A stunning couple, a very sweet baby and a beautiful baby room!

I’ve had the honor of doing some family photographs of Michelle, Tiaan and Olivia, now 6 months old. The fist shoot we did at my studio and the second one at their home. Michelle and Tiaan worked really hard to complete the baby room on time for the shoot and it was each photos worth in gold! I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO looking forward to the next one!

It was one of the most difficult shoots for me with regards of selecting photographs to publish on my Facebook site and on my blog, so if you want to view more photos, have a look at my Facebook page! I’ve started playing around with different colors and effects and ended up multiplying 30 photos to 100! I just can’t decide if I like the color, color-sepia or the black and white photos the most!

I’ve included some of the new-born photos in the blog as well, the baby room as well as some family photographs for your enjoyment!

THE NEWBORN SHOOT

THE BABY ROOM

THE FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS AND OLIVIA 6 MONTHS

With a sigh, an EISH and one uge smile!

I've met Cynthia many years ago when I started making use of the At Photo lab for my printing and developing work.  She asked if I'd do some family photographs for her this year. Her boys are 5 and 6 years old and you can see they adore their mother!
 
The kids were all to pleased to sit on their mom for a photograph or two, but when I asked Njabulo to sit on his brother Siphesihle for a photo I got a grin, an "EISH" followed withe the biggest sigh I've ever heard.

... The other thing That I did not take into consideration was the fact that if you stick out your tongue for a five and six year old they will do exactly the same! Cynthia was sitting there, laughing her heart out while the kids couldn't decide if they want to laugh, hug their mom or stick their tongues out to me.

Well, here's the result of these photos!

letters, weekends and good coffee!

Today is letter day!

Long overdue and in the mood for writing two of my friends will receive a hand written letter in the near... or perhaps not so near future... depending on the Post Office :-)

Now, both of them live in Pretoria, so I'll be curious to see if they receive the letters at the same time or not!

Why not surprise one of your friends by sending them a handwritten letter too?

Well, here's to lots of coffee and letter writing! ... and a VERY VERY good weekend!

Always cherries your friends and always always make time for them. Even if it's just a brief hello over a sms.

Imcke's helpfull hints for brides in planning their wedding

I have not blogged on weddings in a month of Sundays. Well, this blog is for the bride to be. Hope this will help you with planning your wedding!

Depending on your personality you don't need months and months on end to plan your wedding.
If you are a person that changes your mind quite often, once you've decided on a thing, stick to your guns! This will save you mountains of stress and unnecessary worries!

The Top 10 things to remember, not necessarily in order from the most important, but important it is.

1. The DATE & TIME of the wedding 
2. The BUDGET 
3. The GUEST LIST 
4. The VENUE x 3 
5. WHO WILL MARRY YOU?!!! 
6. The DRESS 
7. The MAID(S) OF HONOR 
8. The PHOTOGRAPHER 
9. The COLOR SCHEME and THEME of the wedding 
10. The INVITATIONS & SAVE THE DATE

The DATE & TIME of the wedding

The first thing you need to is to decide if you want to get married. Do you want a Winter wedding or Summer wedding? Or perhaps a Spring or Autumn wedding?  This will in turn have an influence on your wedding dress design, color scheme of the wedding, and the time of the day which will be most suitable to have the ceremony.

When planning which time of the day your going to get married, consider the following:
In summer early morning between 06:00 - 09:30 AT THE LATEST and from 15:30, 16:00 till approximately 18:30 the light is most beautiful for taking photographs.

In Winter the best suitable time for photographs is between 07:00 - 09:30 and from approximately 15:30 to 17:30. (I will spend more time on a later blog with regards to time of day for photos, exiting the church etc).

Remember to consider the time of day when exiting from the church / chapel. Depending on the location (if there is lots of shade, cover it will be less) one tends to get very harsh light between 10:00 - 15:00. Fill-in flash can help to soften the light, but these lighting conditions is not optimal for taking photographs.

This photographs was taken quite late in the afternoon. These were some of the last photographs taken and I've made use of fill-in flash to get more light on the bride since the sun was down already.

We've made use of a reflector with these photos, just for a bit of fill in light. These were some of the most ideal lighting conditions I could have asked for.

Should you get married in the middle of the day, the location WHERE you take your wedding photographs can be the key to great photos! If there is enough shade or buildings / dense tree cover it will work wonders for a mid-day wedding.

The BUDGET





This is one of the most important parts of your wedding. You don't need a lot of money to have the perfect wedding. STAY in your budget and DO NOT make dept to pay for your wedding. This will add to unnecessary stress and worries one can do without. 

Consider all your options and remember, some times it's cheaper for the venue to do the catering FOR you than to do it yourself.

If you are a bit strapped on cash the following ideas might help to relieve the budget.

• Get a venue close to home (in the same town or just outside). This will save on travel and sleepover cost. IF you get married at a remote location, find out if your bridesmaids / groomsmen will be willing to pay for their own accomodation.
  
• If your mom or a friend have a nice house close to the church where you are getting married, get dressed there OR get dressed a the venue where you will be spending your wedding night. This will save on additional cost renting a room just for this purpose.
  
• Consider renting your wedding dress. It cost a fraction of the price and with the amount of dress shops available you will find the perfect dress for you!
  
• Limit the amount of guest, or consider having cake and tea for your reception and go for a nice supper with close family and friends afterwards.
  
• Photographers DO CHARGE extra for time spend at the reception. Ask your photographer about package options that excludes the reception and even if they have options that only includes photographs on DVD. Should you like to have a photograph where you cut the cake, do it directly after the wedding ceremony. This will keep your guest busy and keep their mouths occupied ;-) while you do your couple photographs.
  
• Get married out of season. Venues are much cheaper then.
  
• ASK about specials or discounts should you pay fees in advance... even try your luck when buying your shoes! Even if you just save R 50 - 00, it adds up!
  
• Have a look at Imcke's helpful make-up hints for great money saving tips with regards to your make-up and hair.

The GUEST LIST


Well, this is up to you as to how big or small your wedding will be. Remember, it is your wedding, so you may specify whether or not you would like to have kids at your wedding or not.


I only invited close friends and family (a total of 35 people) and did not bother including a "+" on the invite since we only had tea and cake.

If you are inviting kids to the wedding, have a separate table for them and have food like hamburgers or pizza for them along with coloring books and games to keep them occupied.

The VENUE x 3


You have 3 venues to consider:
1. Where will you get married?
2. Where will you get dressed?
3. Where will the reception be?


The closer they are to one another the less time you will spend on traveling between them.

WHO WILL MARRY YOU?!!!

Get someone that KNOWS you and that you are comfortable with! Discuss with them if you want to do something special in your wedding ceremony and what theme you'd like to have as the service.

With most of the weddings I've done up to date

the Pastor / Reverent / Priest new the couple. This makes for a much more personal and intimate wedding ceremony.

The DRESS
Select a dress that suits your personality and style. This is your wedding day and it's important that you feel beautiful and comfortable in your dress. 

A few dress tips:

• Choose a material that will not stain easily. Some materials tend to leave marks if you use bubble as your confetti.
• Add a funky color netting or shoes  / stockings to your dress for a bit of extra fun with your photo shoot.
• Consider the weight of the material if you have a huge ball-gown type of dress. Remember, you have to wear it a whole day! Comfort is key!!!
• Remember less is more. If you have a lot of detail on the dress, downplay the jewelry.The golden rule is no more than 5 jewelry pieces. Each earring counting as one item!
• If you have a train on the dress, have a small hook / button included on the back to lift up the train when you dance OR have a loop on the inside that you can hook over your wrist, NOT YOUR FINGER! (it can get heavy to carry a train on your finger the whole evening!)
• Remember, renting your dress is a option if you are strapped for cash!
• Have your shoes ready for the fitting and walk with the shoes and dress on to see if it's comfortable or if the dress gets in your way!
• Select a style for your brides maids that will compliment your own dress as well as their bodies and personalities! Their comfort is just as important as yours!

You don't need an expensive dress to feel and look good. This particular dress was bought at the China Mall in JHB and it cost under R 2500! The bride looked like a $ 1 000 000 in it!

Give your bridesmaids dresses that would flatter their figures and will compliment your dress and color scheme.

 
The MAID(S) OF HONOR 

When selecting your maid of honor, brief the person on what you would like of her. Discuss her duties and your expectations. If you have more than one maid of honor, make sure that they get along. You don't want to end up with girls fighting and backstabbing one another prior or on the day of your wedding.

A few hints with regards to their dresses:

• Ask them about their dress style, don't punish them by putting them into short or strapless dresses if they are not comfortable with it. 
• Keep the style of their dresses in accord with their personalities.
• Have their dresses compliment your own!
• Remember, not everyone looks good in every color!  
• IF they are paying for it ASK them what their budgets are!

The PHOTOGRAPHER

Pick me! ;-) OK, enough joking around... PICK ME! I just love to do weddings :-) 

It is important that you are comfortable with the photographer as person as well as with their particular style of work.


A  good photographer will discuss a time schedule with you prior to the wedding as well as do loaction scouting of ALL the venues so that they know the lighting conditions and where all the nice spots for taking photographs will be. 


This will cut photography time in half resulting in your guest waiting a shorter time period for you to arrive at the reception.

The COLOR SCHEME and THEME of the wedding

If you have a general idea of the theme and color scheme of your wedding the rest will fall into place. One can even go as far as to see what which color means and plan your wedding colors accordingly.

The INVITATIONS & SAVE THE DATE

These you can either do yourself or pay someone to do it. If you are a creative person it can be fun to do your invites as a project. If you are limited on time, rather pay someone that knows what they are doing and save yourself the trouble of making the invites yourself. 


I do hope that this will help you a little bit with the planning and preparations for your big day! Just remember to enjoy every moment of it!