8 Tips To Keep Within your Floral Budget For Your Wedding

Wedding Floral | Not Just The Bouquet Anymore

Happy Monday everyone! We know Monday's have the potential to be a drag so here's a blog post, written by the amazing Kelly Dixon of Union Blooms Floral to brighten up your day :)

This will be Part 1, so be sure to check back to see more tips from Kelly!

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Wedding floral is one of the items for any wedding that sets the tone, theme, colors, and what can be one of the most budget killing expenditures for any budget.  As a floral designer, who specializes in weddings and events, here are tips for how to keep within budget while getting the look you want as well as what to ask your florist and my tips for making sure your day goes as seamlessly as possible.

1.     Use Pinterest to find the overall look you want.  But only use Pinterest as a guideline.  That huge hydrangea and rose covered arch you’re looking at may be out of your budget, but it’s the general look you want. That cascading bouquet with Phalaenopsis orchids may be stunning but is it the flower or the overall look you like?

I tell all my clients to bring photos of ideas they like to a consultation.  Why? It allows me to see what their overall vision is and how to tailor it for their particular budget.

2.     Once you find the look you want and decide on colors, STEP AWAY from Pinterest.  After you have made your final decision it can cloud the overall look with multiple new photos being sent to your floral designer, leaving he/she questioning the notes they took at your consults and culled from your emails and phone calls.

There will always be a new trend, a new color palette, but feeling confident in your final choice is important for the outcome to be as close to what you envisioned.   

3.     The MOST important part of your wedding floral is the bridal bouquet.  Why? It will be in nearly every photo of the bride.  A breakdown of your proposal per cost should show the bridal bouquet being a pretty hefty part of your proposal costs.  A good designer will know that this is the “showstopper” piece and the most attention needs to be put on the bridal bouquet.

Many times, I have had clients who said they wanted a small bouquet. Happily, I will accommodate that request with varied responses on the day of the wedding as the bride wishes her bouquet was bigger and more elaborate.  It is frustrating for a designer to spend hours if not days working on a wedding to find a client who is not as pleased with their decision.

4.     Listen to your designer.  It’s 100 degrees in August and you want tulips and hydrangea.  You’re insisting on those two flowers, your designer is begging you to reconsider.  There is a reason for this.  Designers spend a lot of time designing your pieces, whether they be the personal floral, ceremony floral or reception floral.  They know in August, tulips will be dead by the time the wedding starts and the hydrangea will look like something left over from the week before.  Designers know what flowers will do well in what situations. Listen to their advice to help alleviate wedding day disappointment.

Case in point.  One of my first weddings, yes, in August, and yes she insisted on red tulips.  Not only was the cost higher as they are out of season, I knew her venue, which had no air conditioning, would not be a good fit for her desired tulips.  I showed her red garden roses, dark red standard roses, and still, she held fast to the red tulips.  While the assembly looked good, the outcome was a huge disappointment.  Sitting in a church for 2 hours before the ceremony with no air conditioning the tulips were fully open and petals falling by the time the ceremony started.  Her bouquet? It was nearly dead by the end of the ceremony.  She was upset, she was angry.  While I fully understood her disappointment, I only redirected her to the countless emails with the flower options and me as the designer begging her not to use the tulips and the reasons why.

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Kelly Dixon | Union Blooms Floral

Info@unionbloomsfloralweddings.com | www.unionbloomsfloralweddings.com

15 Things You Didn't Know About Me

ABOUT ME

Hey everyone! I hope you all are having an awesome day. I just wanted to post this About Me blog so you get a chance to know me a little better. For more about me, check out http://www.sonacityphotography.com/thephotog/. Without further adieu...Here's a list.

1. I never got a referral in school and only got detention once! I was bad, I just never got caught :P

2. I used to rap and produce music all the time. I even got the opportunity to open up for Afroman with my group "The Out Crowd"

3. I'm a classically trained pianist

4. I'm addicted to traveling, I've been to Puerto Rico, Israel, Mexico, Amsterdam, Switzerland, England, Vienna and can't wait to visit more places

5. My girlfriend and I have a pet hedgehog named Wanheda. I love her sooo much :D

6. Basketball is my favorite sport. Unfortunately, the Magic aren't doing so well

7. Whiskey is my drink of choice but I also enjoy craft beer

Lemus has an amazing style and there are always hidden meanings in his work

8. I'm addicted to collecting art (I love local artists). Check out Lemus https://www.facebook.com/germanlemusart/ 

9. Models that have hair ties on their wrist while photographing is a huge pet peeve (Don't worry, I'll let you know) | People driving 10mph under the speed limit in the left lane is also a huge pet peeve | I also despise pickles. lol

10. Penguins are my favorite animal 

11. Green was my favorite color growing up but now it's purple

12. My girlfriend is a trained opera singer and yes, I've recorded her for a rap/country song :)

13. I love themes...Bars, Parties, Weddings. In college, I would throw themed parties which actually resulted in a couple of people dating long term and soon they'll be getting married!!! :D

Me and my love getting our archery on for Valentine's Day

14. I teach myself a lot | I wish I knew more about astronomy

15. The people in my life mean everything to me

What are some of your favorite things to do? What music do you like? Let us know a little bit about you in the comment section below :) 

Preparing For Your Session | Part 1 'The Client'

You're gonna look great! 

There are many different kinds of sessions that photographer's offer. The first thing you should do is understand what kind of session you are having, don't worry, most of the session names are pretty straight forward. This allows you to get into the right mindset and distinguish the different variables that set your session apart from the others. For example, if you are meeting with the photographer for an engagement session, you want to look beautiful and in love. A lot of the time, you won't be posing in an engagement session looking like you're about to go to a Halloween party. However, if that is how the two of you met, by all means, I think that would be an awesome session and I would love to photograph it! If you're preparing for an editorial session, you'll want to check out different magazines and I don't have to remind you how wonderful Pinterest for ideas. Just be aware that the photographer is also an artist, and while getting creative ideas, will most likely not want to copy the exact photo that you have. Here are some more words and pictures!

Whoops! :P

Confidence!

There is a laundry list of items you could think about to get ready for your session, but the best thing to do is keep it simple. 

1. Be you and be comfortable. Being yourselves will overall get you the best photos! The clothes that you wear should reflect your personalities and how you see yourselves :) They should also be clothes that you can move around in, play in, and work your body into different poses. Don't be boring like a plain white shirt with khakis, but venture to find your clothing spirit animal, just keep it in the same color family so it's not chaos.

Don't have one of those moments like when you look back at your high school yearbook and think "What was I doing!?" We've all been there. 

2. Now, I always carry certain props with me but that's because I feel they bring a certain energy to an image. It's like putting italics on a word :P 

Now, we don't know if the baby is a boy or girl yet so they chose Daphne and Myles as names

I do ask my clients to bring items with them that they like. ^^^ Amber and Jimmy brought baby blocks to spell out their baby's name. #SoCute

3.  Most likely the photographer will have a great location set out for your already, but if you have a special place that you'd like your session to be, let them know! We love going to places that make you happy, it makes for better images!

4. Think about how you'd like to display the images you've taken! The products Sonacity Photography offers range from small prints, to albums, to large prints on metal! How big do you want that canvas of your family to be? Would you like to be able to see all the photos in an album? Remember, these moments become family heirlooms that will be treasured by your children and grandchildren. So be sure to make ridiculous faces and stick your tongue out at them. 

5. Trust your photographer :) -Thanks, Carlos Romero!

What are you thoughts? How do you get ready?

If you have any questions or feel I've left something out, feel free to contact me! The inquiry page is really close by :)

Are you stress free about your wedding day?

Awesome Wedding Intro!

Ladies and gentlemen, if I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times. YOUR WEDDING DAY IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN! Will it be hectic, hell yeah. and you should be ready for that. Prepare. Take some yoga and relaxation classes. Get your pilates on. Should it be stressful? Hell no. You know how people get these gorgeous, smiling photographs on the craziest and most hectic day of their lives? Besides downing a bottle or so of wine, half a bottle of whiskey, a pack of Yuengling, and taking a Xanax bar or two, they remember they get to spend the rest of their life with the person they love. You've spent months and/or years planning this day to be perfect, but the honest truth is that who knows how the weather will turn out, how traffic will be...damn you I4, or what will happen that is out of your control. You can only control how you perceive the day. Fact, you will be surrounded by people you love, people who you admire and who admire you. People who want the best for you and want you to be happy. These are the truths that make your wedding day stress free and wonderful. Have fun with your friends, soon, you'll be marrying your best one!  

Who else would you be able to do fun stuff like this with? Your best friend ;)

3 Considerations You Need to Make Before Choosing Your Wedding Photographer

There a ton of photographers in the world that produce beautiful work. The amazing aspect about this is that each individual has their own style. A certain facet about their artistry that they possess that makes it their own. Each creator has a distinct personality which drives them to that design. A different way of thinking. How their upbringing was. Who taught them, and how they practiced mastering the craft. 

The same goes for the future brides/grooms. You both have certain tastes when it comes to art, music, and photography and getting down on the dance floor. We all know you know how to Walk it Out. With this knowledge, one of the main ingredients to choosing your wedding photographer, is their style.

A photographer molds their style over time. They do so by shooting different subjects, angles, events, and then taking them into a photo editing program and playing around with everything they can touch. They are like a kid in a candy store that just ate everything he could without his mom seeing. This includes the highlights in an image, the shadows, contrast, clarity, how sharp the image looks, how sharp the eyes are, the list goes on and on. I want non-photographers to know this information so they know how to choose and understand what we go through as artists to get to the point we're at. Some photographers go with a light and airy touch while some enjoy a darker direction. My personal style is bold and vibrant with a connection to human emotion. I love when colors stand out in a photograph. To me, it just seems like it's taking a life of its own.   

L'chaiM!

The second ingredient to deciding on what photographer you should choose for your wedding is cost. Now, I may be biased but I think you should splurge ;) Seriously though, it's one of the biggest days of your lives and you should kinda remember it. There's going to be an open bar and who knows how much ya'll drank before the ceremony. Make sure you budget properly with your vendors. Your sought after photographer most likely has a tier of sexy looking options that all look good. Their most expensive collection will give you the most bang for your buck and you will remember the hell out of your wedding. I'm not saying spring for that if you don't have the means. Your photos will keep your heart and mind warm and fuzzy but if you are living on the street, it's not a sound investment.  

The last ingredient is a double-header. I'd like to mix these ingredients to finish off the cake. Wow I want cake now. The last two are what they shoot, which goes back to style in a way, and their personality. Would you look at that, we've come full circle! As wedding photographers, we know most of what you want before you do. Each photographer has a different way of going about the day. While some take a more photojournalistic approach, others are more traditional classic and pose each shot. I don't like to limit myself so I lean more towards an illustrative side and do both, photojournalistic and traditional. The photojournalistic style allows photographers to capture those special candid moments. The latter part to this double wammy is your photographer's personality. First ask yourself, what kind of person would I like to spend the entire day with? Are they someone I can grab a drink with? Do they like beer or wine? Shots? I love shots. Are they strong enough to speak out and give people direction? You will say to yourself, "Oh man...my uncle is crazy, I hope he listens." Your uncle isn't going to want to ruin one of the greatest days of your life, so we make him listen. We got your back.

This is why we do it :D

Those are the 3.5ish considerations I feel that any couple getting married should ponder about when deciding on a wedding photographer. I'd like to hear what you have to say, comment down below!