How to Have the Wedding of Your Dreams on a Small Budget

Let’s talk about something that can sometimes be a little bit awkward: your wedding budget.

I think a lot of brides look through popular wedding magazines, blogs, and Pinterest envisioning their wedding details. Then when they actually start looking at pricing for the things they want, they realize that most things are a lot more expensive than they thought. It’s okay if your budget isn’t the same as those magazine weddings and looks more like the average wedding budget. You can still have a magazine worthy wedding no matter what your budget is. Here’s how: reduce your guest count and bridal party size to the smallest number you and your fiancé feel comfortable with.

More guests means more money spent on a bigger venue, more food, more tables, linens, chairs, centerpieces, etc. And a larger bridal party means more money spent on bouquets and anything else you decide to pay for for the bridal party. With all that money you save from having fewer guests, you can afford those florals you really want, you can opt for the vineyard cross back chairs instead of the standard white chairs (or having to use chair covers over chairs you don’t like), and/or you could hire a wedding planner that may not have been in the budget otherwise.

And in the end, if you decide you’d rather have 300 people at your wedding than have the perfect flowers, that’s okay too! It’s your wedding, and you should have what you want. With every wedding planning decision, there are trade offs, and it’s up to each couple to decide what’s most important to them. I just want the average couple to realize that they CAN have the weddings of their dreams AND be on the cover of a magazine by simply only throwing the wedding for their closest friends and family.

My Trip to Iceland

Last year, I went a little bit crazy with travel. I just showed you my entire 5 city series on my trip with my husband through Europe. And then, two weeks after I got home from Europe, I took another trip with two girl friends to Iceland. I had been obsessed with Iceland for so long, and had just been dying to go. I had been seeing stunning destination wedding photos from the black sands beach, and I knew I wanted to shoot a destination wedding or elopement in Iceland. Well, whenever there is a place I want to shoot a destination wedding, I like to go an explore it myself first to get to know the location and find all of the spots that would be perfect for photos.

We were in Iceland for the week in between Christmas and New Years. We started by going to the Blue Lagoon on our way from the airport to Reykjavik. It was just as amazing and beautiful as it looks on those travel Instagram feeds! It’s a natural hot spring with beautiful mountain backdrops all around. At the time of year that we were there, Iceland only has 4 hours of daylight. It was actually really cool, because the sun never gets very high in the sky, so you get a two hour sunrise and then a two hour sunset. The sky always has beautiful, soft, pastel colors in the daylight.

We stayed in Reykjavik for one night, then traveled around the southern rim of the Golden Circle for a few days. I took a one day solo hiking trip in one of the national parks. I’m not the type of person who loves to do things by myself, but I was the only one on the trail, and it was so relaxing to just be alone with nature. On the trail, I got to see the world’s largest glacier outside of the arctics. We also explored the famous Black Sands Beach in Vik, Iceland. Let me tell you, it’s just as beautiful as I expected it to be. It would be the most stunning spot for bride and groom photos for a destination wedding!

We returned to Reykjavik to celebrate New Years. There are huge bonfires all over the city, then there is a firework show in the middle of the city. After the fireworks, we went to the bars, had a few beers, and listened to live music. It was such a fun way to celebrate.

Iceland is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. It’s almost as if you’re on a different planet. I would love to go back in the summer when there’s almost 24 hours of daylight and lots of greenery. It would be such a different experience. Check out some of my favorite photos from my trip to Iceland!

Are you looking for a destination wedding photographer? I would absolutely LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page to see if I have your wedding date available!

Laurel Hall Maternity Photos | Doreen's Maternity Session

Ninety Nine percent of the time, I only photograph weddings and couples sessions. But every once in a while during the wedding off-season, I have a little extra time, and I’m able to take on a different type of photography request. And when Doreen told me that she had booked Laurel Hall for her maternity photos, I just knew that I couldn’t say no. I’m so glad that Doreen chose me as her maternity photographer, because her session was absolutely amazing.

We ended up with a beautiful snowy morning this morning. Although it was cold, I knew the snow would be amazing for photos. Snow sessions and weddings are my favorite part about winter time in Indiana. I was so glad that Doreen was still willing to have her maternity session today even with the cold weather, because the few snow photos that we managed to take were well worth it.

The solarium at Laurel Hall was the perfect setting for a majority of Doreen’s photoshoot this afternoon. The stunning architecture and amazing natural light make this room every photographer’s dream. The lighting today was even better than usual because of the snowy skies. We also explored the rest of the venue including the elegant terrace, the stairs outside that showcase the venue, the grand staircase inside, and the wedding chapel upstairs. I love using every room that I can whenever I photograph weddings or sessions at Laurel Hall. I think the diversity of the venue really adds to the photos.

Enjoy a few of my favorite photos from Doreen’s maternity session at Laurel Hall this afternoon! I can’t wait to finish editing her full gallery!

Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would absolutely LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page to see if I have your wedding date available.

My Top Three Posing Tips For Flattering Photos On Your Wedding Day

No matter how “technically” perfect a photo is or how beautiful the editing is, you’re not going to like it if you don’t like the way you look in the photo. Almost every couple I work with tells me before their engagement session that they don’t like being in front of the camera, because they don’t usually like the way they look in photos. And while some of this can be chalked up to body image issues, honestly, I think it mainly comes down to posing. Posing is about making sure you look as amazing in your photos as you do in real life. And one of the things I’m always doing during your wedding day and your engagement session is making sure you look your best. I have a whole posing system that we flow through to make sure you have tons of variety and that every photo is super flattering.

My couples always tell me after their engagement session and their wedding that they felt so comfortable, they had so much fun with their significant other during portraits, and they LOVE the way they look in their photos. For me, there’s nothing that makes me happier in this job than hearing how much my couples love their photos.

Today I’m sharing my top three posing secrets for flattering that make my couples look amazing on their wedding day.

Tip One: Lean Towards the Camera

You know that horrifying moment when you’re laying in bed browsing through Instagram, and you accidentally open the camera, and it’s pointed towards you? It’s pretty much the most unflattering version of yourself that you’ve ever seen. Or at least I feel that way when it happens to me! A lesser version of this is what’s going on when you lean slightly away from the camera during a photo. It causes the photographer to shoot at an upward angle towards you, which is not a good angle for anyone. In almost every single photo and pose, I tell my couples to bend at the waist and lean slightly towards me while keeping their weight on their back leg. This instantly makes them look thinner, and it’s a much more flattering angle.

Tip Two: Belly Button to Hip Bone

Belly button to hip bone is my “go to” pose for flattering both the guy and the girl. The most flattering look for men is facing the camera straight on, while the most flattering look for women is turning their body to the side. So for this pose, I have the guy face me straight on, and the girl puts her belly button into his hip bone. Ladies, this pose, literally cuts your body in half and makes you look amazing. Although, I do want to emphasize that this is not about looking “super skinny.” It’s about making sure you look as amazing on camera as you do in real life.

Tip Three: Flattering Your Arms

The biggest thing a lot of my brides tell me that they’re self-conscious about is their arms. AND strapless dresses happen to be the most popular style of wedding dress. So making your arms look amazing on your wedding day is so important to make sure you like the way you look in your wedding photos. My first tip for making your arms look amazing, is to hold them out away from your body slightly. When your arm is pinned to your side, it gets squished and flattens out, making it look much larger than it actually is. You can avoid this by holding your arm slightly away from your body. The other thing you can do is use your veil strategically. When setting up a pose, I always bring my bride’s veil forward so that it covers half of her arm. This cuts the arm in half visually and makes it look much smaller.

I hope you found these posing tips helpful, and that you’ll feel much more confident when posing for your wedding photos!

Our Trip to Rome, Italy

We’ve now come to the very last blog post in our series focused on my two week trip with my husband through Europe last fall. For our very last stop of our trip, we stayed in Rome, Italy for three days. When we arrived in Rome, it was early December, but the weather was very warm and nice compared to the rest of the cities we had been to on this trip. Because of this, it was also the most crowded city we visited with lots of tourists everywhere we went.

While we were in Rome, we spent a lot of time exploring the historic sites of the city. We walked around the city visiting all of the ruins. The Colosseum was incredibly impressive in person! It was so beautiful when we visited right at sunset. We also went and saw the Vatican. Fun fact: the Vatican is actually its own separate country. So technically, we visited 4 different countries on this Europe trip. Of course, we saw all of the famous fountains while we were in Rome as well. AND Rome had the best pizza Andry and I have ever had and it was right across the street from our hotel!

I hope with these past five blog posts, I’ve convinced at least one couple to have a destination wedding in Europe. Destination weddings on the beach are so amazing and beautiful, but there are so many options when it comes to your wedding! The world is big, and you can get married anywhere that resonates with you and your fiance!

Check out some of my favorite photos from Rome, Italy! And comment below what my next personal blog series should be about.

Are you looking for a destination wedding photographer? I would absolutely LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page to see if I have your wedding date available!

How to Store and Back Up Your Wedding Photos

Today’s blog topic isn’t very “sexy,” but it’s an important one! When I deliver your gallery once the wedding is over, and I’m finished editing, I do so via an online gallery system called Pixieset. Here is an example of a full gallery that a client receives: https://rakoteetphotography.pixieset.com/g/camandchelseigh/. When you enter the gallery, it will walk you through how to favorite, share, print, and download the images. You can download your photos with a special password that I send to you, and of course, you are free to share you gallery and password with friends and family. When you download your images, you can download in high resolution, which is best for printing, as well as web size, which is best for sharing on social media. Your gallery will remain online for 6 months after delivery to allow plenty of time for downloading and ordering prints if you wish to purchase any prints through my professional lab (you also have a print release and can print wherever you would like). After those six months, it’s up to you to store and back up the photos in order to save them for the rest of your lives and for future generations.

When downloading the high resolution files, they may be too large to fit on your computer. I recomend storing them on an external hard drive. Here are the ones I use: https://amzn.to/2SCsZdl. If you don’t need 4 TB of space, this one might work better for you: https://amzn.to/2C0SygZ. I recomend purchasing two of these, and backing up your photos in multiple locations, because you can never be too careful with your wedding photos, and sometimes technology fails (I am crazy about backups). You’ll also want to store your photos on the cloud in case anything were to physically happen to the hard drives, such as a house fire or a break in. Google drive is probably the easiest way to use cloud storage. You won’t be able to fit all of your wedding photos in the amount of space that google offers you for free, but it’s relatively cheap to purchase additional storage.

I recomend downloading both the high resolution and web size versions of the photos, and saving them to two external hard drives AND cloud storage. You’ll want these photos to last for generations, and this is the best way you can make sure that happens.

Although today’s blog topic wasn’t as fun as normal, I hope it was helpful! If you have any questions about storing and backing up your wedding photos, feel free to leave them in the comments below or email directly here.

2019 Two Bright Lights Editor's Choice Award Winner!

Today, I found out some exciting news! Rakoteet Photography won the 2019 Two Bright Light's Editor’s Choice Awards! This award is based on the amount of magazines and blogs who have published my work this past year, and winning the award places me in the top 1% of wedding professionals worldwide.

I want to say a huge THANK YOU to all of the wedding magazines and blogs that published my work this year. I have been to honored to be featured in so many amazing publications, including one magazine cover page! I also want to say thank you to all of the other incredible wedding vendors that I had the opportunity to work with this year. Without the exceptional wedding planning, magazine worthy flowers, and stunning furniture rentals, the wedding photos would not be as beautiful. A wedding can’t be published without the hard work and dedication of the entire wedding vendor team. And of course, I couldn’t have done it without my amazing couples who trusted me to photograph the most important day of their lives, their wedding day.

I don’t need to win awards. As long as my brides and grooms are thrilled with their wedding photos, that’s all I need. Customer service is way more important to me than recognition within the wedding industry. I’m a very lucky photographer that my couples plan amazing wedding details that magazines and blogs want to share as inspirations for other brides and grooms planning their own weddings. Having my wedding photos published in magazines and winning awards within the wedding industry is definitely the “icing of the cake” when it comes to my job. And while I don’t feel the need to be recognized, it’s definitely nice.

So here’s to working with more amazing brides and grooms, more incredible wedding vendors, and more influential wedding magazines this next year!

Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would absolutely LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page!

Our Trip to Florence, Italy

By now, through my blog series focusing on my trip to Europe last fall, you’ve seen almost all of mine and Andry’s journey. For the second to last city of our vacation, we stayed in Florence, Italy for two days. Don’t be fooled by the fact that I didn’t take nearly as many photos in Florence as the other cities we visited. Andry and I actually had our favorite experience of the entire trip in Florence. Our stay in this city was focused on one thing: wine.

Those who know me personally, know that I’m really interested in wine. Of course, I love it for the taste, but I also love learning about wine, how its grown, where different wines come from, and how its made. A dream of mine is to someday own a vineyard and winery. So while we were in Italy, Andry and I took a full day private wine tour of Tuscany. We had a guided tour, just the two of us and our guide, around the Italian countryside. We visited three different wineries, toured the vineyards, met the winery owners, and got to see how the wine was made. We learned all about the wine industry in Italy, and did so many tastings. By the end of the tour, we were quizzed with a blind tasting of different wines, and we were both able to get 100% of the wines correct based on the taste and smell. Andry and I did a smilier tour when we were in California, but the wine in Italy is very different. I would love to do another wine tour in France. I can’t wait for the day we can return to Europe.

The Tuscany countryside would be the most beautiful and romantic place for a destination wedding or elopement! Check out a few of my favorite photos from Florence, Italy!

Are you looking for a destination wedding photographer? I would absolutely LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page to see if I have your wedding date available!

What to Have Ready When Your Wedding Photographer Arrives on Your Wedding Day

As a wedding photographer, the first thing I do when I arrive on the wedding day is photograph the bride and groom’s personal details. This part of the morning goes so much smoother if the couple already has everything ready and organized for me when I arrive. Otherwise, I’ll have to search through the crowded getting ready room to find everything, and I’ll probably have to go to the groom’s suite to track all of his details down as well. I recomend that both the bride and the groom’s details be all together in a box or bag (at least the smaller items that will fit) in the bridal suite when I arrive, since I usually head to the bridal suite first on a wedding day.

Here are the items that I recommend my brides and grooms have ready for me to photograph when I arrive on the wedding day:

Wedding Details:

• Invitation suite, stamps, wax seal, and any other invitation details

• Other important stationary such as the programs

• Loose flowers from the florist for styling photos

• Any other special customized wedding details

Bride’s Details:

• All three rings (or however many you have)

• Your personal ring box if you have one (I recomend the Mrs. Box)

• The bridal jewelry

• The veil

• The bridal bouquet

• The bride’s dress (on the hanger you want it photographed on - bonus points if it’s already hanging somewhere beautiful)

• The bride’s shoes

• A special perfume if you’re wearing one

• Any other special details that you want photographed

Groom’s Details:

• The groom’s shoes

• The groom’s tie

• The groom’s watch (if he’s wearing one)

• A special cologne (if he’s wearing one)

• Tie clip

• Cufflinks

• The groom’s boutonniere

• Any other special details that the groom may have

Photographing the wedding details is one of my favorite parts of the wedding day, and my couples always love these photos as well. You spend so much time, money, and emotions picking out these special details for you wedding day. I want to create beautiful, sentimental photos for you with these details. Having them all ready for me when I arrive on your wedding day is super helpful!

Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would absolutely LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page to see if I have your wedding date available!

Our Trip to Venice, Italy

Continuing on with our blog series on my trip through Europe last year, the next city that Andry and I visited after we left Switzerland, was Venice, Italy. Venice has to be one of my absolute favorite places I’ve eve been! I think it’s tied with Paris. Andry and I loved exploring the whole city by foot.

We could definitely feel the romance that Italy has to offer. We spent 4 days in Venice. We mainly spent our days exploring all that the city has to offer, such as the colorful ally ways and the unique shops, and we spent a lot of time taking in the amazing views of the canal. We were the perfect walking distance from everything in the city, with our hotel being right on the canal. Venice was so fun, because there are no cars, only boats. You could hop on a taxi boat to take you anywhere you wanted to go in the city. We spent our evenings eating amazing Italian Cuisine, having gelato for dessert, and taking the the stunning sunset view of the canal from the famous Rialto bridge. On our last night in Venice, we took a sunset gondola ride, which is something I’ve always wanted to do.

It’s true what they say, Italy really is one of the most romantic places in the world, and Venice would be the perfect place for a romantic destination wedding. Andry and I definitely loved our time there! My next blog post will be about our next leg of the trip in Florence, Italy, which I loved almost as much as Venice. Until then, enjoy some of my favorite photos from Venice, Italy.

Are you looking for a destination wedding photographer? I would absolutely LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page to see if I have your wedding date available!

The Perfect Family Formal Shot List

What are family formals? These are the formal shots that the bride and groom take with their families on the wedding day. This is planned into the timeline, usually right before the ceremony if the couple has a first look or they can also be taken right after the ceremony during cocktail hour.

Around six weeks before the wedding day, I send my couples a questionnaire with all of the information I need from them in order to photograph their wedding day. One of the most important things I need from my couples is their family formal shot list. The reason I ask for this before the wedding day is so that, on the wedding day, when it’s time for family formals, I can just read straight down the list, snap the shot, and then move to the next shot. It’s easy, painless, and stress-free for the families. And families almost always tell me they love how efficient I am! In reality, the efficiency happens because the bride and groom planned ahead.

Family formals can easily become one of the most stressful parts of the wedding day if not planned for well enough. My biggest tip is to make sure that everyone knows where to be and when! In case anyone is missing, appoint a family member or close family friend to find missing people. Unfortunately, I don’t know what your family members look like, so I won’t be able to do this. You also need to double check with your fiance to make sure you’re both on the same page regarding the family formal list. This part of the day goes SO much smoother when I can just read down the list, instead of someone trying to figure out additional groupings they want on the fly.

When thinking about who to include in your family formals, think about which pictures you’re going to want to hang in your home and pass down to your children. It’s usually photos with your immediate family and your grandparents. Remember that you can always take photos with your aunts, uncles, cousins, and other extended family members during the reception after the formalities. Limiting the number of people included in family formals really helps to cut down on stress for the bride and groom and the time needed for photos.

After photographing over 75 weddings and seeing what works well, and which photos actually get printed, here is my recommended family formal list:

Bride’s Side

• Bride with mom

• Bride with dad

• Bride with both parents

• Bride and groom with bride’s parents

• Bride and groom with bride’s immediate family (bride’s parents, siblings, and siblings’ spouses and children)

• Bride and groom with bride’s maternal grandparents

• Bride and groom with bride’s paternal grandparents

Groom’s Side

• Groom with mom

• Groom with dad

• Groom with both parents

• Groom and bride with groom’s parents

• Groom and bride with groom’s immediate family (groom’s parents, siblings, and siblings’ spouses and children)

• Groom and bride with groom’s maternal grandparents

• Groom and bride with groom’s paternal grandparents

Both Sides

• Bride and groom with both sets of parents

This list takes approximately 30 minutes to complete if everyone is on time. Do you have any unique family situations such as an aunt who practically raised you? Or maybe step-parents need to be added in? Feel free to adjust this list as needed. This is your wedding day after all, and every family is different. I would just recomend trying to keep your family formal groupings to no more than 15. In my experience, this number tends to work the best. If you decide to add more than 15 groupings to your list, just make sure you set aside plenty of time (45 minutes-1 hour) for family photos at your wedding.

Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page!

Intimate Summer Wedding at Laurel Hall

These wedding photos were taken at Laurel Hall all the way back last June! I’m glad that I’m finally getting a change to blog them, because I loved this romantic couple and the intimate ceremony and reception set up’s in the solarium at Laurel Hall. Laurel Hall is the perfect venue for beautiful natural light. The solarium is filled with huge windows on three sides of the room. It’s very elegant, and it’s my personal favorite place in the whole estate at Laurel Hall. The Solarium at Laurel Hall was the perfect room for this intimate summer wedding.

I was actually lucky enough to photograph two weddings at Laurel Hall last June. Lucky me, because Laurel Hall is one of my favorite venues in Indianapolis. The pink, purple, blue, and crystal theme for this wedding was so unique, and perfect for the venue. I loved the simple greenery arch by the amazing florist, B. Eloquence.

I love that both the ceremony and reception had very unique set ups compared to any other weddings I’ve photographed at Laurel Hall. Laurel Hall has so many options for how you can structure your ceremony and reception. You could set up your reception facing multiple ways in the solarium, you can have your ceremony out on the lawn, you could set up your ceremony on the terrace, or you could also use the little white chapel on the third floor. For your reception, the most common set up is using the formal dining room, but you can also use the solarium, you can use the terrace, or you could set up a tent out on the lawn.

Enjoy a few of my favorite photos from this intimate June wedding at Laurel Hall!

The Vendor Team:

Indianapolis Wedding Photographer: Rakoteet Photography

Venue: Laurel Hall, Indianapolis

Coordinator: Magical Moments Event Planning

Florist: B. Eloquence

Calligraphy: Eb Paper Co

Hair & Make Up: Something Blue Stylists

Rentals: Violet Vintage Rentals

Linens: Linen Hero

Dress: Blue House Bridal

Mensware: DC Tux

Elegant September Wedding at Daniel's Vineyard and Winery

Things have finally slowed down a little bit for me. Usually the winter in general is a little bit slower, but this year, I had some stunning winter weddings in December and January. Now that all of those weddings have been edited and delivered, I have a little bit of extra time in my business to work on some fun projects that have been on the back burner for awhile. And one of those fun projects is blogging some of my favorite weddings and sessions that I photographed last year before I started this blog.

If you guys follow me on social media, then you know that I love wine. Like, I love the history of it. I love learning about how it’s made, and I love visiting and touring vineyards in different parts of the world (I’ll be sharing about my winery tour in Tuscany on the blog later this month). SO it should come as no surprise, that vineyard weddings are some of my absolute favorites weddings. Now, you might think that as an Indianapolis wedding photographer, that I wouldn’t have as much of an opportunity to photograph vineyard weddings as a California wedding photographer or an Italian wedding photographer, but we actually have a lot of amazing local wineries right here in Indianapolis, and all over Indiana. I’m on a mission to visit them all!

Some of my favorite wineries that are also wedding venues are The Sycamore at Mallow Run, and of course, Daniel’s Vineyard. Early September is the most beautiful time of year for vineyards here in Indiana, because the grapes get harvested in late September or early October. Check out some of my favorite photos from this black and burgundy wedding at Daniel’s Vineyard last September.

Indianapolis Wedding Photographer: Rakoteet Photography

Venue: Daniel's Vineyard​

Tablescapes & Rentals: Uncommonly Styled​

Floral and Styling: Knox Flowers​

Invitations, Paperie, & Signage: Interprintations​

Linen: Linen Hero

Dress: LUXEredux Bridal​

Hair: Allison Linnae Hair​

Makeup: Gina Valentine​

Tux: Jim’s Formal Wear

Cakes: Nétta Sweet​

Ring Boxes: The Mrs. Box​

Silk and Ribbon: The Lesser Bear​

Our Trip to Switzerland

This is the second post in my blog series about my trip through Europe with my husband last year. After Paris, we continued on our trip by heading to Switzerland. It had been a long time dream of mine to visit the Swiss Alps and to venture to the top, and we did just that while we were in Switzerland. This country is so beautiful with its majestic mountains and quaint villages.

While we were visiting Switzerland, we stayed in Lucern, an adorable village at the bottom of the alps. We were only in Switzerland for two days, and we ventured up into the mountains both days. On our first day, we went to the top of Mount Pilates, which you can get to via an hour-long cable car ride from Lucern. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much of a view from the top, because we visited on a cloudy day, but on the way up, we saw some of the most beautiful views! Our cable car ride started our with views of the city and the lush green country side, but as we made our way up, the views became completely white and snow-filled.

On our second day in Switzerland, we took a train to the top of the Alps. The summit we went to was called JungFrau. Again, we visited on a very cloudy day, so we didn’t have any view from the top of the mountain, but we still had some neat experiences. The train ride to the top had beautiful scenic views, and once we reached the top, we had to walk through an ice tunnel to reach the top of JungFrau. Overall, it was a really cool experience.

Now that I’ve seen the beauty of Switzerland for myself, I’m dying to photograph a wedding here. Any takers?

Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would absolutely LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page to see if I have your date available!

The One Thing Brides Always Forget in the Wedding Day Timeline

I always offer to create a customized wedding photography timeline for my brides and grooms, and I send them a recommended photography timeline as part of my “Bridal Guide” as soon as they book with me. Most of my couples are super organized, and already have their timeline planned. When I look at their timeline to see if I need to make and changes or give any recommendations, there is almost always one thing missing from the timeline: a designated time for reception detail photos.

Let me explain why this is important. My brides and grooms spend a lot of money on their wedding reception details. They’ve spend countless hours with their florists and/or wedding designers planning their centerpieces. They’ve spent extra money on fancier chairs and beautiful linens. they have the room arranged perfectly. And they’ve picked their wedding venue because they love the way it will look when it's all set up for their reception. I think all brides and grooms see the value in making sure they have photos of the reception details, but many couples think that their wedding photographer can take these photos during the reception. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Once your guests enter your reception, there will be bags and coats on the chairs, drinks and cell phones on the tables, and I won’t be able to get a clean shot of the room or the tablescapes. This is why I tell my couples that we need to plan for these photos in the timeline BEFORE guests are allowed into the reception.

There can be a few logistical challenges with making this happen. First, we need to make sure that the entire reception will be set up before I’m scheduled to take photos of it. Check with your venue, your caterer, and your florist to make sure set up will be finished in time. If your ceremony and reception are in the same venue (which always makes for WAY easier logistics the entire day), then I can photograph your reception details in the 30 minutes before the ceremony while the bride is in hiding. If your reception venue is driving distance from your ceremony and we don’t have any photos to take after the ceremony (because of doing a first look), then I can send my second shooter to the reception venue towards the end of the ceremony to take photos before guests arrive. If you’re having a separate location for a cocktail hour, this gives us a little more wiggle room. If you’re doing a room flip or using the same chairs for the ceremony and reception, unfortunately, I won’t have much, if any, time to photograph the reception fully set up, but I always do my best to take as many photos as possible in the small amount of time I have.

I promise, it’s always worth it to plan reception detail shots into your wedding day timeline. If you don’t believe me, check out some of my favorite wedding reception detail photos below.

Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would absolutely LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page to see if I have your date available!

Laurilyn Farms Florist Branding Photos

I first had the opportunity to work with Lauren and Jerilyn, the sisters that run Laurilyn Farms when they were the florist for Dakota and Richmond’s wedding last June at The Loft at Walnut Hill Farms. I was so impressed with their work. They took the simple concept of white and greenery and turned it into something so creative and unique. Ever since then, I’ve been following Laurilyn Farm’s work and loving everything they do.

One of my favorite things about Laurilyn Farms is that they’re not just a wedding florist. They also have their own flower farm where they grow a lot of the flowers that they use. Lauren runs the florist side of the business, while Jerilyn runs the farm side of the business. How fun is it that these sisters get to work together! I always love getting to take photos for florists, so I was thrilled when Lauren and Jerilyn asked me to do their branding photography for their new website by Lauren Taylar of Taylar Digital (the same designer who designed my own website).

Lauren and Jerilyn really wanted photos that showed off their personalities. Their photos included wine, champaign, coffee mugs, and a few flower and farm accessories. We had planned on including flowers in the session as well, but unfortunately we are currently experiencing a polar vortex here in Indianapolis, and it would have been way too cold for the flowers to survive. The location for our session was my favorite wedding venue in Indy, Laurel Hall.

Laurilyn Farms received their full gallery of 148 photos less than 24 hours after their session. Check out a few of my favorites below. These two were so fun to photograph!

Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would absolutely LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page to see if I have your wedding date available!

Our Trip to Paris

Sometimes, editing personal photos is the very last thing on my to-do list. That’s why it’s taken me over a year to FINALLY edit some of my photos from our trip to Europe. I’ve been dying to get some of these printed, so I finally forced myself to take a break from working 24/7 on my business, and do something for me.

Last November, Andry and I took a big two week trip through Europe. We started in Paris, continued on to Switzerland, and then visited Venice, Florence, and Rome in Italy. Traveling is my favorite hobby. I LOVE to see different parts of the world, and I especially love to get to see the world with my husband. That’s part of the reason I love destination weddings so much. I really resonate with couples who love traveling together and want to celebrate their love in another part of the country or world.

I’m sharing our Europe trip in a series, starting with our first leg of the journey in Paris. We only spent 3.5 days in Paris, but we really made the most of our time there. I had a photoshoot that’s been published multiple times (I’ll share that shoot on the blog soon for those who haven’t seen it). We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We went to the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa. We took a boat tour of the city. We went to Sacre Coeur, and saw an amazing view of the city. We visited the Palace of Versailles. We toured Notre Dame. And of course, we ate so much amazing food in the Parisian cafes.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from our time in Paris!

Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would absolutely LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page to see if I have your wedding date available!

Why You Need To Take Sunset Photos On Your Wedding Day

One of my favorite parts of any wedding day is sunset photos. I get so excited every time a couple plans 15 minutes for sunset photos in their wedding day timeline. These photos ALWAYS end up being my absolute favorite bride and groom portraits from the day, and they are always my couples’ favorite photos as well. I talk about sunset photos on social media so often that my brides tell me things like “I know how much you love sunset photos, so I planned it into my timeline.” My couples are the BEST.

Even one of my couples who gave me an hour for bride and groom photos after their first look still made time for sunset photos during their reception as well. Golden hour photos or photos taken right at sunset have such a different feel to them than photos taken earlier in the day. If the first look is at 1pm, the sun will be super harsh at that time. We’ll have to be careful about where we shoot and which direction we face to make sure the lighting is flattering and not causing weird shadows. However, at sunset, the lighting is amazing. It’s soft and beautiful and flattering.

The timing of sunset photos will depend on the season that your wedding is in. Just google what time sunset is on your wedding day, and we’ll start sunset photos about 20 minutes before that. For my summer weddings, this tends to be around the end of the reception. For my winter weddings, this could be right after the ceremony.

Not convinced that you need sunset photos on your wedding day? I’ll just let the photos speak for themselves.

Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would LOVE to work with you! Just send me a message over on my contact page!

Couples Session at the Central Library in Downtown Indianapolis | Amy and Hansen

Today, Hansen became a U.S. citizen! I was so excited when Amy asked me to photograph his citizenship naturalization ceremony. I’m not sure if many of you know this, but I’m also married to a non-U.S. citizen. Andry is from Madagascar, and we’ve been going through the immigration process as well. He is eligible to apply for his citizenship this coming June, so it was so fun to get to experience and photograph a citizenship ceremony to see what it’s like. After the ceremony, we drove to the Central Library in downtown Indianapolis for a short couples session.

The Central Library is one of my favorite spots for couples portraits and engagement sessions. If you’re looking for location ideas, you can check out my full list here. It was nice that it was so close to the immigration office as well.

I loved getting to work with Amy. She was actually my mentor at my first corporate job out of college back when I was a financial analyst. Ever since we both left that company, we haven’t gotten to see much of each other, so it was amazing to get to catch up with an old friend.

Amy and Hansen are so adorable together. They’ve been married for about 4 years, so it’s always fun to get some new couples photos after you’ve been married for a while. Especially when you’re celebrating something exciting, like your husband becoming a United States Citizen!

Amy and Hansen, I loved getting to celebrate with you two! I can’t wait to send you your full gallery! Congratulations again on becoming a United States Citizen, Hansen!

Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would LOVE to work with you! Feel free to send me a message over on my contact page. I can’t wait to hear from you!

Why You Need an Engagement Session

I LOVE engagement sessions for so many reasons. Most of my couples love them just as much as I do. Two of my three wedding photography packages include a complimentary engagement session. This isn’t only a benefit for the couple, it’s a benefit for me as well. But every once in a while, I’ll get a request from a couple who wants to book me saying that they don’t need an engagement session, so they’d like me to either swap it out for something else or reduce the cost of the package. Well, first of all, the engagement session is complimentary. Therefore, It doesn’t have a monetary value to be subtracted or traded. It’s my free gift to my couples that they can choose to use or not. In this post, I’ll explain why my hope is that all of my couples take advantage of their complimentary engagement session.

Engagement sessions are such a great way for me to get to know my couples before the wedding day. The couple gets to learn my posing and directing style while we chat about all their wedding details and planning. This is such great practice, because once the wedding day comes along, my couples already know all the poses. And they already know that they loved their engagement photos, so they don’t have to worry about whether or not they are going to love their wedding photos. They already know that I know how to make them look as amazing on camera as they do in real life, and they already understand that they don’t have to stress trying to come up with poses, because I take care of all of that.

Another benefit of the engagement session is it’s a great opportunity for my couples to communicate their hopes for their wedding photos. Maybe they get the images back and they realize that they loved the twirling photos, and want more like that on their wedding day. Or maybe they didn’t like the sitting photos, and want to skip those on the wedding day. This is another reason a trial run is so important!

Not to mention, my couples get awesome photos of the two of them that they can print and frame. Most of my couples (even the grooms) have a blast at the session. It’s like a date where you get to snuggle up to and flirt with your favorite person. What could be better?!

Are you looking for a wedding photographer? I would LOVE to work with you! Send me a message over on my contact page!