. She had been told by many that they really look good in photos (and they usually really do), but she had never wore them before so her eyes felt very heavy and she just didn’t feel right. Her own lashes were so long that they actually overpowered the false ones and it just wasn’t working. She took them off and her whole smile and facial expressions went back to their natural beautiful look. She was so glad she figured that out before the day of her wedding. I had another bride that underestimated the drop in the back of her dress and realized that she needed different underclothes. So my advice is to always do a pre-wedding day “dress rehearsal” just to be sure your wedding day is as you picture it.

Dan and Rebecca's Wedding Video

Here is a video of Dan and Rebecca’s wedding day. It is about 6 ½ minutes. I did a full length one (about 26 minutes) that had a lot more pictures and music but it too long to share on the blog.  Finally getting everything done and shipped off to them. I was reminded how important it is to sync your cameras if you don’t want to spend hours trying to inter sort pictures. I ordered a new pictured cd/dvd cover that I custom designed.

These custom printed cases are a little pricey but I really like them and are going to start offering with my full day packages or as an add on to the smaller packages. I will still carry the leather cases but I think these are just another great way to personalize things.

Anaheim Wedding Album

Anaheim Wedding Album
Click link for slide show

With brides getting back to us with their pictures choices we have been doing our best to get albums designed and ordered so that we can beat the fast approaching Holiday deadlines from the album companies. Here is a look at and Anaheim wedding album that we ordered from Graphi Studios. Is was a larger (9x13) album which allows us to put a few more pictures on the pages. The album turned out wonderful. Can you tell what the brides favorite color is?

We all work for incentive.

These are four of the cutest and most energetic kids you’ll ever meet. (I can say that because they are my nephews and niece. Have you ever heard the expression “herding kittens”? That can off times be accurate when shooting kids at these ages. Out in a new fun place (Botanical Gardens in Riverside) with lots of cool bugs and trails to explore.

The Cristales had put off taking a family photo (see below post about when it the perfect time) and Rod was going to be visiting relatives that he hadn’t seen in over 30 years. They really wanted to have an updated family photo so we were under the gun to get these pictures taken and couldn’t “wait for a better time” so after a long hot day of having to “be good” at school we were now going to be challenged to get these guys to cooperate for a quick family shoot. 

Well as you can see by these cute photos, we did it.

You get this great side shot when the children you are shooting are your 2nd photographer’s kids and she quickly takes the second camera and does what she does best, starts taking some pictures.

Some people use that ugly word “bribes” I prefer incentive. We all do things for “incentives”. Even at our jobs, promotions, advancements heck even our very pay check is incentive. How did we do it? What did their Mom use for incentive? Coldstone Ice Cream. Hey, that would even work for me.

Here is a picture of me and four of my favorite kids!