Destrehan Plantation
13034 River Road
Destrehan, Louisiana 70047
(985) 764-9315
http://www.destrehanplantation.org

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Vintage Court
75082 Hwy. 25
Covington, LA 70435
Phone: (985) 871-0495
http://www.vintagecourtwedding.com

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All the flowers were artistically designed by Lani Guilbeau of Fleur Du Jour, one of best Baton Rouge florists around.

Fleur Du Jour
640 Main Street, Suite 105
Baton Rouge, LA 70801
225.572.5125 cell
225.334.9300 office
www.fleurdujourla.com

Hemingbough Wedding & Reception Center
10101 Highway 965
St. Francisville, LA 70775
(225) 635-6617
Visit Hemingbough’s website, the premier St. Francisville wedding venue

Lani of Fleur Du Jour did such an amazing job on the flowers – so unique yet beautiful and very fitting with Sydney’s style. Way to go Lani!

First look…I love Michael’s anticipation!

Sydney had to wipe tears from Michael’s eyes!

Hemingbough’s amphitheater provides an amazing backdrop for weddings with its serenity and greenery.

Those are happy tears for a super happy night! That’s a daddy’s girl. Congratulations Sydney & Michael.

Jennifer & Michael Guillot in Napoleonville moments after exiting the church from their ceremony.

Dear former brides,

This page is dedicated to every former bride who wishes to talk about her wedding so that she may inform new brides-to-be things she should do when planning her own wedding. Now that your wedding is all over, you may look back from time to time to reminisce on your special day, thinking about everything from, “I am so glad I did this…” to, “I wish I’d done this…”
Consider the following questions, and as you answer them add in some advice for current brides who don’t have the insight you do. Simply copy and paste the questions into a new “comment field” at the bottom of this page. Type in your answers and advice.

1. How long did you plan for the big day?

2. Do you think it was long enough or could have been longer? Why?

3. How far in advance did you get your dress?

4. How far in advance did you book:
ceremony/reception site(s)?
caterer?
cake maker?
photographer?
florist?

5. Was there any logic to the order in which you booked each of these vendors?

6. How did you feel when you realized your day that’d you’d planned so long for was coming to an end? Did you feel good about it or did you feel as if it  was too rushed? That it was happening all so quickly?

7. How much of your wedding day do you actually remember? Or were the emotions too strong for you to create lasting memories of it all?

8. What was the greatest thing that happened on your wedding day (the most memorable, special, unique, etc)?

9. What time was your ceremony: afternoon or evening? Explain why or why not it was the best time to have a wedding.

10. Was the moment during which your groom first saw you on the wedding day as special as you expected it to be? Be real here. This is the moment most brides build up in their hearts to be the highlight of the entire day. Was it the  moment you dreamed it would be?

11. If you could do the “first look session” to get better quality photos of you and your new husband by doing them PRIOR to the ceremony in a private session, would you do it? Would you recommend other brides do it or do you feel the tradition of the groom not seeing the bride before the wedding day is more important than having better quality photos of themselves together? Please elaborate as much as possible on this topic.

12. If you did the “first look session” prior to the wedding, please talk about that experience here and explain why it was or was not a great experience.

13. Looking back, what would you do differently at your wedding (if anything) if you were to start the planning process all over again? Think of anything from different vendors, more vendors in different categories, location changes, flowers, do wedding photos (first look private bride-groom session BEFORE ceremony? Anything?

14. If you did not have one, would you choose a videographer to capture the “motion” of your day in an emotional manner if you were to do it all over again?

15. What do you WISH you knew going into the wedding planning process that you now know after the wedding?

16. Any other advice for current brides?

Here’s some engagement photos from our session on September 29, 2009. But first, be sure to play their fun slideshow to give you an overview of their engagement session.

Katie & Ryan's reflections at Red Star Bar in downtown Baton Rouge, LA

Happy bride-to-be. She couldn't stop smiling and laughing the entire session.

"Bling, Bling," says the ring.

What a beautiful couple!

One of my favorites of Katie and Ryan! They are adorable people and so fun-loving.

Inside the Shaw Center for the Arts

Another of my favorites...oooh, the sky is so pretty. But someone had to add grafitti to one of BR's historic landmarks.

Playing like children on the water tower.

Gorgeous eyes, Katie.

All alone in Tsunami's private room, except me peeping through my camera lens.

Ryan steals a kiss atop Tsunami overlooking Mississippi River with Old State Capitol in background.

So sweet yet slightly sensual. And a bit grainy.

While wedding coordinators are often most sought after for providing new brides with feedback on how best to plan their weddings, one of the most valuable resources for a bride comes from her photographer. Despite what some wedding planning guides indicate, booking a photographer 12-16 months before the wedding ensures she’ll have not only the best photographer but also his or her input into how to organize the day such that great photographic opportunities naturally occur. By booking a photographer soon after the wedding date is set, she is setting herself up to have the best photographs possible.

As a wedding photographer of eight years, I am used to being one of the last vendors selected for the wedding. This can result in the bride making poor choices in regards to the ceremony location, time and lighting, which in turn have everything to do with how well the photos turn out. The photographer is the one person who will document every aspect of the wedding from pre-bridals and the dress to flowers at the venue to the programs and the cake. Often they can provide valuable insight into what works and what doesn’t. It’s important to heed to a photographer’s suggestions because long after the wedding is over, all that remains are the pictures.

Importance of location
A true photographer can use any location to get great photos, but one thing a photographer is not is a magician. If the couple has not booked their venue yet, they should consult a photographer for options. While some may be out of the budget, all will be at the very least highly photogenic. A photogenic location has more to do with the type of lighting and type of small structures on site than it does the overall “feel” and opulence of the venue.

Heavy wall texture and bold contrasting colors play a huge role in a venue’s photogenic nature. Ponds, bridges, small doorways, steps, alcoves and arches provide better photo opportunities in most cases than majestic buildings with elaborate gardens. The best wedding photos are the unscripted moments between people, and simple, non-distracting backgrounds and the presence of natural lighting only enhance that.

Of all the elements that make a venue truly photogenic, lighting plays the most important role. More specifically, the presence of late afternoon sunlight in the photogenic areas described earlier helps the photographer create the most breathtaking photographs filled with depth and dimension. While most modern professional cameras can shoot in low light, it’s still important to have a decent light level to ensure clarity in the photographs.

Importance of ceremony time
Sunset and early evening weddings are the two most popular times for ceremonies. From a photographer’s point of view, photos come out best during either overcast days or late afternoon. If you want a sunset wedding, consider having the ceremony begin 45 minutes to 1 hour prior to sunset, which allows for optimal lighting during the formal portraits of the newlyweds to be taken immediately after the ceremony.

If the ceremony will be in the evening, especially one that is outdoors as is common in cooler months, make sure the photographer has an opportunity to see the ceremony site lit up at this time of day prior to your wedding day. It will give him/her an idea of what type of external lighting he/she may need to make clear photographs.

While a coordinator can help make this daunting process of planning a wedding easier, the photographer also has valuable information that adds can make the wedding not only more beautiful on the wedding day, but for generations to come through the stories the photographs tell.

Modern Southern brides often hold a wedding day tradition in which the groom is not to see the bride on the wedding day in her bridal gown prior to the wedding ceremony. If he does see her in the dress beforehand, the couple may have bad luck in their marriage, the superstition states.

While many brides hold true to this convention and forbid the groom to even so much as know the color of the dress, most do not know from where the tradition originated.

In the middle ages when marriages were arranged the bride and bridegroom could not see each other prior to the wedding and had often never met. Hence, if they were to have seen one another, they may realize the other is unattractive and would run from the idea of marriage. This tradition continues today and it adds unnecessary stress to an anxious bride.

Here’s how most traditional weddings occur in the South from the perspective of a photographer.

Wedding couples today spend tens of thousands of dollars at a minimum for their special day but all too often the couple is in a frenzied haste going from place to place without a chance to reflect on all that is happening. The newlyweds rush from the kiss at the alter/ceremony site down the aisle and then circle back up to the front to pose in place for 20-45 minutes all the while guests are beginning to enjoy the cocktail hour or reception food.

They arrive to the reception often hungry and tired of being photographed only to be greeted by the reception coordinator who instructs them they have three minutes before their first dance. One event after another of orchestrated dances, cake cuts and traditions leads to couple to finally have their “grand exit”. Before the couple knows it, their celebration with friends and family they’ve eagerly awaited is over, save their “first” night together.

After photographing some 250 plus weddings in the United States, most of which have been in the South, I have often thought there must be a better way, at least in regards to the photography. After a little research, I realized that many weddings throughout the U.S. as well as in Australia are nearly full day events in which the ceremony occurs in late morning or early afternoon followed by an extended break at which time the newlyweds and wedding party do fun, relaxed, romantic outdoor portraits filled with laughter, celebration, charisma, running, jumping, etc. During this extended break, everyone has a chance to cool down and refresh, especially the newlyweds. The break is followed by an evening reception.

While many couples may not opt for this extended wedding celebration, there is another way to do it. That method is the “first look”. While this is a break from tradition in the South, many couples nationwide prefer this method when compared to the hustle and bustle they’ve seen at their friends’ weddings.

Here’s the setup: I arrange to have the groom already on location in a secluded, photogenic setting with his back turned away from the area where the bride will enter. The bride will come up behind the groom and tap him on the shoulder, at which point I am off to the side photographing the look on his face, forever capturing that beautiful moment in which he first lays his eyes on the bride. It’s very much the same moment that would happen at a traditional ceremony, but the difference is, instead of doing it in front of a large audience who expects a certain outcome, you are in private and truly free to express your most intimate emotions.

The only one there besides you is me, off to the side with a telephoto lens capturing the unscripted moments which unfold naturally. After several minutes of the bride and groom talking, hugging and laughing together I then do some very relaxed formal portraits of the soon to-be-married couple.

1. Your day will flow much easier, thus being more enjoyable and memorable.
2. Photographer will get the most creative and artistic wedding pictures possible because there’s simply more time.
3. You still get to surprise your groom in a private, romantic setting — all captured in pictures. It can be in a church, field, park, lake or dark alley.
4. After your special moments together, everyone (the couple, wedding party and family) is photographed while they’re most relaxed and fresh.
5. You won’t miss any part of your cocktail hour nor reception. Just kiss and head out to party! There’s no mad rush to the reception.
6. The wedding events happen naturally after the ceremony instead of the photographer bothering you to get the formal photos.
7. You’ll be more relaxed during the formal photos and the ceremony. The key to good photos is to be relaxed. Bottom line, you’ll love your photos more.

Here’s a link to a wedding slideshow in which the couple opted to do the “first look”:
Anne & Mark wedding photo slideshow at Houmas House in Darrow, LA

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