WW: e-session!

Back in the beginning of November Jason and I met up with our parents in Troy and had our tastings and spent some time together. Somewhere crammed within the weekend of festivities and eating delicious foods Jason and I snuck off for our engagement session with our photographer Heather.

This post is going to be pretty photo heavy but I just wanted to preface it with the fact that Heather is simply amazing and she's really friendly and fun and very calm. I'm not sure if Jason or I could have handled an in your face photographer so during the whole shoot it was nice to have a little quiet. We were anxious enough!

So without further ado...

The first few were taken in the Quad a stone's throw from Jason's old room

These next few were taken on Sage right outside the Quad



The Approach!





Somewhere on 8th Street


Back at the Approach, this time from the top



Downtown, an alley somewhere behind Franklin Plaza



This is one of my favorites from the whole day:



Back on campus, outside the DCC


Saying hi to Erik Jonsson, founder of Texas Instruments


A little bit of EMPAC



EMPAC SMASH!

WW: Coming Together

I had a near panic attack last week. At first, everything was looking up. I had found the discontinued paper I needed from Paperworks. I had ordered all the envelopes I needed from Envelope Mall. And they looked fabulous when they came in the mail.
I went to see some venues with Laura and had met a great photography duo whose prices were great and work fabulous. I felt like we were finally ready to make decisions and put down deposits.

I felt good. It seemed like everything was finally falling into place.

But then when I emailed Pat & Jess of Casey Connell Photography to tell them we wanted to book them. Their reply was really sad. They had just been booked for the day before ours for a wedding in Cape Cod and were worried that because of the holiday weekend, they wouldn't be able to get back to Troy in time. I was so sad. They were not only the least expensive out of all the photographers we were looking at, they were a two photographer team AND their work was right up there among some of my favorite.

Suddenly I was in a mad dash to find more photographers. I stumbled upon a few other sites and contacted another two photographer team in the area whose prices were right on par. Meanwhile, I double checked with the other two photographers I had previously met (Heather of HBT Photography and Keira Lemonis) to make sure my date was still available and they hadn't been booked out from under me too! Heather was still free but Keira had another bride sniffing around my date.

I liked both Keira's and Heather's work. They both have a great style to their photography. Keira was slightly less expensive than Heather but they both offered everything I wanted out of my photographer.

I panicked a little. The new photographers I had contacted weren't available to meet me until mid-August and I like to meet vendors to get a feel for their personality and how professional they are. The only other time they had available to meet me was Saturday afternoon. I didn't really want to take a drive up JUST to meet a photographer especially since I had Job#2 Sunday morning and had to be back, but I figured I could if it was necessary.

I got home and told my parents the whole story. We three sat down and looked at all three portfolios online and I told them how I felt about each of the photographers (or at least the two I had met thus far), and asked them if it was worth it to go up to meet the third photographer Saturday and not wait till mid-August, in case in the meantime someone booked Keira and I didn't have her as an option any more.

I realize I'm ridiculous and looking back I really did just run around like a chicken with my head chopped off but this was seriously destroying my calm. I had finally figured out the drama over our invitation paper, had nearly decided on a reception venue, and now the damn photographer I wanted was unavailable.
Finally my Dad basically told me to shut-up, go with my gut, and go with the photographer I thought would do the best job. So Friday afternoon I emailed Heather and told her to please pencil us in and send us the information for the deposit and her contract. She has us down for July 3rd but I won't feel completely finished with things until I get her that deposit which should be sometime next week. I'll have Laura hand it off to her possibly.
Once the whole photography thing was settled, we turned to the reception venues. We had narrowed it down to a country club and a new hotel.

Country Club Pros

• Was cheaper per head
• Beautiful golf course greens and grounds to take photos on
• Included tax and gratuity in the package price
• Didn't include centerpiece or cake (but that seemed fine to me)
  

Hotel Pros

• Everything was under one roof
• Courtesy shuttle to and from the airport and train station
  
• There's a sports bar in the hotel
• "Children" are considered to be ages 11-20 so they are half price, which is awesome because most of Jason's cousins and a few of mine will only be 20 or younger!
  
• Blocked room discounted rates
• Everything is included (cake, chair covers, linens, bar, centerpieces, etc.)
  
• They were extremely flexible (I could remove things willy nilly from the packages)
• Actually located IN Troy, which was nice, since that was the whole point of this
• Beautiful garden outside for photos
  
  

Country Club Cons

• Private Club, so no one could golf, and no one could wander outside the ballroom
• Seemed a little snooty for my taste
• No chair covers and the chairs were kind of ugly
• Banquet Manager was a bit doofy
• Didn't seem as flexible and basically told me I didn't want to do anything DIY at all (the nerve!)
• No hotels anywhere nearby

Hotel Cons

• Slightly pricery per head
• It's a hotel so there's a possibility of strangers wandering around
• The ballroom is a little bland (no natural light)
  

But with some decor, it can look nice! (Anthology Designs)

Basically what it came down to was if we were going to have our "destination wedding" and make everyone travel (and if I can't have my Key West wedding or my Barn Country Chic wedding) then we would make it as easy for guests as possible. The Hotel could offer us a lot more convenience than the Country Club, so that is what we're going with.

Saturday morning we sat down and speakerphone attacked the Banquet Manager at the Hotel. She answered a few more of our questions and verified/clarified some other details and she's sending us the contract!
Also that morning I got an email from the Pastor at the Church I really wanted to get married in. We were having major issues finding one that would let us as visiting parishioners get married, but he said yes! And Fr Ed can still marry us too!

And check out how GORGEOUS this church is!!!!!

Is it not TREMENDOUS?! (Photo by Joe Elario Photography)


So...to sum up...
Church: Check
Priest: Check
Venue: Check
Photographer: Check
Bride & Groom: Check

Yessssss

WW: Photographers

This past weekend was spent not only completing a to do list for Laura's wedding (which holy cow is now 9 days away!) but also meeting two photographers who we're considering for our wedding.

Ages ago I fell in love with a capital region photographer named Joe Elario. His work is phenomenal. I can't even put it into words, it's just breathtaking. I contacted him to see if there was a possibility we'd ever be able to afford him...sadly we cannot.

You see, photography is the one thing I will splurge on. It is extremely important to me that we have incredible photographs from our wedding. The food should be good, but after the night is over it's gone. The photographs are with you for life, so they better be damn good.

I had a number in my head as to where my friends and my sister were budgeted with their photography and then I added a little bit more to that and decided it would be my splurge number.

The wonderful JP's lowest package (4hrs of coverage) is already over my splurge number. In fact the package I'd be interested in is nearly double my splurge number. *sadface* I've given up on that one.

I did however, have a list of other photographers whose work also struck me as something special. So Saturday we met with one woman, and Sunday we met with the other.

Saturday morning we met Keira Lemonis. It was a pretty straight forward meeting, I already had most of the information about her pricing and packages via email but I wanted to meet her in person. Her work is beautiful. She is slightly more artistic than some of the other photographers we're considering but being artsy is never a bad thing in my book.

I liked her. I liked her work. I liked her pricing. Even with adding things in like the guest photo booth, an engagement session and maybe a third session like trash the dress or something, she was still below my splurge number. That's a plus. She was actually priced just a little bit higher than what Laura is paying to have Jeff Guntert to do her wedding. (Jeff is fabulous as well and has a great personality but he might not be taking clients for next year. So I haven't spoken with him yet.)

All in all, I liked Keira.

Sunday Laura and I drove over to Saratoga Springs to meet Heather Bohm-Tallman of HBT Photography. She has a little store front next to a florist and it's adorable. Heather's work is also beautiful. She has something very special in the way she captures a lot all at once. What I loved about her is that she also photographs dogs. I know this sounds strange, but the fact that she photographs dogs and is very good at it is a plus. Dogs are very difficult to get to sit still, they move around a lot and it's hard to capture a beautiful photo while still getting the essence of the dog. Heather does this well. Her puppy shots are incredible!

If she can capture the movement of a dog, then she'd be great at capturing little quiet quick moments from our wedding day. To me, that's a plus.

Her package pricing starts a little bit higher and when we add on the additional things like an e-session and a photo booth it brings us just a little bit over my splurge number.

I sat down with my parents Sunday night and showed them both websites and both blogs. My Mom and I agree on which photographer we like better. My Dad has yet to inform me on his preference. I'm in the midst of showing Jason their work as well and seeing what he thinks either way.

By the weekend of Laura's wedding I hope to have decided on the venue (hopefully the barn), the photographer, and maybe even the church. I need to make a few calls and meet with someone from my church this week/weekend to see what the process is for getting married out of town. This might get old real fast with politics and stupid things that shouldn't matter but we'll see what happens.