Photography Series: Jordana Hazel

Last but most certainly not least in the series - Jordana of Hazelnut Photography! Jordana and I started exchanging emails while we were both planning our weddings, before she was the amazing wedding photographer that she is today. We bonded over a love for damask (which you will see in a few of her pictures below) and its been so fun to watch her turn into such an incredible photographer! Jordana and Chris had such a glamorous wedding, captured by Rob Holley. And even though she worked hard on all the lovely details you see in this post, her advice for all of you so very true:

I’m so excited to be part of this series! I literally did a happy dance in my office when I got the email from Darci. I’ve always found it so interesting to read personal posts and see the everyday images from my favorite photographers. A little glimpse into their lives. I’m so excited to see the other photographers and giggly excited to be one of them!

I think my advice might be a bit counterintuitive to what you’ve always heard. Because I’d always heard it and it totally freaked me out. “Don’t let it pass by too quickly.” You’ve heard that, right? From brides or aunts or friends. “Take it all in.” I wanted to do that. “Savor every single moment.” I wanted to let the day roll by slowly, taking it all in, making every moment count. That’s what I wanted.

But here’s what happened, I got so freaked out that it was going to go by so quickly and that I wouldn’t be able to take it all in that I gave myself a bit of a panic attack. I tried so hard to slow it all down that I don’t think I felt the day as much as I wanted to. As much as I could have.

So, my advice, let the day happen. Relax. Have a cocktail. Let all the details go. Stop worrying. Trust the vendors that you’ve hired to take care of you. Know that there will be parts of the day that you’ll miss, but you’ll be smack dab in the center of the most important moments. Let the most amazing day of your life unfold as it should.

And when it’s all over, you’ll have amazing images, video and memories to help relive the day for the rest of your lives! Our photographer, Rob Holley, and videographer, Joe Rosenberger with Today’s The Day Weddings, captured the day beautifully. We gave them plenty of time to try new things, to be creative and to truly capture us. They were there for things we missed and documented the things we experienced. We couldn’t have been happier!

So very well said, Jordana! Thank you so much for sharing your advice and your wedding with us.

Photography Series: Sarah K. Chen

Even though I am pretty sure you've all seen Sarah K. Chen's amazing wedding, I couldn't help but ask her to be a part of the series. When I started planning my own wedding Sarah's Knot Bio was one that I completely fell in love with - the dress, the photography, the details, they were all so lovely. And I swear she might have single handedly started the tissue papered monogram craze! Sarah and Jeffrey's beautiful wedding was photographed by the extremely talented Jose Villa. And of course, Sarah was kind enough to share some words of wisdom with all of you...

Wedding day photography is so, so important. When all is said and done, your photographs will be one of the only things you have left to remember and relive your big day. I highly recommend couples hire the best photographer they can within their budget and to try and skimp/save in other areas to allocate more into their photography budget.

I loved Jose Villa's work from the moment I laid eyes on it. His work is so dreamy, romantic, simple, elegant, and fresh. I knew he'd most likely be out of our budget, but I inquired anyway. My husband to be didn't understand why I couldn't find someone local, someone we didn't have to pay a travel fee for...and so I tried to shop around to make my future husband happy. I contacted a bunch of other local photographers, but my heart just wasn't in it. Their posing was too traditional, or too edgy, or I wasn't fond of their post processing, or I was turned off by hard sells when we spoke on the phone. In my heart, no one compared to Jose Villa.

And so we opted to forgo some things to book Jose. We had a ton of DIY elements in our wedding. Our save the dates, invitations, escort cards, table numbers, ring pillow, flower girl basket, etc were all hand made with love, by us. We also opted for a simple cake, no ceremony programs, no menu's, no candy buffet, no sparkly crystals hanging off the tall centerpieces, no additional lighting for the reception room, no dessert service (isn't that what the cake is for?), and no videographer. *But we got Jose Villa.* I don't think anyone at our wedding would say that our cake was too simple. No one missed having a ceremony program, because really, haven't we all been to enough weddings to know what will happen in which order? Instead of hosting a lavish candy buffet, we found a local candy apple manufacturer and had delicious favors for each of our guests for less than we initially wanted to spend on favors. We opted out of having additional lighting inside the reception room and had a ton of candles placed there instead. We originally opted out of having a videographer, but at the last minute hired an inexpensive one just for peace of mind in case we had any regrets of not hiring one. But honestly, it's hard for me to watch the video now. All I can think is - do I really sound like that? Eesh!

But what we do have from our day is a collection of images that are incredibly beautiful and so meaningful to us. We absolutely love love love our wedding collection from Jose. His work and vision and style is exactly what we wanted and he did an amazing job capturing our day. I really think it's important that you find a photographer whose work you absolutely adore since every photographer has their own look and style of work.

Thank you Sarah, for both your advice and all the inspiration found in your own wedding!