Our next guest blogger is the lovely Darci:

Hello!  I am so happy to be contributing to the blog here at Santa Barbara Wedding Chic.  My regular blog is With This Ring, where I post ideas for making your wedding unique and other daily inspiration.  Thanks for allowing me to be here Kelly, and I hope all of you enjoy the post!

Considering the state of the economy these days, having an eco friendly wedding can be beneficial for both the environment and your budget.  This wedding from Brides is a perfect example of ways to both cut costs while recycling things you might already own or can get for a deep discount:

The multicolored vases on the table are all recycled glass.  To accomplish something similar, you could either collect vases from friends and family (or from your own collection) or search ebay and local flea markets for used vases within your budget.  The favors are individual pots full of moss, which you can buy in sheets for a very low price at your local nursery.  Plus, they are something that your guests can keep to be reminded of your wedding day!

I’m super excited to introduce our first inspirational guest blogger for the week, Kathryn from Snippet & Ink:

I’m so flattered that Kelly has invited me to share a little about my process for creating inspiration boards. The truth is, some days I feel very inspired, and I can see exactly what I want my inspiration board to look like, and all of the elements just fall into place. But other days – most days – finding that starting point can be tricky. The starting point can be anything: a season, a venue, a bouquet. It can even be something less obvious, like a children’s book or wallpaper pattern. I even have a file labeled “Inspiration” where I save images that really stand out to me, like this:

or this

Generally, the images that I save to my Inspiration file are images that make me think of a color palette or a venue – those things that weren’t coming so easily before. Sometimes, even when I get going on an inspiration board, it won’t come together exactly the way I want it to, and I’ll put it aside for a day or two, or scrap it altogether. But usually, once I have that initial image, I can create something I’m happy with.

I get questions from readers about how they can go about creating their own inspiration boards, so here is what I usually tell them:

Unless you’re already comfortable with Photoshop, or feel like taking the time to learn it, there are other, easier ways to pull images together. Polyvore is one method, or Mosaic Maker is another. An actual bulletin board is a great way to include not only tearsheets, but also fabric and paper samples, ticket stubs, and other ephemera. Once you’ve decided on your medium, here are some things to consider, that should help you pull your inspiration board together:

- What season is it? What colors, flowers, foods make sense in that season?
- What is the mood of the event? Is it formal, casual, or something in between? Is it grand or intimate? Sophisticated? Playful?
- What is the venue? Inside or outdoors? How can I play up regional or local elements? Does the architecture or scenery inspire me?
- What single element can tie everything together? Is it a theme? A certain flower or fruit? Color or pattern?
- How can I stretch this idea? What is unexpected but fits perfectly with all the other elements?

Don’t let specific colors or themes limit you – an inspiration board should help you figure out what kinds of things you like, what kind of look you’re going for, but you should not feel limited by colors you’ve chosen or a theme you’re working on. Let your inspiration board reflect your personality, reflect things you truly love and not those things you think other people want to see, and it will be a wonderful tool in the planning process. And if you’re not feeling especially inspired, stop by Snippet & Ink to see if anything strikes your fancy!

Images: 1. Inspiration Board 271 2. House & Garden via {this is glamorous} 3. Ngoc Minh Ngo 4. Inspiration Board 257 5. Inspiration Board 298

Hi everyone, since I’m going on vacation for my birthday I thought I’d pull together a week of some my favorite bloggers to come by and share what inspires them. All of these ladies have certainly inspired me, and I hope they will inspire you as well.

Our guest bloggers are:

Monday: Kathryn from Snippet & Ink will share how she creates her lovely inspiration boards. A behind the scenes look with the best in the business, I hope she will inspire you to make your own inspiration board (above “Southern Magnolia” board from here).

Tuesday: Darci from With–This–Ring. A recent bride who shared her process of wedding planning and event design with her readers. She got loads of style and a love for green that made her blog one of my first blog-obsessions.

Wednesday: Chelsea from {frolic!} will share how inspiration can be found anywhere, from the pages of high fashion to interior design to paper goods.

Thursday: Cassandra from coco+kelley will share how she translates interior design into a wedding inspiration board. It’s a unique approach to inspiration boards and a fun way to incorporate design from outside the wedding world.

Enjoy the eye candy and be sure to check out each of their blogs for tons more inspiration.

I just want to thank all of my guest bloggers for sharing their behind the scenes look at wedding photography. You can find more information about each photographer here:

Mary Jane Photography

Katie Moos Photography

Halberg Photographers

Harper Smith Photography

Elizabeth Messina Photography

Don’t forget, Katie is offering $50 off any family or engagement photo session if you mention her guest post.

Our final post for photographer’s week comes from Elizabeth Messina:

weddings are such beautiful rituals…..the celebration of life & love with family and close friends….as a photographer I feel so blessed to be included in many of the most intimate moments at a wedding celebration…..

it is an honor and a tremendous responsibility…..i have learned many things over the years…one of the most important is to remember to breath…to look around and feel the moments as the unfold….there is magic all around you…..laughter….

light coming through the trees….your dress….your new husband looking at you…..flowers on tables…the very ones you spent hours deciding on…. all of these things together, little and big, are celebrating the love you have found with another human being….

Our next post comes from Harper of Harper Smith Photography:

Photojournalism is defined as using photography to tell a story and document life. Capturing a moment in time without interfering or changing it’s course. Objective, honest, and above all else…incredibly real.

The root of my photography comes from a strong photojournalism background which lends a unique approach to the weddings I shoot today.  I’m a fly on the wall, an outside observer, moving unnoticed and stepping in at just the right moment to capture just the right shot.

Often these are moments you wouldn’t normally expect because they’re natural and un-posed. The nervous bride having a private moment alone in the limousine after all her bridesmaids have exited before her. These moments – which maybe awkward or embarrassing at the time – often turn out to be the most beautiful, intimate photos in retrospect. That’s why one of the biggest challenges of photographing in this style is earning the trust of the bride and groom so that on their wedding day they do let their guard down and trust that you’re capturing the images they never expected but always dreamed of.

I fully encourage couples to have their photographers arrive 3-4 hours before the wedding for this reason. The unscripted, unrehearsed moments that capture the real, raw emotion of the day often take place during this time.

I also encourage the bride and groom to let go, live the moment, and pretend there isn’t a camera around.

{Editor’s note}

Harper actually shot my wedding and I had to share one of my favorite images she captured of me that day. My mom had brought some champagne for me to sip on while I was getting ready and Julie Morgan, the thoughtful makeup artist that she is, brought straws with her so I could drink without messing up my lipstick. This is the un-posed, all natural, photo Harper got of me:

Our next post is from Tim Halberg of Halberg Photographers:

Read the wedding magazines and they will give you check lists of things to ask your photographer: do you shoot digital or film, who will actually photograph my wedding, do you offer the digital negatives…

What the magazines don’t tell you to ask is how your digital negatives will compare to the photos you saw on your photographer’s website, the photos which drew you to their work in the first place. You need to know what the difference is between a print you will receive from the digital negatives when you upload them to your local lab vs. a finished print you will receive when ordering directly from your photographer.

Photographers prepare files for several different uses: marketing ie: their website and ads, proofing for brides/grooms to first view their images, album images and finished prints are among the most common.

Photos used for finished prints, albums and marketing have usually been processed through Photoshop to ensure the images look their VERY best. Depending on the photographer this may include adjustments that can take anywhere from a minute to an hour.

Usually printed proofs and online proofs have simply been adjusted in a digital workflow program such as Adobe Lightroom or Apple’s Aperture. Most photographers utilize this software to adjust brightness/exposure as well as color balance. The process is much more involved than this – but to go into detail would require an entirely separate and fairly technical article, but the end result is a photo which is close to correct for exposure and color.

With all of this in mind, there are some additional questions you may want to ask your photographer before hiring them:
*Can I see a complete wedding as delivered to a previous client for proofing (ask for more than one) – this will give you an idea of what to expect in your proof images vs. what you see on the photographer’s website.
*What does a final print look like when delivered from the photographer? – hopefully this will look very similar to what you have seen on the photographer’s website.
*What type of retouching is included in the cost of a print, and what does additional retouching cost?
*What type of adjustments/retouching will be included with the images delivered as digital negatives?
*Why should I order prints from you vs. using the digital negatives to have prints made down the street?

Your digital negatives will usually be a match to your proof images. This means if you order prints from your digital negatives from a lab down the street such as Walgreens/Walmart/Snapfish/Costco/Kodak.com your prints will not come close to the quality of what the photographer would deliver as a final print if you were to order from them (that is if the photographer does retouching when you order your prints).

(more…)

Part II with Katie Moos:

6. When creating a list of group photos for your photographer include individual people’s names.  So for example you want a photo of the Johnson family list off the individual’s names…Alice, Rob, Bobby, Sue, and George.  The reason for this…if the photographer calls out “Johnson family photo” they might get questions like “Did you want the spouses and kids?” “Did you want my fiancé in the photo too?” “Is Grandma in this one?”  “Did you want aunts, uncles, and cousins?” Some of those questions might be embarrassing to answer on the spot.  What if you do not want your brother’s fiancé in the photo—it’s hard to say that when she is standing right there looking at you or asking the question.  So talk about it before and put names on the list…that way the photographer will simply say “Can I please have Alice, Rob, Bobby, and Sue in this photo?”  It also is more personal and is easier for the photographer to gather people because she/he knows how many people to expect.

7. Bring a nice hanger for your wedding dress.  We like to take a shot of your dress before you put it on and often times the dress is on a cheap plastic hanger…not so cute.  Also, the best hangers do not have the cross bar where pants hang.

8. Bring an invitation to the wedding…we’d love to take a detail shot of it.

9. Have your reception area set up well in advance so the photographer can get some photos of it before it gets…well, messed up.

10. Last but not least—feed your photographers…they are starving by dinner (often times we are there from 8-10 hours and have missed lunch and dinner…we work hard for you all day—think about your job– 2 -10 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch break…not us-we work all day straight-unless of course you feed us at which time we will eat what we can in a few minutes and then we go back out for more photos)!!  ☺

Thank you so much!!  I hope these tips are helpful.  If you have any questions please feel free to email me at info@katiemoos.com.  You may also check out my blog at www.katiemoos.com/blog.  Also, as a special treat for Kelly Oshiro blog readers—I am giving $50 off an engagement or family session when you mention this blog posting!!

Hi Kelly and Kelly Oshiro fans!

Thank you for the opportunity to guest blog!  My name is Katie Moos and am going to chat with you about what you can do to make the most of your wedding day from a photographer’s perspective.

Here’s a list of tips along with some images for you to enjoy…

1.  I suggest you allow an extra hour for hair and make up then needed.  Example the stylists need 3 hours, allow 4.  REASON:  Buffer in case the hair and make up take a little longer which it often times can as you want to be sure it looks absolutely fantastic!! Worst case scenario your hair and make up run over and you allowed time for it so you are totally relaxed or your hair and makeup is done when expected and now you have extra time to relax before putting your dress on…maybe even eat a little something! You want to start the day off calm…not rushed.

2. Consider what time of day your wedding will be at.  To do that start with sunset and work back (if at all possible).  Example:  Sunset is at 7:30pm, so that’s when it’s going to be pretty dark…so cocktails outside enjoying the sunset from 6:00-7:00.  This is also when you get nice warm sunset light for the photos of you with your husband (or wife).  So the ceremony (if it takes between 20-30 minutes) would start at 5:30.  By doing this you are allowing the best light for your ceremony, photos and cocktail hour.

3. Consider where you are getting married.  Let’s say you decide to get married on the sandy beaches of Santa Barbara…at 5:30.  You may have sun directly in your eyes or your quests eyes…what to do?  A canopy with sheer white fabric will diffuse the light on your faces (making you look great) and reduce the squinting.  As for the guests consider a paper parasol for them…creates great light (for cheap) not to mention a great little favor or prop to use in photos. If you are getting married out at a vineyard often there is a wonderful tree for shade…shade is your friend…. it will keep people cool and provides soft even light for photos.

4. If you want to hang with you friends at the cocktail hour and are worried about spending all of the time taking family photos consider either cutting back your list or simply extending your cocktail hour to an hour and twenty minutes.  You will have all the photos on your list and spend some time at the cocktail hour!

5. Determining how much time to allow for photos…here’s what I suggest…allow 2 minutes per group photo + 10 minutes for the wedding party + 20 minutes for the bride and groom shots.  For example, your list has 10 groups on it…10×2= 20 minutes + 10 for the wedding party= 30 minutes + 20 minutes for the bride and groom= 50 minutes all together.  This is realistic.