The Right Wedding Venues for Different Wedding Styles

Whether you are considering hosting your wedding at an exotic resort in Miami, an extravagant affair at the local museum or you wish to hold a more private affair in a charming lawn, you need to make sure that the venue you pick suits your personal style and the overall theme of your wedding.

By doing so, you will be able to create a perfect setting for yourselves, your guests and not to mention, help your Miami wedding photographers make the most of the gorgeous photo-ops.

1. The Classic Wedding

If you have a fairly long guest list for your wedding, booking a grand ballroom at a hotel is the best way to give your special day the classic elegance it deserves. Select a venue that is ornate with respect to its décor. This will make it easier for your Miami based wedding photographers to create a gorgeous looking backdrop for your photos.

You can also consider getting married in a mansion or a historical building. You will be able to find some excellent vintage inspired privately owned estates for hire. If you are looking for something that exclusive and picturesque at the same time, consider getting married at a golf course or a private club.

2. The Relaxed Wedding

A well maintained park or garden makes for a great venue that comes with sufficient natural décor for your wedding day. Before you select this location, make sure you visit it around the time of the year you intend to get married. This way you will be able to get an idea on the colors and the foliage at that particular time.

A ranch or a country farm also helps you give a casual and fun feel to your wedding day. Combine your event with some fun barn yard or country side activities such as square dancing and horseback riding.

3. Modern Weddings

If your personal style is modern, and you prefer a more urban environment, a local gallery or art museum makes for an excellent setting for your wedding. You can also have a wedding onboard a yacht that overlooks the skyline of Miami. Make sure you select a gorgeous looking boat that comes with sufficient cabin space in the event that it starts to rain.

Before you select a venue, make sure you and your fiancé are on the same page. If you are planning or hosting a destination wedding, it is best to get help from professional planners who are familiar with your choice of destination. This way you will be able to have a local connection that can help you plan. Private beaches, resorts and mountain tops make for the most picturesque wedding locations to celebrate your wedding day.

8 Popular Ways to Personalize your Wedding

If you truly want to make your wedding standout from the rest and make sure that your guests go back home with fond memories, consider personalizing your wedding day. By applying some of these simple yet elegant ideas, you will be able to make all your guests feel involved and give them a chance to take one some memoirs that they can appreciate for years to come.

1. You can start personalizing your wedding by giving it a simple theme that you and your fiancé relate to. If you both love to read, consider stacking old leather bounds books on tables to create small flower stands. If you are painters, consider sending out invites that are themed after your favorite artist.

2. Get creative and break wedding conventions by starting your event with a reception and opting to walk down the aisle after. This way you and your fiancé will be able to greet your guests, let your hair down and make your ceremony a lot more relaxed event.

3. If you are having guests from out of town, bring together a welcome pack that provides information on the area and also comes with a little wedding favor.

4. With a little bit of creativity, you can also find some great photo-ops that are personalized and gorgeous to look at. Ask your Miami wedding photographer for ideas on a photo-booth or creative ways to get personalized pictures for all your guests.

5. Another great idea which also makes for a great photo-op is providing each one of your guest single colored helium balloons that go with the scheme of your wedding. The vision of hundreds of balloons making their way to the wedding venue through a lawn can make for fantastic photos.

6. Ask your Miami wedding photography expert to have someone walk around with a Polaroid camera. Give your guests a chance to receive instant pictures which they can then get framed in personally created frames at the craft area you set up at the reception.

7. If you plan on getting married over Christmas, you can ask each guest to bring with them a bauble for your tree that you will use every year. This will make for an excellent reminder of your wedding day each year.

8. You can also decorate your venue with wedding photos from your family that go back as far as you can. Display them in vintage frames, hereby creating an elegant ambiance that celebrates love.

With the help of your wedding planner, decorator and wedding photographer you will be able to brainstorm a range of ideas that are personalized. Make it a point to come up with things that are realistic to implement and something you and your spouse will look back at and value over the years.

How to Find the Right Wedding Photographer

Your wedding day comes only once, and the best preserved memories from that special day are in the form of photographs and videos taken by professionals. It is thus important that this is one area where you do not compromise.

While hiring a Miami based wedding photographer, here are a few things you must consider-

1. The Shooting Style

When you meet with a potential photographer, understand his or her shooting style. Some professionals are excellent with portraits while the others do a good job with candid pictures.

Portraits essentially involve posing and these types of shots have been around for a long time. These typically consist of posed pictures of you, your spouse, the family and the bridal party. These pictures are great for the wedding album or for frames around the house.

In contrast, candid or mood photography is where the professional you hire works towards creating a story out of the pictures he takes. This is a great way to showcase the general mood or feel of the events that take place on your special day. This form of photography allows you to get pictures of real moments, real smiles and real emotions.

2. How much is it Costing you?

Now that you have shortlisted a style, you need to assess how much it costs you to hire a Miami wedding photographer for the job. It is important to note that the cost of a candid photographer can be about 3 to 5 times more than that of a professional who shoots portraits. However, it is also important to note that professionals who shoot portraits rely heavily on printing charges, while the later do not rely on print sales for their income. You need to assess your options and hand and make an informed decision.

3. What are you Getting Along with the Photographs?

Before hiring the services of the best Miami wedding photographer, you must have a fair idea of the various inclusions in the package on offer. Wedding photograph packages in usually include a well formatted DVD of all the pictures of the event, a blow up of the newly wedded couple framed to perfection, a set of cards saying “Thank you” and a coffee table book. The online of physical profile of the photographer will help you get a better insight into the various plans and packages on offer.

In addition to this, you also need to asses a few factors with respect to the experience and skills of the professional you are hiring and his or her personality. It is important that you select a photographer that you get along with and someone you can put faith in with your big event.

Your Simple Guide to Taking Better Pictures at a Wedding

Wedding photography is a lot more challenging than one can imagine. Considering that there are almost no second chances, you need to make sure you get it right the first time as the bride kisses the groom, or when they walk out of the ceremony as man and wife, or when they steal those precious looks at each other during toasts or during their first dance.

Speak to any successful Miami wedding photographer and he will insist that his key to success is that he moved away from taking traditional shots and focus on the wonderful details of someone’s special day!

Here are some easy tips that most Miami wedding photographers strongly recommend -

1. Arriving Early

On your next wedding assignment, works towards creating a story for the bride and groom through the pictures you take. Arrive early and start taking shots of the bride getting ready, as she puts on her final touches, take pictures of the moments she shares with her mother, sister, best friend and father. Spend some time at the venue to take pictures of the pre-ceremony hustle-bustle. This is the best opportunity for you to capture some details of the event that you may not have the time to once the celebrations commence.

2. Always Shoot in Manual Mode

Chances are that you will not be able to use any flash while the ceremony is on. Most Miami wedding photographers prefer using manual mode for this reason. To be able to make the most of the light that exists in the hall, using manual mode gives you sufficient control of the shutter speed and aperture. The ideal thing to do is to make your ISO up to 800+, open up the aperture to wide, put your white balance on auto mode and make your shutter speed as slow as possible to the point that your images do not blurry.

3. Be as Prepared as you can Be

With a myriad of possibilities to get creative with the type of shots you take, as a photographer it is important that you are intuitive about angles and moments you can capture in the due course of the event. A great way to make your intuition work is by spending time with the couple for a few hours before the wedding day. This will help you assess the chemistry of the couple you are shooting and then be prepared to capture some of their best angles on the wedding day.

Do not be afraid to reshoot if you are not happy with a shot. It is important that you are polite and yet assertive when you want the job done. While shooting candid shots, make it a point to focus on the details such as the flowers in the hand of the bridal party, the centrepieces, the glassware, the wedding rings and all other elements that come together to create a memorable event.

Guide to Looking your Best in your Wedding Pictures

A wedding day is special for the family, friends, and the groom; but for the bride even more so. As a bride, you have spent some precious hours of your growing years dreaming about the one day when you are treated like the princess.

With all the planning that has gone into the day one thing you should definitely focus on is looking your very best for the pictures. Even the most breathtakingly beautiful brides tend to shy in front of the lens. This is a simple guide to how you can look your best in your wedding photos.

1. Practicing your Pose

There is a lot to learn from celebrities about looking a couple of pounds lighter in front of the camera. Most Miami wedding photographers recommend brides to go the classic red carpet pose where you stand with your hips rotated 45 degrees from the camera. Do not hold back from practicing in front of the mirror. Remember to put your weight on your back foot, and cross your other leg in the front to elongate it. Bend the front knee to avoid looking stiff. You can also put your hand on your hip.

2. Relaxing your Face

A Miami wedding photographer can go on for eons when it comes to taking shots of you with the groom, your family and your guests. All that grinning can get quite painful. So it is important to consciously relax your face every time you feel your brow furrow, smile stiffen or eyes squint. Close your eyes for a few seconds, let your lips fall back and relax your facial muscles.

3. Accessorizing

Even though you may have taken care of all the basics when it comes to achieving the perfect bridal look, make sure you have considered all the elements that go into highlighting your personal bridal style. Hair pieces look exquisite with a bridal gown especially after the veil comes off at the reception.

4. Showing how you really Feel

Ask any Miami wedding photographer and he will tell you that the best shots are taken when the bride and the groom are completely at ease. Try to be as comfortable as possible throughout the event, since you never know when your photographer is taking candid shots of you. Also being yourself will allow you to relive the actual moments you experienced on your special day.

Also, this is a great opportunity to bring out your inner star. If you are comfortable enough, feel free to exaggerate your poses and emotions. Also remember that there is no such thing as ‘too close’. A major part of wedding pictures is capturing the chemistry between the couple. Make sure you give your photographer sufficient opportunities to capture the same!