Venue: Monterey Museum of Art at La Mirada
Cater: Good Time Catering
Cupcakes: Layers Sensational Cakes
Flowers: Pacific Grove Floral Co.
Dress: Amy Kuschel
DJ: Darion from DNA Entertainment
Rentals: A to Z Rental Center
Hair: NIcole Eldridge from Hair 506
Make-Up: Anathea Brenner
Photobooth: Green Cheeze

For friends and family, go to http://www.pictage.com/848830 to register to view all of the images from this wedding!

Enjoy the slideshow here, or scroll down for more images!

So many couples underestimate the importance of the Photographer to their wedding experience. There is no other vendor with whom you will spend more time before, during, and after the wedding! It is the Photographer who often tends to make or break the entire wedding day. Every single one of us has been to a wedding where the Photographer was pushy, rude, annoying, or otherwise completely unpleasant! And then the pictures weren’t even that good! None of us want to have our special day ruined by such a Photographer… So how do we safeguard against it???

Start EARLY! The Photographer should be one of the first vendors, if not the first, that you book for your wedding! Good Photographers are booked up anywhere between 6 months to 2 years in advance, so that means you will be down to second or third tier talent if you don’t start early.

Start with websites. Every Photographer worth his or her salt has one, so get crackin! Google everything wedding photography related that you can, and get a good idea of the talent in your area. Weed out any photographer that doesn’t take pictures in the style you like. I don’t care if you sister raves about her Photographer and fully expects you to book them if you don’t like their style. It’s your wedding, so stick to your guns! Try to narrow it down to your top three choices based on their website work. Rate them from first choice, to third choice.

Meet with your favorite Photographer first. If they are as freakin’ awesome in person as their photography, Book them! Be ready to book when you meet with them because there will most likely be a bunch of other Brides looking for that same Photographer on the same date! If you don’t mesh with the Photographer, move on! Remember you are likely to spend all day with them!

Do not shop on price alone! Every Photographer understands we all have budgetary constraints and may work with you a bit, but you should never skimp on the photography as it is the only thing that will last longer than the wedding day! Make your budget cuts somewhere else if you absolutely must. Most Photographers (I know I do…) offer discounts for off-season, middle of the week, etc. weddings which are basically dates that we would otherwise not be regularly filling. Wednesdays come to mind… Remember there are only 52 Saturdays every year from which we must make a living. If you consider having your wedding on a “non-traditional” day of the week, you could rack up some truly amazing savings across the board! Think about it! Otherwise be prepared to pay the awesome Photographer for their time, talent, and awesomeness!

I’m not going to bother with what to ask for in a wedding package, because places like The Knot cover these topics extensively. Just ask yourself what you need, and go from there. Are you really going to need twenty 8X10’s??? Most people don’t. I’d go with Images on Disc with printing rights, a nice album, and maybe a couple (like 2…) 8X10’s for the parents and grandparents. If you really want more “stuff” as well, order it after the wedding!

I hope that’s given you a lot to think about… now Good Luck!

I’ve been going through my wedding photos from 2009, and this one is one of my favorites. The utter joy and happiness is visible on their faces as they enter their reception! Such a great day! Wedding in Aptos, Reception in Soquel at Michael’s on Main back in October.

Last weekend, my sister Kara, her boyfriend Josh, my Richard, and I took a quick trip over to Carmel mostly for the food. Kara and Josh are both in college in Boston, and are going back to school in a little over a week, so we had to make the best of the time we have now. The Cheese Shop is a bit hard to explain, but they have this magnificent collection of international cheeses that is just amazing! You can try as many (or in Josh’s case: all) of the cheeses as you would like, and just sit out in the Carmel Plaza courtyard and enjoy your wine and cheese. It’s one of those wonderful relaxing moments in time that is always enjoyable to remember. The Carmel Plaza courtyard is also a beautifully relaxed garden setting with delicate flowers and foliage everywhere you look. While Josh was busy selecting his hundred pounds of cheese to take home with him, I took a lovely stroll around the courtyard and practiced a little bit of Flower Photography. I have a feeling some of these images are going to end up framed and in the office, or at home because of how they remind me of peace and serenity! Hopefully they will inspire the same for you!

The sun was just setting as Kara and Josh headed out onto the beach as the clouds were rolling in.

Kara was insistent on doing “jumping pictures” and these turned out to be some of my favorites!

Richard and I!

My sister Kara and I!

Kara and Josh being cute…

Richard enjoying the Carmel sea breeze overlooking the beach.

All the pretty flowers from the Carmel Plaza courtyard.

Yummy Cheesy cheese from The Cheese Shop!

The sunset through the coming storm clouds.

Friends and family: To view more photos from Leanne and Ben’s wedding, go to www.pictage.com/702793.

There are some screenshots of the new design below, but to get the best experience, pop on over to http://imagesforalltime.com to view it for real!

Friends and family: To view more photos from Leanne and Ben’s wedding, go to www.pictage.com/702793.

Sometimes couples don’t realize the Engagement Session is an important part of the experience for the couple as well as the Photographer. It allows a stress-free, dry-run to get comfortable with each other before your wedding day. When you really think about it, I usually arrive at your wedding while you are still in the process of dressing, so it is very helpful to be comfortable with the Photographer before the wedding day festivities begin. Fortunately for me, it’s easy for women to relate and get comfortable with each other quickly, and I soon feel like “one of the girls!” I suppose it also helps that I love weddings, and it’s easy for me to get wrapped up in the excitement of the day that just bubbles over the morning of the wedding!

In addition to the “practice” element of the Engagement Session, this is likely one of the only times you will have a Professional Photographer at your disposal to capture your lifestyles and who you really are. This is a snapshot of you, right now, as you are. The session always provides amazing photos that are likely to be cherished by you both, your friends, and especially by family. Enough of my reasons to have Engagement Photography done, on to the photos!

Portraiture seems to be a bit of a lost art. Well, maybe not a lost art, but an overlooked art perhaps. Not many people in my general age group take the time to have their portrait taken, and I feel that’s just too bad! For the record: I consider a Portrait to be a snapshot of a person, of who they really are at a particular point in time. I remember every year around Christmas, my mom, dad, sister and I would go to Olan Mills and take a family portrait. In addition to the photo of our whole family, there was always an individual picture of each of us. I’m sure my grandparents enjoyed getting a photo each year of all of us! Although sometimes it’s awkward to look back and see how terrible my teenage years were (physically and emotionally speaking…braces, face fat, unkempt eyebrows, and acne are not a good combination), I’m so glad that there is a record of each time in my life. It is the record of the hardest times of my life that let me know how far I’ve come, and how far I still want to go. I would like to take this opportunity to encourage people to take the time to have themselves, their lives, documented as they are now, because I promise that ten years from now you will be thankful for having something to look back on. Until you get your own portraits done, enjoy these highlights from Erin Elizabeth Photography’s Portraits of 2009!