CONTRATULATIONS!

First! The first thing you need to do is take a deep breath and take this in. Too many times in life we rush from one thing to the next and we forget just how precious each moment is. You are engaged to the love of your life! Take that in! In a few short weeks and months – your life will dramatically change. That deserves a deep breath and a moment to just cherish how special this moment is to each of you! If you’re not smiling, then you are stressed and you shouldn’t be! Everything will be fine!

2. Budget. This may change as you take a deeper dive into the rest of these points, but you need to decide early on what you want to spend. Weddings can range from courthouse steps to an elaborate multi-day affair. Your budget will also determine your guest list, length of engagement, bridal party size, wedding dress, cake, and more. Set a budget and then realize it will probably go over by at least 20-30%.

3. Time of year. The time of year dictates many decisions in your wedding planning. If it’s an outdoor wedding in DFW, the summer months are a little more uncomfortable outside during mid-afternoons. Therefore April, May, October and November are the most popular months. Check with your venue to see if you can save a little on your budget if you select a less popular month. Because every venue provides so many options, write down what is important to you such as: close parking to venue, open or close catering, table capacity, dressing room facilities, location to hotels or facilities for guests, décor – will it require more from you or is already beautiful on its own, rentals such as tables, plates, etc. Obviously, the cost would be in a column. Put these into a spreadsheet and compare. Decide and book. It’s hard. No one is saying it won’t be a little nerve-racking to make that first decision but if you are booking a venue in a popular month, do not wait too long. Many couples book their weddings 1-2 years ahead of time. There is only one wedding per day and you want that to be you. Check that box and move on. On our website you can view more than 60 venues from around the DFW area. Check these out for how they photograph. These are not all of the venues we have photographed but we are constantly adding more as time allows.

4. Next? That’s right … photographers, videographers, DJ’s and planners need to be hired next. In other words, hire any professional that provides a service to one wedding a day. Typically, these professionals fill up their calendars very quickly and again, you want to be on the right side of choosing the one you want. Of course, we want you to consider us as your photographers and videographers! We would love to talk to you about your plans. With our experience of over 20 years – we do everything we can to make things simple! We provide you with our Wedding Book that walks you through each step of the photo/video process with tips and checklists to take all the stress out of the journey. Our goal is that once you check the box of hiring your photographer/videographer --- you DO NOT have to stress about that part of it again … just simply move on to the next item on your to-do list. Along this same line, check out the rest of our website. We have other items on here that may be helpful like our portrait guide and the perfect vows for your video. We make sure our clients have all the info they need for their wedding day.

Give us a call! Often we talk to couples who think they need 10-12 hours of photography time. Once we discuss it, we find that the photographer is there taking photos of very little of importance. Let us help you firm up your timeline and put your money where it matters.

We hope to hear from every single one of you about being your photographer / videographer but if not, we still wish you all the very best and many blessings!