Jenny and I sat down earlier this year to talk about where we wanted to take our blog this year.  In the past it has been to showcase all of our favorite images, and to give people a glimpse into our lives, i.e. our wonderful children (and now lovable basset), and that’s about it.  We’re going to continue to do that, but we came up with a few different things we wanted to share with our readers as well.  You’ve seen a few of them already and there will be more to come soon!  I started the What I’m Loving posts to share what’s inspiring me from time to time.  We also started the In Their Own Words posts to let our past couples share their most memorable images from their wedding.  This post marks our first guest blogger.  We’re going to have some of the awesome wedding vendors we’ve worked with over the years contribute to our blog community with their expertise in the wedding industry.

Selecting the “Right” Vendors
by Kim Ho, Owner/Event Planner, You’re Invited Weddings and Events

As a Wedding Planner and Day of Coordinator since 2003, I have had so many wonderful experiences with my couples.  And, I’ve learned quite a bit along the way.  When Josh asked me to write an article for their blog, I really had to think about what to write.  So, I thought that maybe I should just pass along some wisdom that I pass along to all of my couples as they begin the planning process.  With that said, there are only a few things which I feel strongly about regarding the planning process.  These come from both my personal and professional views and I hope they are helpful.

1. Go into the wedding planning process with a mindset that planning your wedding is supposed to be fun, NOT stressful-Make or find a wedding planning checklist (via a good wedding planning book or there are plenty online) and start going down the list.  Determine what is the most important thing (or two or three) for you, your fiance and your families then prioritize.  Know from the start that things may not always be as smooth as you’d like them to be, but all will work out in the end and you will walk away the happiest person in the world when all is said and done.   And most of all, enjoy the process and share it with those you love.  It’s one of the most wonderful times of your life!
2. Set a budget and know your guest list before you start any form of planning-See one of my recent posts at www.yiweddings.blogspot.com for a full explanation on this piece.
3. Every bride/mother of the bride deserves a day of coordinator-All I have to say that if I would have thought about having a day of coordinator when I got married 10 years ago, I personally would have found the money to pay for one not only for myself, but my mother.  Personally and professionally, I believe that every bride and her mom should thoroughly enjoy the wedding day.  It is 100% worth having an experienced person oversee every single detail you have planned for the last year to ensure that these plans fall in place and if they don’t (it happens) then it gets fixed and you have no idea about it, nor do you need to worry about it.  My mother worked the entire day of my wedding, when really it would have been wonderful to see her enjoy it a bit more from the Mother of the Bride perspective.
4. And, last but not least, select the “right” vendors for your wedding-In particular, I feel very strongly that every couple should have a GREAT connection/feel with three vendors they select during the planning process:  The Planner/Coordinator, the DJ and the Photographer.

To explain, the Planner/Coordinator (for those of you who choose to have one) will be with you for several months during the planning process (whether the full time or the last couple of months).  Of course, it’s important that this person is selected based on merit, but also because they understand you and your ideas.  This will make you feel comfortable with this person handling your big weekend.  Each vendor you select will work with that person the entire day, so you need to feel like this person can not only carry out the details, but carry out those details with your views in mind.

The DJ/Emcee is the vendor who will make or break your reception.  If you aren’t a fan of their voice, their personality or their style, it doesn’t matter that they may be the only one within your budget or that a friend recommended them to you.  You or your guests may not enjoy the wedding reception for those reasons alone.  So, select a DJ who wants to work with you regarding your style of reception and they make you feel comfortable, because they will be the person running your reception.

And of course, the Photographer.  This is an area that I feel very strongly about in two areas:  Spend money on good photography and LOVE your photographer, not just the photos.  Other than your own personal memories, the photos are what you will walk away with at the end of the day.  If your personalities and styles do not fit, there is potential for disappointment in those photos.  The very last thing you want is to let your feelings for the photographer (or their process) show through in your emotions that day.  With that said, I’ve never had anyone not LOVE the Solars

At the very least, wedding planning is a fun process.  It’s blissful and such a wonderful experience!!  Congrats to anyone getting engaged and/or married in 2010!

Leslie, one of our favorite wedding clients (we have a ton of favorite wedding clients:) has decided to pursue what she loves. Cooking! And we have a ton of respect for those that can run their own business doing what they love. Leslie started Elite Entrees, and contacted me about taking some promotional pics of her cooking.

Before we get to the pics, a little bit about Elite Entrees. Leslie is a personalized chef service, which is so much better than a Social Suppers type experience. She wants to sit down with you to help plan exactly what you want. When she shows up to cook in your kitchen (yep, she comes to you), she brings all the ingredients she needs to cook whatever you want (yep, she goes shopping for you). If you want all organic ingredients, done. If you want low-fat, done. Finally, when she’s done cooking, she’ll even wash all the dishes for you (yep, no mess). Like I said, it’s a very personalized chef service, so check her out!

Here’s a few meals she prepared for us. We cooked up the beef manicotti tonight for dinner, and it was excellent. Now, we can’t wait to dig into the chicken spaghetti!

Like I said, she brings everything she needs with her so you don’t have to worry

Sprinkle me

Stuffing the beef manicotti

Finished!

She also made some Chicken Spaghetti

You can tell she really loves cooking!

I have to say it again, I HAVE THE BEST CLIENTS IN THE WORLD!!!!! Almost everyone knows by now how sick Jenny’s been. She was out of work for 8 weeks, 3 hospital stays, 4 or 5 trips to the emergency room, and a whole lot of medicine, and she’s finally back to work as of last week. Well, with 2 young-un’s and a sick wife, the house got a little bit dirty:)

So, Layna and some other wonderful ladies (some of whom we’ve never even met) all pitched in to hire a cleaning service to come to our house for a few hours. I can’t thank these ladies enough for this. It makes it even cooler that some of the ladies who pitched in weren’t even our brides. So, here’s a big thank you to the Realies, a wonderful group of women who stick up for each other and aren’t bad at helping each other with wedding plans! Seriously, we appreciate this a ton.

Christine Shuck came over and spent 3 hours cleaning our house. I was amazed at how much she got done in such a small amount of time. She knocked out 2 bathrooms, dusted the whole upstairs, cleaned the kitchen, and scrubbed the kitchen floor and the tile by the front door. Everything looks great! Our kitchen floor hasn’t looked this good since we moved in 2 years ago. Thanks, Christine!

Now, I can’t wait until Jenny comes home tonight and sees how great our house looks!

Of course, I took some pictures, so here’s Christine hard at work:)

the tools of the trade

meet Christine!

she even cleaned the kids’ piano!

Check out all that dirt on the floor. When Christine was done, it was gone.

The mirrors were so clean, the only dust in this pic is the dust on my lens:)

So, if anyone is in dire need of some cleaning, or wants to get their life organized, make sure you check Christine out at cscleaningservices.com!

I had another doggie session this evening, and I think this one went way smoother than any of my previous sessions. Tundra, Shadow & Boomer were the most well behaved dogs I’ve had the privilege of shooting. And, there is a very good reason for this. They are Tom Mancuso’s dogs. He is the head instructor of Sit Means Sit, where he works with his wife, Carrie. They specialize in off-leash control for your favorite pups, and will train any dog. After taking these pics, I’m sold, and when we finally get a doggie for our kids, Tom will be the first to know.

Seriously, if you have a new puppy, or a mis-behavin’ doggie, call Tom and set up a free demo.

So, enjoy the pics, because the dogs are freakin’ adorable, too!

Here’s Shadow & Tundra chillin’ on a bench

Tundra has some major hops! Here she’s flying over a park bench

She never missed the frisbee, either

What a beautiful dog

Shadow was pretty darn cute, too

Look at that tongue!

Okay, for good measure, look again

She’s not too bad at catching herself

And, finally, here’s Boomer!

Boomer wanted to show off her jumping skills as well

Boomer was FAST! For all you photogs, the shutter on this was 1/1000, and still captured some motion blur.

Watch out, Boomer bites!

Thanks, Tom, your dogs were awesome and I had a blast!

So things have been kinda slow around here lately (it IS January after all), so I was really excited to tag along with my good friends Drew and Selena from Van Horn Video today for their Deal or No Deal audition video with Layna and Joel. Let me just tell you, this video is going to be HILARIOUS! As soon as Drew gets done editing it, I’m sure I’ll be able to talk him into letting me post it here so everyone can see it. Anyway, Josh made me promise to take a few photos so I could have something to blog about, so here they are…

First up, Drew and Selena in action… Selena is such a great director! And Drew’s quiet and always thinking behind the camera

Getting ready to play a mock ‘Deal or No Deal’

A few of the Realies came along to show their support for Layna… and to be the glamorous case girls

Deal or No Deal? The pressure was almost too much!

And the reaction to winning a million dollars… (and in case you’re wondering, Joel is holding a stuffed monkey because if they win a million dollars, he’s hoping Layna will let him get a REAL pet monkey… my money’s on Layna… sorry Joel!)

This is Layna rapping to Baby Got Back (of course she changed up the words:) with everybody else shaking their booties in the background

Layna and Joel, good luck! They had better let you on Deal or No Deal. I mean, you worked so hard on the video (and you do have great hair