Environmentally Friendly Weddings

Some of you may know by now that I'm a little bit of a tree hugger. Whenever I do an engagement session and there's a great tree nearby, I just have to include it in a photo!! What's one of my favorite books? The giving tree!! So, in honor of my love for all things green, here are some resources on how to plan an Environmentally Friendly Wedding:

• "How to Plan a Green Wedding" article from TreeHugger.com
• "Eco-Friendly Weddings" article from Brilliant Wedding Pages
• "Nice Day for a Green Wedding" article from Grist.com
• "Green Nuptials" article from Earth Smart Consumer

While I haven't been able to ween myself from wonderful conveniences that prevent me from living a totally organic and environmentally friendly lifestyle, I do have an affection for all things green and the little ways that we can promote better uses of our precious planet's resources. One of the ways I accomplish this in my business is by working as paperlessly as possible and when paper is needed, recycling whenever possible as well. I really love it when local governments make it easy to be eco-friendly. Can you believe that I actually miss Michigan's 10¢ deposit on soda cans??? Indiana has no deposit on these items which means there's a lot of aluminum and plastic simply ending up in landfills rather than being recycled into other products. I also wish that all trash services simply offered recycling as part of their regular trash pickup for no additional charge, I mean, why should it cost more green to save some green? They claim that it requires more labor and processing, but just think of the profits they could make by turning all of that free waste into products and materials that can be used again! If everyone did just one little thing to help the environment every day, we could all enjoy a little more of this planet we call home.

Thoughts: Blogs and Blogging

This is a follow up to my previous post: "Why Blog? Making the Most of Your Blog"

I recently created two video tutorials on blogging. The first one is of my own personal blog, created to help my clients find their way around and get the most out of the information I put here (may also give you some ideas on how to organize your own blog).


The second video is a tutorial on how to track and organize your favorite blogs using Bloglines. I use this service because I track over 100 blogs, and I like that it helps me stay organized without being overwhelmed.


Blogging isn't just valuable to your business, it's also valuable to your personal life. A single friend of mine wrote a blog post about his recent trip to Peru and actually met and went on a date with a girl who found and read his post!! How awesome is that?? His blog was able to attact and reach out to someone who was interested in similar things, so they already knew they had a lot to talk about on their first date!

A lot of people are worried about sharing personal information online, but the reality is that most everything you DON'T want people to know, is already out there (thanks, Patriot Act). When I share personal information, it tends to be about something I DID, and not something I PLAN on doing - unless I want people to know that I'll be gone or that they should expect something of me in the future.

Keeping a blog is also a great way to keep in touch with your family and friends who don't hear from you often, or who feel like you're too busy to talk on the phone. I wish more people kept a blog in my family so that I could stay better connected with them. But... that's also because I'm a computer person and less likely to pick up the phone and just give someone a call. Why am I that way?? I think it's because I like being able to go back and look at what I've said. I so easily forget how I may have stuck my foot in my mouth when I'm just talking on the phone, but I can easily search and track my communication with others when done through email and blogs! (EEK!) Maybe that will change when I have something I'll love using, like the iPhone (or it could just be wishful thinking on my family's part). ;-)

4 Great Wedding Resources Online

Even though I'm no longer a bride, I still keep my eyes and ears open for great wedding resources to help my brides out. There are some awesome online tools out there that I only wish were available when we were in the midst of wedding planning!! Here are some of my personal favorites:

eWedding
Wedding websites are a great way to keep your guests, family, and wedding party up to date on your wedding plans, and to fill everyone in on the FAQ of how you met, your engagement, honeymoon plans, etc. There are a lot of options for you to host a wedding website, and many of them are tied to a wedding planning website, but they all end up looking the same and they are often searchable by anyone who knows your name and wants to learn your wedding details. Great for family- bad for your fiancé's jealous exgirlfriend. The really awesome thing about eWedding.com is that not only do you get a website that looks different and is fun to update, but you can have your very own, easy-to-remember URL. No more asking people to type in a long address that they couldn't remember if you didn't send it to them in an email, just a short and concise link for your wedding guests. I was first introduced to eWeddings by Megan, who created an awesome site for her wedding, called Sweetness Follows. She's even continued to update it after the wedding with pictures and extra links, which is also a great way to let your friends and family know your new address if/when you move after the wedding!

Wedding Mapper
I would have looooooooved to have a tool like this when I was planning our wedding! We had lots of out-of-town guests and our hotel, rehearsal dinner, ceremony site, cocktail site, and reception site were all over the city! WeddingMapper.com is awesome because it allows you to add photos, icons, and descriptions about each location, and it uses google maps and satallite images of the city! How awesome is that?! The best part? It's free. I still can't believe it's free. You can add your own attraction and entertainment listings, favorite restaurants, and airports. It's printable, it's emailable, and there's even an alternative view that prints out like a mini program! Seriously, if you haven't seen this site, you need to check it out! See how one couple is using it for their wedding.

Nashville Wraps
Whatever your needs are for gift giving and gift packaging, do yourself a favor and check out NashvilleWraps.com before going anywhere else. Not only do they have an awesome selection of bags, boxes, stickers, and pouches, but the prices are VERY reasonable and some orders can be placed in small quantities. If you're really into personalization, they can do that as well, and you're sure to find beautiful, fun, and fashionable colors with lots of different packaging options (including houndstooth and leopard print!!) Seeing some of these boxes makes me want to buy things just to put in the boxes to give to people!!! Of course you could also decide to put nothing in them and instead use them for something totally different, like making a card box! They even have my signature chartreuse green - do you know how hard it is to find that as a standard option?!

Wedding Podcast Network
Wow, talk about wedding planning resources! The WeddingPodcastNetwork.com is dedicated to adding regular blog and podcast content on various wedding topics. The website is broken up into several different content areas:
Newlywedcast interviews couples who were recently married, and shares their love stories and wedding experiences. Meet the Masters interviews prominent wedding industry professionals like Darcy Miller, Editor of Martha Stewart Weddings; and Preston Bailey, Famous Floral Designer. There are many more podcast topics on the site including relationship advice, and workout tips. Why not make your own wedding podcast!?

Do you have any great resources you'd like to share?? Is there a wedding website that every bride should know about?? If so, leave a comment about it!! I'm always looking for more!

Why Blog? - Making the Most of Your Blog

At first I was only going to post this on photography forums, but I realize there are quite a few photographers who read my blog but may not visit those same forums. I also know that quite a few of my friends and clients have blogs and/or small businesses, and are looking for ways to attract new readers, or to keep current readers interested. So, in the interest of making all blogs a little more addicting... (as if I don't spend enough time reading them and writing them!!), I thought I would share some ideas with the hope that others will feel free to add to this list and to share their thoughts as well!

Why blog?
- To improve your search engine ratings (if your blog contains searchable text; also known as SEO)
- To keep your customers (and competition) updated on your latest news and work
- To give your customers a way to personally connect to you and/or your business
- To convey your philosophy/personality/style
- To announce new products or specials
- To make your clients/friends/family feel famous and to show your appreciation to them (aka being a lovecat)

What to blog?
- Favorite images from your latest event or shoot complete with location info and any additional vendor info. Key phrases like "chicago, il" "engagement photos" "four seasons hotel" will get attract search engine rankings - website links will help as well.
- Stories about the couple or the wedding (everyone likes to feel famous, right?!)
- Your latest awards and recognition (be your own biggest fan!)
- Create a weekly or monthly feature, such as random favorite things, theme image or technique, favorite quote, fun stuff online, personal news, favorite recipe. It doesn't have to be photography related, in fact it may be even better if it isn't since it will give your clients another way to connect to you that may more closely relate to their lives.
- New products, or products that you're considering
- Questions or contests for your readers
- Sales and promotion information, deadlines for holiday ordering, holiday gift reminders and ideas - Personal news, happenings, and travels
- Random thoughts
- Ideas of things you'd like to try with future clients (planting the seed early! Trash the dress, rolling in sand and water on the beach, sky diving, etc.)

Think about the blogs you're addicted to and why you're addicted to them. Often times addicting blogs have a few things in common...
- It's not always about business
- They blog frequently and you feel like you've missed out if you haven't checked the blog in a few days, or they have a special feature that you look forward to weekly
- They make you feel good or inspire you
- They have a definite sense of personality and feel very "real" with single voice that comes through to personally connect with you instead of a stale company voice (this is the difference between a real blog and just a site for your company's latest news)
- They keep the content fresh and change things up from time to time

Here are a few blogs which I find very addicting!!

http://bludomain.typepad.com/blus_daily_blog/
Even though this is a company blog, they do an awesome job of connecting to their readers and keeping them interested weekly! I think they actually do all of the blog ideas mentioned on the "what to blog" list above... favorite things, contests, new products, latest news, etc... they've got it all.

http://www.photojojo.com/content/
Tons of crazy ideas and things to do with your photos or your camera!

http://swirlygirl.typepad.com/swirly_girl/
Amazingly creative, highly personalized, thought provoking, and interesting little bits of life on paper!

http://www.marriedtothesea.com/
Just plain funny and often unusual! (Thank you Meg for introducing me to this!)

http://www.trashthedress.com/
One which I would someday like to contribute to... (hint to past & future brides!!!)

http://photographs.wordpress.com/
One which I've been featured on a few times, and has some really neat images along with their stories.

http://www.xanga.com/garyfong1
An amazing guy who gave up a safe career in pharmacy to become a wedding photographer, inventor, and investor; who is now a millionaire (or is it billions now?) I visit often for the embarassing videos of his friends, but value it for his awesome business info and insights.

... and I love reading my friend's blogs!!!! If you have one and I don't know about it, please post it here or email me a link!!!
http://redmeg8.typepad.com/meganderings/
An awesome illustrator, creative soul, music lover, and cat servant!
http://www.xanga.com/miss_o_hara/
A political critic, horse racing and classic car enthusist, photography lover and now a budding seamstress!

What are some of your favorite blogs? What keeps you addicted? How can you apply that to your business or blog? Did you find this post to be helpful or should I stick to taking pictures? ;-)

(Disclaimer: I don't think my blog is as great as it coule be, but knowing what I need to improve is half the battle. ;-)

And now... because I can't possibly create a post without also including an image of some kind. Here's my latest YouTube video pick. I find it hilarious because I'm sooo guilty!!!! :-) LOL!!! :-)


PS. If you liked this post, click on one of the LABELS below to see other relevant posts!!!

PHENOMENAL.

That's really the best way that I can describe my experience from the last few days. I've met so many AMAZING people and shared so many awesome stories and experiences in the last few days that even though I'm incredibly short on sleep, my mind is still racing with excitement! So many ideas, challenges, and things to think about!! I can't wait to start putting some of my ideas into action... only more amazing things are yet to come!

I really should get some sleep so that I can get a bright & early start on catching up tomorrow, but I just HAD to share with you some awesome words from the LaCour photo team who graciously went out of their way to spend time with us sharing their thoughts and experiences. They are amazing artists who are committed to really telling the story of the wedding day. They said so many amazing things that resonated with me personally and how I feel about documenting a wedding day that I just had to share some of these thoughts with you - because I think they said it better than I ever could have!! (Press the play button to see clips from their presentation. Disclaimer: I'm not a videographer, nor do I play one on TV. These were taken with an itty bitty point & shoot camera and are entirely unedited!)






Andrew made such an important point about the things which images can convey. Nouns and verbs are things which most anyone can capture in an image. It's finding a way to convey the adjectives which really sets us apart in our ability to capture images. I love that Rachel talks about patience and anticipation, because that's such a big part of excellent photojournalism... waiting for that perfect moment, and not rushing it or forcing it to happen. Mark's comment about trying to find the nuances of each particular person is soooo true for me. People who are very outward in their emotions are so easy to photograph because it's easy to capture how they feel, but not everyone is so outwardly expressive. For people who are reserved in their emotions, it's so important to turn up my awareness as a photographer and really tune into the very small and subtle things which communicate how a couple feels about each other.

One of my favorite examples of this was a moment while Gwen & Chad were visiting their guests table by table at their reception and I had already captured their expressions and interactions with their guests, but then I noticed this small and subtle motion that Chad was making with his finger on the back of Gwen's dress.. just running his fingers over the laces... and then he slipped his fingers in between the laces to feel her skin. It was so sexy, yet so subtle... and to me it really comunicated how much he didn't just love her, but how he wanted her. Yummmayyyy....



Another great thing, which Garrett Nudd shared during his presentation, was an excerpt from the book: The Proverbial Cracker Jack, by Dale Henry. This excerpt tells a story of going above and beyond in your service to others, in a way which is never expected...



On our way home, we had just this very thing happen as we were enjoying dinner. We had finished eating, and the waitress gave us the obligatory "Would you like dessert?" and we all kinda shook our heads in a guiltful "no, not tonight" then Amanda and I looked at each other and said how much we would love just a little tiny piece of chocolate, like a Hershey's kiss to satisfy our need for something chocolatey. When the waitress returned to deliver our bill, she also delivered two Hershey kisses, which she mentioned were kept in her car for her daughter on long car rides. It was such a cool realization of what we had just heard that I knew it was more than fate - it was a lesson. As a result, the waitress got something like a 50% tip from us, which was way more than the cost of two hershey kisses. :)

I have to personally thank Nate & Amanda of Turtle Pond Photography for driving and letting me ride with them, LeAnn of Lifespring Photography for being great company and keeping me awake from 2 am - 5 am on our way there! Thank you Amy, Lori, and Davina for setting up and sharing room arrangements - without your graciousness, I wouldn't have been there!! To the Holritz's and the Nudds, you're amazing and incredibly gracious to open up your hearts, lives, and businesses to help others aspire to be the best that they can be... I know it will come back to you 10 fold because you've gone out of your way to help others in a way that is unparalled in this business. And last, but most definitely least.. thank you DJ for creating a community that connects people in an effort to better us all. I feel so incredibly blessed in so many ways, and I hope that one day I can pay it forward as much as you have!!! To everyone from OSP who may be reading this - I LOVE YOU!!!! I MISS YOU!!!! I hope to see you again at WPPI!!!