A Softer Image

As I’m building the new section of my site, I’ve been stumped by a few things. While looking at other photographers’ sites, there’s no real standard in so many areas of the portfolio, and the area that I’m most stumped about is the music. Some photographers have it start automatically and have no button to turn it off, others have a complete little player that lets you select tracks, adjust volume, etc. So please vote in today’s poll and let me know what YOU like!

To round out this Jamie-filled week of posts, I thought I’d write about this cool little shop we stopped in while waiting for a portrait session. The Sugar Cube is located on 210 North Lee Street in Alexandria, and you can find them online here: http://www.sugarcubesweets.com/

What struck me most about this candy store was the array of candies that I could immediately envision at weddings. Since they’re local, it’d be a great way to incorporate local foods and favors into your wedding. Plus, they take custom requests, so if you’ve been looking for a certain kind of candy or chocolate for a while, you may want to inquire!

I’m totally into color-coordination for weddings (as you’ve seen with the amount of care I put into picking out each element of each CD and DVD packaging), and The Sugar Cube was filled with possibilities.

In the center of the room were rows of what looked like M&Ms, but without the branding - in all different colors. I was blown away! I mean, I’ve seen a lot of couples buy M&Ms in their colors in bulk, but had they considered going to a local store and getting the same candy but without having to pay for the M&M branding?!

Plus, they sell Jordan almonds and JellyBelly jellybeans in a huge spectrum of colors. I bought a bunch of jellybeans for myself (plum, pomegranate, and margarita flavored) as well as some dark-chocolate-covered espresso beans for Brad (they’re his favorite!).

I spoke with the woman at the counter briefly about what else they offer for weddings, and she told me that they’re actually developing a wedding section of the store! They already also sell “pearlescent” almonds as well as chocolate rocks and shells that would coordinate well with a beach wedding… I mean, the possibilities are really endless.

I’d highly recommend you stop by just to check it out and see what they have in stock - I was amazed at the variety of what they had on the shelves. Plus it was a cute, warm store… exactly the kind of break we needed on that cold day!

(Photos by Jamie Michaels)

Here’s a beautiful baptism ceremony Jamie photographed last weekend at Dumbarton United Methodist Church. I love that Jamie’s portfolio is going to be full of photos beyond just wedding ceremonies and typical still life work! All photos in this post are by Jamie Michaels.

Jamie and I went to the US Botanic Gardens at the Capitol building yesterday afternoon. It’s funny how things can come together - earlier in the day I read this blog post on how, if you turn your lens around on your camera, it becomes a macro lens. The photographer who wrote it included pictures from her trip to the Botanic Gardens too! I was blown away, so when Jamie and I reached the orchids last night, we decided to try it out. Here are some of mine:

Now, check out Jamie’s! They’re INCREDIBLE!

It was so much fun to just try something new and sort of risky - it took a lot of practice, but we got the hang of making slight movements to get the focus in the right place. And who knew that turning your lens around could create these?!

I’ve seen a lot of GREAT wedding websites for clients… as well as some less-great ones. :) After checking out a whole new slew recently I realized there are some things that make a wedding website really informative and also enjoyable for your guests.

Photos

Yes, this is the photographer talking… but I don’t just mean professional photos. I do think that you should do an engagement session and include your favorites from it on your wedding website (especially if you have a main image on your pages - it looks so much classier if you have a professional, romantic, retouched photo for the world to see!). But recently I saw a couple’s website with a photo album of them being absolutely ridiculous. To make it even better, they put ridiculous captions underneath their images. It cracked me up, and I’m sure it cracked their guests up. Although this may not be your style, try to incorporate photos that do represent the two of you and your journey, and if you can, write captions to explain the images/journey to the guests who may not know. It’ll also enlighten a curious photographer who wants to capture the moments that s/he knows will be most special to you :)

A Map

A real, clickable, printable, editable (like you can type in another address to get directions from) map. Google Maps has an application just for this purpose. You can draw on it to indicate best routes, parking, different landmarks, and so much more. You can include notes in it, too. Your guests will be thrilled with the ability to access the map and see your suggestions - it’ll especially help out-of-town guests feel more prepared.

Your story, in whatever form it may present itself

Lots of couples make one of the following mistakes:

• don’t realize how romantic their story is,
• don’t think others care what their story is,
• think that everyone already know what their story is ,
• go into waaaaay too much detail about their story.

Wow, tricky, huh? I’m not suggesting you write a novella about your entire journey with your partner - I am suggesting you include a nugget or two that represents who you are as a couple and gives guests something to chuckle or “aww” about. On my first date with Brad, he was three hours late. Three hours. He was so late that the waitress for my table, where I sat all alone, tried to convince me that I was being stood up. The story goes on, and it makes people laugh and really enjoy that I stuck it out and we ended up happily ever after. It’s those sort of silly or romantic things that have shaped who you are as a couple, and not everyone who attends your wedding will know them. But a tidbit about your growth together will definitely help turn your wedding website from a generic templated HTML page to a mini representation of you two and what your wedding be like! (By the way, on our second date, Brad was only two hours late!)

An update AFTER the wedding

A lot of couples don’t realize that their guests will still be checking in after the wedding day is over. They’ll want to see pictures of how it all came together, or send a late gift from your registry. They might want to sign your guestbook to tell you how much fun they had, or find your email address and send you a note. So go back after your wedding and include a photo, a paragraph, anything to tie the whole thing together and thank your guests for their presence and celebration. I’ve had some couples also post a link to their proofs, teaser, and album on their wedding website - I’ve even had clients’ guests email me after seeing their wedding photos up to say how much they like them! At the very least, it’ll give the returning guests something to enjoy post-wedding day!

Susie and JP met me on a really cold Saturday to do their engagement portraits in Alexandria. I’ve promised them another engagement shoot when it gets warmer so we can have some more fun in the sun :) Still, they were such good sports as we moved through Old Town, making the most of the beautiful light and their perfectly complementary outfits!

See that toy that Susie’s holding? It’s one of two turtles that JP used to propose :) They brought them along to incorporate into their engagement portraits!

Our coffeetable albums are the most economical albums we offer, but they still carry quite a punch. We use templates to create the pages, which are bound in a linen hardcover with a full-bleed dust jacket (also created with a template). The pages are thinner and slightly less glossy than our deluxe albums. These are often purchased for parents or grandparents, while a couple will purchase a KiSS album for themselves.

Here is the black linen hardcover with its full-bleed dust jacket:

And a peek inside cover with the dust jacket:

Check out the page thickness and more matte look:

This is what the gutter of the pages typically looks like while lying open:

And the finished product:

Overall, it’s a sturdy album that we still recommend. I’ve used it for some portfolio work as well as gifts for my family. It won’t hold up to typical wear-and-tear like the KiSS albums will, but it’s still a great value.

Yesterday we wrote about our favorite KiSS albums, and today we’re discussing our Deluxe albums. They’re 10×10 with a minimum of 20 pages. They have thicker pages than the Coffeetable albums and also come with a beautiful black box to keep it protected. The pages are fully designed by hand by your photographer, unlike the Coffeetable albums, which use templates.

Standing up, in its black box (you can have your name printed in silver on the front of the box):

Detail of the binding and the full-bleed dust jacket:

More of the jacket and pages:

Inside the book (note where the cover art ends, and that although the first page looks white, it’s actually a protector page for the first page of the album):

This is how it lays open, and the gutter (note how shiny the pages are!):

The page thickness:

The hardcover has the same full-bleed design as the dust jacket, which is the biggest difference between it and our coffeetable albums:

Here’s the cover thickness:

Voila. The full shabang, on my office floor:

We’ll be doing a series today, tomorrow, and Friday on the different albums we offer. While these few days will go over our standard albums, we’re always open to more ideas and vendors! If a client wants to try something new we’re totally up for it. Today we’re looking at the KiSS wedding albums. These albums are huge and wonderful; each page is hand-designed by your photographer to carry on your style and personalities within the pages (no templates here!). They’re 10×10 and start at 20 pages (10 spreads). Here’s another photographer’s experience with Kiss, and here’s an interview with the creator. Now, on to the photos!

Here’s how the album arrived. I’ve actually seen a number of different fabrics used, and I was pleasantly surprised to see mine was green!

This is a shot of the back cover. Since this was a sample album, I ordered it with the sample discount (20% off!) and they imprint all samples with the KiSS logo. It’s something to think about when you’re ordering your albums…

A shot of the binding:

Check out these 2mm-thick pages:

It begins with a black page, which means that every page thereafter will be a part of a full spread (2 pages). This makes design SO easy, since we don’t have to deal with single pages!

This is the first spread:

Another view of the pages as I open the book:

There’s an infinitesimal gutter - barely noticeable at all. This means that the pages both lie flat and we can extend designs right over the seam.

Another shot of the binding:

Sample kiss! Seriously, if you don’t mind having the KiSS logo on the back, then why not go for the 20% discount?

And last but not least, the beautiful leather:

Seriously, it’s so smooth and buttery. I’m sort of in love with this album, honestly. Brad’s a little jealous!

Jamie and I had a bunch of portrait sessions this weekend, and I wanted to share with you a bunch of her photos… she really rocks portraits, I’m so happy to have her part of our team! All photos are copyright Jamie Michaels.