Don't let Mother Nature stop you at your door!  Tell your fiance and your photographer to grab their coats and gloves and follow you outside for some amazing photo ops in the snow!  With the impending storm coming, those of you who were hoping for a white Christmas are all set to go!  A winter wonderland is the perfect backdrop for love.  Check out these examples below...

photo by Jonathon Campbell Photography 

photo by Rebecca Westover Photography 

photo by Stacey Hedman Photography 

photo by Front Room Photography 

photo by Tiny Water Photography

So remember, your photos do not have to be in an indoors studio just because the weather turns on you.  Make lemons out of lemonade...or snow lemons out of...nevermind.  Just get bundled up and get out there!  

Six years ago I flipped my car upside down into a ditch after fishtailing on some black ice.  I was as good as new, however my car and my nerves were damaged for good.  Since that point, ice and snow have given me the heebie jeebies.  There is one time of year though when I love looking out the window to see mounds and mounds of snow covering every possible surface...Christmas of course.  Do you all remember last year when there was no snow anywhere around here?  Christmas felt weird.  Still good of course, but weird.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a white Christmas this year, and I thought I could possibly inspire Mother Nature and a few of our brides as well with some winter wedding pictures.  Take a look at these gorgeous pictures taken out in the frosty snow!

Picture by Mike Larson Photography

Picture by Brovado Weddings

Photo by Jenny Haas Photography

Photo by Peter Bang Photography 

So while these pictures don't make me want to go out and sommersault in my car a million times, they might make me step outdoors to enjoy the beautiful weather no matter what time of year I was getting married!  

We've heard of engagement sessions, and trash the dress sessions, but now a new photography trend is popping up in the wedding world, and it leaves many of us scratching our heads.  The Morning After photo shoot is the hottest new trend, and it consists of your photog being invited to your honeymoon suite the next morning to capture you and your new husband or wife doing whatever it is new lovebirds do after they've gotten that ring on their fingers.  Ranging from pictures of coffee to pictures of couples romping around in bed, this photo shoot is intriguing but undoubtedly not for everyone.

My thoughts?  First of all, the morning after my wedding, I was no longer picture perfect.  My wedding day was wonderful and wonderfully exhausting!  I was so partied out and tired that when I got home and fell asleep, I slept hard core. I suppose if I had wanted to take part in a morning after shoot, I'd have to get it in writing that the bags under my eyes would be photoshopped out.  That being said, I remember waking up the day after my wedding and feeling this huge relief.  I think it was because planning a wedding while fun takes a lot of time and energy and it was finally done and we could finally just start living our life together.  So maybe those would have been beautiful pictures, who knows. 

Here are a few example shots I found on the web of morning after photo sessions...

photo by Amelia Strauss Photography

photo by Refinery29

photo by Pam Cooley Photography

So what do you think?  Are there any couples out there thinking about this?  Are there any photogs out there offering this?  I am wondering if this can be built into your photography package if you wanted it?  Food for thought on this fine Sunday morning...  Hmmm... I wonder how many morning after sessions are happening right now with OR without a photographer present.  :)

My smile never looks the way I think it would look when I glance at pictures of myself.  What I feel to be a huge cheesy grin might make for a photogenic shot whereas if I tried my darndest to put on my prettiest smile, I may end up looking like I'm more in pain than having a good time.  That's why I love to see a wedding album where there are a mixture of shots both posed and on the spot.  You catch people at their cheesiest and at their loveliest at in one day. 

Side note: I haven't really shared my wedding photography on here in part because I like my anonymity - I sometimes fantasize that I'm some warped bridal blogging super heroine.  The other reason that I have kept my pictures somewhat sacred is that we have so many talented photographers in our vendor directory that I didn't want anyone thinking that I am biased towards our photographer.  Oh but I just can't help myself...  Our photographer was the first wedding vendor that we booked because I happen to think (any my smart fiance now husband agreed with me) that photography is about the most important decision we made while planning our wedding.  Anyway, I digress.. 

Our photographer was Giraffe Photographer with the amazing husband wife duo of Steven and Elaine who we zeroed in on specifically because of their non-cookie cutter style of photography.  Their mix of candid and formal shots make their outcome amazing.  I thought it would be great to finally share some of our engagement pictures in this blog post because of the great balance that Giraffe Photography was able to find...

Here are some formal shots.  These would be the ones where everyone knows their picture is being taken and is in fact told where to sit and how to pose.  This would be much of what you see in traditional photography.  This is the kind of photography where your entire wedding party and/or family may be lined up with everyone in height order and hands placed just so...a favorite with grandparents everywhere...

And then we have some more free-stylin' candid shots.  When we were taking these pictures, I remember Stephen and Elaine telling us general directions like, "Give her a smooch!" or "Look at each other."  Other than that, what we did was up to us.  Look how different these pictures are...

I love all of these pictures, and it was nice to provide a variety for our familys to choose from.  If I had to pick one style over another, I think I'd go with candid...  How about you?  What kind of photography do you like best? 

There are so many things that I'd like to cover in today's post, and they all kind of connect.  Thus, they are going to be sandwiched together like a delicious whoopie pie.  A whoopie pie?  Did we just take a jump back to grandma's childhood, you might ask? Hold on, folks.  I'll explain...

I've posted recently about how engagement pictures were on our upcoming radar and how I didn't want our pictures to look like we were painfully stiff or awkwardly poised.  We also started making that running list of places in the QCA and themes that you could use to make a really fun engagement shoot.  Lots of you contributed to our list, and I definitely made use of it!  We decided that we would do a picnic themed photo shoot.  I also wanted to incorporate a vintage-esque vibe to it as I love all things vintage.  I scoured the web to find some inspiration pictures that I could show our photographer.  Here are the ones that I sent him:

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photo by Adrienne Gunde

photo by Caroline Tran

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photo by Sloan Photographers 

Our engagement shoot was set for a Saturday afternoon, and Friday at work I realized that I didn't really have anything to wear.  Seriously...nothing.  I literally only had the clothes on my back.  Okay, not really, but I had a vision of wearing a yellow cardigan in the shoot.  I went to Target thinking surely they will have a yellow cardigan!  And they did!  They also had a million things that we ended up using as props for our photo shoot.  After looking at my bill from running around the store like a mad woman with a cart full of anything blue or yellow and had to do with eating, I wondered if this investment was worth it.  In the end, I decided yes!  We received our photo proofs back last week, and they are lovely!  Stephen and Elaine really loved the props that we brought and helped to arrange them and incorporated them into every picture!  Here are some of my favorites:

All photos are by our amazing photographer: Giraffe Photography

So we really love our pictures! I felt like Stephen and Elaine listened to everything that I rambled on about when I was trying to describe the look that I wanted. They loved our vintage props, and apparently it was providence as Stephen is a big fan of vintage candy. As a tiny token of our thanks, we sent Stephen home with the lemon drops and Elaine got her paws on the whoopie pies!

The other key element of this blog post is that I wanted to point out that we have the copyrights to our images. THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT! When you book your photographer, you will want to make sure that you can eventually have the copyrights to your photos. In this age when we all like to post our pictures on our social networking sites and make copies for cheapy cheap, you will be stopped dead in your tracks if you don't have the copyrights to the high resolution images. On top of that, what would happen if there was a devastating fire and your wedding album was gone forever? If you have the images, you can have replacements made even if it's 20 years down the road. GET THE COPYRIGHTS! So important...

Some photographers build this service into their standard photography package while others will charge you an additional fee. Either way, the investment will literally pay for itself as ordering prints directly from your photographer can really add up if it is an a la carte service. I'm talking $25 for a 4x6. Think about how quickly this can add up when you have even just ten relatives that you'd like to send a picture.

So I hope you've enjoyed our pictures! I'd love to see other couple's pictures posted in the message board! Tell us about your photo shoot experiences!

CORRECTION:  Donna Blundel, QCWeddings.com Boss Lady and Photographer Extraordinaire pointed out that....

"Actually this is a key mis-conception about Copyright.  Copyright only belongs to the artist/creator.  It is there to protect the artist.  What is granted to the photographed is Print Rights.  It gives you full control over the images for personal use.  If you want to publish your images in a magazine or sell them for stock use……. You need a commercial release from the photographer.  In cases where copyright  is given with commercial images.  Each images goes for a very high fee, and the photographer relinquishes his rights for thousands."  

Thank you, Donna!  With all the legal craziness in our country, it is very important to get the wording down correctly, so get the PRINT RIGHTS from your photographer if at all possible, and you will be set for making copies for yourself, your friends, and your family!  :)