…soon you will have answers!

As a wedding photographer, I am keenly aware of how people look. Especially how brides and grooms look (and feel) on their wedding day. A long time ago it became apparent to me that the more put-together the couple looks (the perfect dress, the perfect shoes, the perfect hair, etc) the more confident and beautiful they will feel, and with that, they will have the perfect day! So with that in mind -

Sara Lovell, a Rochester MUA/hair stylist has agreed to an interview with me in an effort to educate and help brides prepare and look gorgeous on their wedding day. Sara has a huge list of tips already, but we are still interested in getting more questions so that the interview can be more productive and more informative for you! So, ask away – and in two weeks, your questions will be answered! Use the Facebook comments tab, or the native blog comments, and please please please also share this with your friends/girlfriends/family/coworkers – we want A LOT of questions, so we can have a GREAT interview, so it can ultimately help you have the wedding day you always dreamed of!

This is something that has been a concern of mine in the past, and of other photographers I know as well. The issue of image credit has come up almost every time right after  I posted a new blog or a new images to Facebook. We photographers put a lot of work into our images and when we post it online for everyone to see it is like displaying the best of the best in our portfolio – so why do clients still think it’s OK to strip the image of any identifying marks (logos) when they repost it on their own social media sites?

Drew is an awesome wedding photographer down in Orange County couldn’t have said it any better, so here it is verbatim:

“I get asked a lot by both photographers and clients what my policy is on letting my clients post their images to their blogs and facebook account. I personally love it when my clients post their family pictures on their blogs, facebook, etc. It shows me that they truly love their images! I encourage my clients to “steal” their pictures from my blog to use on the internet. Here are a few do’s and don’ts that you should think about when reposting your images:

1) DO ask your photographer what their specific policy is on taking pictures off of their blogs. Some photographers encourage it and some don’t allow it. If this is important to you this is something you should ask BEFORE you hire your photographer!

2) DO include your photographer’s name and website under the images (a link would be super nice!). That’s just the polite thing to do

3) DON’T crop out their logo. Unless you have paid for the digital negatives don’t alter the files in anyway. Most photographers use their blogs to advertise their work and do so as a courtesy to give their clients a sneak peek. If a client crops out the logo then how will other people know who took the picture?

4) DON’T edit the picture in any way. Taking the pictures is only half of a photographers job. The other half is editing. If you think you can do a better job or want to edit out some of your wrinkles or use selective coloring please don’t show and/or tell your photographer. That is super insulting. If you don’t like your photographers editing enough to want to edit it yourself than maybe you need to find another photographer next year.

5) DON’T try to print from the files on the blog. For me specifically I know that the files I upload to my blog are too small to be printed in a 4×6 size. It’s not cool to invest in a family session and then print the images off of the blog and not pay for prints. Make sure you know how much the prints cost before the session to avoid sticker shock. Same goes for scanning prints that you already bought. Not cool! Some of my family members are guilty of printing images off of my blog. It makes me cringe when I see them FRAMED in their homes with my logo still on there! To be fair, I’m also not great at emailing them the file when they ask for it ”

Thanks Drew, I couldn’t have said it any better!

Please respect your photographer.

*Photographers, you can re-post this information, just as long as you give Drew credit. (http://www.drewbphotography.com/)

* If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at kristina [at] photokisses [dot] com

Here is a new installment of Brides for Brides. It’s a segment on my blog where my past brides answer a few questions about their wedding and give advice to newly engaged couples on how to make their day absolutely perfect and amazing. I bet every new bride gets overwhelmed once in a while, so here’s hoping that “Brides for Brides” will help someone! If you are a prior PhotoKisses bride, feel free to answer these same questions with your own experience in an email, and I will post them here for other brides to see!

Tara got married on August 20, 2010 at St. Louis Church in and had her reception at the Irondequoit Country Club.

What was your favorite part of the day?
I would say it was after I walked down the aisle to meet Anthony and, after we were seated, I felt so extremely relaxed and like I just could let it all happen and unfold. It was such a good feeling that it had all finally come together! My next favorite part would be the Cocktail Hour with the perfect weather we had. We could all enjoy being outside on the patio with the live Jazz music playing and having our favorite food being passed around – mac and cheese and shrimp cocktail. What could be better!

What did you think of your ceremony?
I thought the ceremony was beautiful and St. Louis looked gorgeous with the natural light streaming in. We kept the flowers simple because the Church is beautiful on its own. My parents belong to this Church so it felt comfortable and familiar to us. The music director, Stephanie, is magnificent and I feel really lucky she played at our wedding. It was fantastic.

Did everything go as planned?
As far as I know everything pretty much went as planned and if it didn’t, I wasn’t aware! Although, I did forget to bring my change of shoes and after about 3 hours of standing in heels (that I hardly wear anymore), my feet felt some serious pain.. Thank goodness I was able to switch shoes with one of my bridesmaids for the introduction and formal dances then went barefoot the rest of the night. Even so, my feet were hurting for days after! And my dress was stepped on and pulled a few times from being so low on the ground. Lesson learned.

What was your vision?
My biggest inspiration (and obsession for a while!) was the Style Me Pretty blog. I love, love all the interesting details in the weddings posted on the site and I took what I could and applied it to my wedding. We were going for a Vintage / Modern theme and we did much of it ourselves. We used vintage postcards for the tables and luggage-type tags for the place cards that were set in vintage suitcases and hat boxes. The flowers had a more modern feel in square glass vases and had tones of burnt oranges, greens, and ivory. We used chalkboards for signs and my cousin, who has the most beautiful writing, did the calligraphy for me. My dress was a mix of vintage and modern and Anthony had cool zoot suit shoes and a pocket watch as unique touches. It was really cool to see it all come together!

How did you make your reception fabulous and memorable?
We had a vintage-style photo booth that printed out the 4-picture strip – one to take home and one to put in the guest book. The guests really loved it and there was a line every time I looked! There are some great pictures just from people wearing the props outside the booth! It was also pretty memorable when my family and friends were Irish dancing. We had a lot of family from Ireland there and Irish friends, so it was fun for them to have a chance to show their skills.. I was pulled in, which was great, but I was glad I had a long dress on so you maybe you couldn’t tell I didn’t know what I was doing!

Can you say something about your vendors?
All of my vendors were really great and I couldn’t believe how good they were at coordinating and putting it all together! I was really impressed with how it all turned out! Kristina at PhotoKisses was awesome! I received so many compliments from guests about what a great job she was doing and how nice she was! She took some really amazing and creative pictures and I’m so grateful to her for that! Thank you! Sassafras was our florist and Maura and her team were amazing! They came highly recommended and the flowers got a ton of compliments. Maura was so easy to work with and extremely creative.. she went above and beyond what other florists would do.. I was so impressed! Showcase Sound was our DJ and they really got the entire crowd out dancing from the beginning. There were compliments from my parents friends at how good they were mixing songs everyone would like.. someone even asked if they could get a playlist from the night! Mike Van Bebber and his band were the Jazz trio during cocktails. I found them through the Eastman School of Music Gig Service. They did such a wonderful job and were so professional, I would definitely use them again if an event called for it. The music was fantastic! Our cake was by Goodness Cakes.. beautiful and, more importantly, absolutely de-licious! Bethany and Nick were really nice and easy to work with. Irondequoit Country Club is such a beautiful venue and Stacey and Tara really know what their doing when it comes to weddings. They did such a great job putting all the details together and dealing with all my emails and questions during the months before the wedding. They also did a fantastic job with putting all my “details” together since I didn’t have a planner, thanks so much!

Also, I planned the wedding from out-of-town and all the vendors were so great with emails, pictures, phone calls, flexible schedules when I was in town, etc. Without that, it would have been a lot harder planning everything.

What advice would you give to newly engaged ladies just starting to plan their wedding?
Have fun with it and be organized. It was probably the most stressful time of my life, but now all I remember the fantastic time we had at our wedding! Many people will tell you how they think things should be, but if you feel strongly about something you think is important, don’t give in. The day should be how you want it to be, not someone else. Also, I think it’s good to try to think about the whole event from the guests point of view too.

What advice would you give to the couple on their wedding day? Or, what advice do you wish you had been given for yours?
Someone told us this, and it’s true, to sit back, take a moment to look around the room. Just take it all in and realize they are all there for you. It’s humbling. I remember thinking the day wasn’t going by too fast at the time, but now when I think back, it’s a total blur. That’s what Kristina’s pictures are for! Another thing we noticed at other weddings was that if the bride and groom were not out on the dance floor there was hardly any dancing going on.. so Anthony and I made sure we were out there as much as possible and the dance floor was never empty.. so either it worked or our friends and family sure like to dance!

Are you a future bride and have a question? Ask away, and I’ll add it to the list! for my past brides to answer! – Kristina

So maybe the 3rd time is a charm? Maybe this time you, the reader, will post some questions that my brides can answer for you? Don’t be shy! The previous two times that I held post-wedding interviews, I didn’t get any responses. Hmmm maybe this isn’t really helpful? Either way, let me know!  Also, if you are a prior PhotoKisses bride, feel free to answer these same questions with your own experience in an email, and I will post them here for other brides to see!

Laura got married on July 3, 2010 at the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Victor and had her reception at Ravenwood Golf Club in Victor.

What was your favorite part of the day?
- It is tough to pick my one favorite part of the day, but if I have to pick I would definitely say all the great dancing! Take time away from chatting with guests and invite them to dance with you instead, makes for much better memories!

What did you think of your ceremony?
- The ceremony was a very traditional Catholic wedding and I don’t think we could have asked for more (maybe some AC though!) I would suggest a videographer even if it is just for the ceremony, I was too nervous, I don’t remember a lot!

Did everything go as planned? If not, how did you or your bridal party/family help you deal with the mishaps?
- I think I went in with very few expectations for a “perfect” day so there really was no room for any mishaps because we wouldn’t have known the difference, and for that reason it was perfect to us!

What was your vision? Did you have a theme, a concept, colors that you used?
-My vision was a casual feel with an underlying classic look, I guess if I had to give credit to my inspiration I would have to say JCrew wedding magazine. I really loved the natural color look and chose colors based on the colors you would see most during summer: grass green, yellow and orange.

Did you have any surprises for your guests? How did you make your reception fabulous and memorable?
-We had a few unique aspects that added a personal touch to the wedding that the guests seemed to really enjoy. Our guest book was a tree that I painted and guests could dip their thumbs in paint to make a “leaf” on our tree. We then had them sign their names and we will be able to hang this in our home to remember the people who came to support us. Also, of course the photo booth provided by PhotoKisses was a HUGE hit and turned out some hilarious shots!

Can you say something small about how you chose your vendors, and what your impression of them is now that it’s all done?
-I was very pleased with all of my vendors! I felt that I didn’t have to worry about a thing the day of, we just had to show up! First of all, of course Kristina was amazing and the pictures are frozen memories that we will cherish for the rest of our lives, could not have asked for anything more Thank you, thank you! We went with Wegmans for the flowers and they did a beautiful job! The florists came to both the ceremony and the reception to set everything up and make sure everyone had their flowers, never had to worry about a thing. I cannot say enough about Radionation Band, SO much energy and great music with a little bit of something for everyone! There is something extremely intriguing about a live band at a wedding, the most unlikely suspects will be found on the dance floor, that is for sure!

What advice would you give to newly engaged ladies just starting to plan their wedding?
-Less is definitely more! Choose two or three aspects that are very important to you on that day and invest the majority of your time and money into those things. Don’t sweat all the mini details because most people don’t notice them and it causes more stress and wasted money than is necessary!

What advice would you give to the couple on their wedding day? Or, what advice do you wish you had been given for yours?
-Don’t worry about cutting loose early on! We walked around to the tables and talked to people, but once the music starts get out on the dance floor!  Most people will feed off the energy of the bride and groom and your guests will have a much better time dancing with you than talking about how fantastic you look! Also, don’t lose track of eachother for too long. It’s important to mingle with guests but they understand it is a special day for the two of you and you should be spending the majority of the celebration together!

(Laura’s own question!) How did you know your groom was having the time of his life?
(Insert picture of Paul with his tie around his head and guitar in hand!)…

Hello, and happy summer… er… spring! It sure feels like mid-summer here in Rochester NY, and believe me, sitting at my computer in my stuffy office is NO FUN.

As promised, here is a new installment of Brides for Brides. As previously stated, I’m starting a new segment on my blog titled “Brides for Brides” where I will have brides answer a few questions about their wedding and give advice to newly engaged couples how to make their day absolutely perfect and amazing. I bet every new bride gets overwhelmed once in a while, so here’s hoping that “Brides for Brides” will help someone! If you are a prior PhotoKisses bride, feel free to answer these same questions with your own experience in an email, and I will post them here for other brides to see!

Channon got married on September 6, 2009 at St. Ambrose Church in  and had her reception at the Webster Golf Club

What was your favorite part of the day?
My whole day was amazing.. But the moment that I first saw Todd waiting for me at the end of the aisle is when all of my nerves disappeared and I got really excited.

What did you think of your ceremony?
I am definitely thrilled with our choice in venue.  We had contemplated having the ceremony outside but I knew I would worry too much about the weather leading up to the ceremony so we decided to have a church wedding.  I was nervous about having a Catholic ceremony since my family is not Catholic.  Father Bob Werth went out of his way to make everyone feel comfortable.  I loved the memory flowers and candles that we did.  While our cantor was singing Ava Maria we lit a candle for each of our grandparents and Todd’s sister who were all there in spirit.

Did everything go as planned? If not, how did you or your bridal party/family help you deal with the mishaps?
Everyone told me leading up to my day that “something will always go wrong” and to not let it get to me.The only thing that didn’t go as planned was that the florist forgot to bring the vases for the head table for the bouquets to the reception location.  I figured if that was the most horrible thing that went wrong then I was pretty lucky!

What was your vision? What advice would you give to brides looking for wedding themes?
I didn’t set out with a “theme”.  I knew that I wanted pretty colors and to make everything as personal as possible.  Since I love photos and have a ton of Todd and I together, my sister and I made photo centerpieces.  I thought it was a neat way for our guests to see current photos of us as well as pictures from 10 years ago when we started dating.  I have always loved purple so I knew that I would incorporate that somehow.  But while shopping for bridesmaids dresses I wanted something with a little more “pop” so we chose a fuchsia sash.  Then we kinda ran with fuchsia as an accent color.

Did you have any surprises for your guests? How did you make your reception fabulous and memorable?
A couple months before our wedding we met with our videographer and shot a “Love Story” video to be shown at our wedding.  Nobody knew that we had done it and everyone got to watch it right before dinner.  It was the first time that Todd and I got to see it as well.  So many people told me it was their favorite part of the wedding. They had interviewed each of us separately so it was so fun to see what each other had said.  It was a great way for everyone to get to know us as a couple as well as it is something that we will have as a keepsake forever.

How did you choose your vendors?
My main determining factor when choosing my vendors was to go off my “gut feeling”.  I spent a lot of time surfing the internet looking for different vendors, ideas and price ranges.  When I finally sat down with the people that I chose, I had a really good feeling that they understood what I was looking for and were just as excited as I was to make our day special.

What advice would you give to newly engaged ladies just starting to plan their wedding?
Most importantly I would say that this is YOUR day.  Don’t make decisions just to please others.  Also, figure out what is most important to you.  If you love flowers then splurge and get the florist you really want and then maybe cut back a little on another expense that isn’t as important to you.

What advice would you give to the couple on their wedding day?
Enjoy each other.. and spend as much time together as possible.  The day will fly by!  Don’t sweat the small stuff.  This is the beginning of the rest of your amazing life together.

Thanks Channon for helping out!

Channon’s wedding vendors were:
Wedding Ceremony: St. Ambrose Church
Reception: Webster Golf Club
Wedding Photographer: Kristina – PhotoKisses
Florist: Bouquets by Bonnie
Wedding cake: Gruttadauria Bakery
Entertainment: Phenomenon Sound

Hello, and happy Wednesday! I’m starting a new segment on my blog titled “Brides for Brides” where I will have brides answer a few questions about their wedding and give advice to newly engaged couples how to make their day absolutely perfect and amazing. I bet every new bride gets overwhelmed once in a while, so here’s hoping that “Brides for Brides” will help someone! If you are a prior PhotoKisses bride, feel free to answer these same questions with your own experience in an email, and I will post them here for other brides to see!

Kelli got married on January 16, 2010 at the Westminster Chapel in Mendon and had her reception at Bristol Harbour in Canandaigua.

What was your favorite part of the day?
Opening my eyes in my hotel room and FINALLY being able to say “I’m getting married today!!”

Looking back do you feel you made the right choices in choosing the venue, the details, the type of ceremony?
I think the ceremony went perfect.  The bridal party did a great job! I do feel like I made the best choice as far as the venue.  We wanted a non-denominational ceremony, so being able to find a chapel that could accommodate that was really important to us.  The readings were beautiful.  We had several compliments on our selections. We hired a string quartet for the ceremony and they were great!

Did everything go as planned?
I made sure to follow-up with all my vendors and the Wedding Coordinator at Bristol Harbour several times before the big day to ensure everyone was on the same page and there were no surprises.

What was your vision? Did you have a theme, a concept, colors that you used?
Given the look and feel of Bristol Harbour I decided to go with a Rustic Elegance theme.  It was fun to incorporate winter with a rustic feel.  We used a lot of browns, ivory, dark greens and red.  There were pinecones of all sizes, curly willow, birch bark and moss.  Small votive candles hung off the curly willow centerpieces to give the tables a soft warm glow.  There were tealight lanterns hung from the ceiling above the dance floor to give the feeling of dancing under the stars.  There were amber uplights throughout the room that shined onto the walls, adding to the soft romantic feel.  The decor’ and ambiance of the room complimented each other perfectly.

Did you have any surprises for your guests?
We did have a firework display that no one knew about.  It ran about 15 minutes long and it was a great show!

How did you make your reception fabulous and memorable?
We had a photobooth for the entire duration of the reception.  I don’t think the booth was EVER empty.  There were props for the guests to use and it really allowed them to be creative and funny.  I have the scrapbook now that the company put together for us as well as a CD slideshow and I am very happy with it! We also had a cozy sitting area in front of the fireplace with furniture we rented.  On the coffee table we had an album showing pictures of Eric and I throughout our relationship.  We also hired Nik and the Nice Guys to play through our entire cocktail hour and reception.  This was nice not only for the people on the dance floor, but many guests remained at their table to watch the band perform.  I do wish Nik and the Nice Guys were a bit more personable.

Can you say something small about how you chose your vendors, and what your impression of them is now that it’s all done? Florist, caterer, band, etc?
I chose my vendors through other vendors and word of mouth! It actually started with Rochester wedding photographer Kristina at Photokisses.  Both my sisters recommended her at different times, so I reached out to her and from the first meeting I knew Kristina was perfect for what I wanted.  We clicked right away! She knew my vision and I really felt like she was excited to work with us.  That is very important to me as far as vendors go.  I want to work with someone who is excited to work and doesn’t look at it as “just another wedding.” My florist, Bouquets by Bonnie was wonderful! She was recommended by a couple different vendors.  She had great ideas and was excited to work with me.  Deb who was the videographer at SEVideo was great to work with also.  The bakery [Vanilla Swirl] where I got my Wedding cake was AMAZING! She did a beautiful job decorating the cake to look just like the picture I sent her.  It was a 4 tier cake to look like tree stumps with our initials sketched on the front.  There were chocolate pinecones, acorns and leaves that were all edible.  The only complaint was the cake was leaning.  Kristina did a great job capturing Eric and myself leaning with the cake! hehe I also hired Kelli Berg with Simply Beautiful Weddings to give her wonderful ideas and thoughts on all our decor.  She provided all linens, lights, pinecones, and other decorative items and did a wonderful job setting everything up just the way I had envisioned it.  The nice thing about all my vendors was that they have all worked together in the past, so it really makes for a smooth ceremony/reception.  I wouldn’t have changed a thing with any of them.  Well, no I take that back! I do wish I had Kristina and Deb from SEVideo stay until the end of the reception.

What advice would you give to newly engaged ladies just starting to plan their wedding?
Take your time and make the wedding your own.  Really get a sense of your vision and don’t commit to anything right away.  Make sure to go to a Bridal Show and make sure to grab all the coupons from all the vendors.  You can save a decent amount of money by doing this.  Really focus on your photographer and definitly have a videographer.  These were my most important as they are the ones who will allow you to relive your memories through their work.  Try not to get stressed out.  This is an exciting time for you and your Fiance.

What advice would you give to the couple on their wedding day? Or, what advice do you wish you had been given for yours?
My husband and I really took the time to stop and look around.  We managed to sneak into the reception room just before all the guests came in.  It was a special moment to be able to share it together alone. Don’t sweat the small stuff.  So what if the bows on the chair aren’t tied the way you thought, or that your Wedding cake is leaning…. laugh about it instead! Finally, just have fun enjoying what hard work you have both put in for your special day!