Wedding Tip Wednesday: Photographers

Choosing a photographer within your budget and with a style you love to capture the most exciting day of your life isn’t always easy. Once you decide who to work with, communicating with them exactly what you want from them can sometimes be a challenge. I recommend keeping a running list as you plan of moments or details you want to make sure to remember have them shoot. When we sit down to start talking about your wedding, I’ll give you a list of shots you’re sure to want to capture that you can customize and give to your photographer. This makes family photos, detail pictures and bridal party shots go a lot faster so you can get to celebrating with your guests!

Here’s my top 3 tips for choosing a photographer:

1.       Make sure you look at the style of their work. Everyone is a little different. Explore their website and blog. Are they used to do weddings? Shooting a wedding day is a lot different than a normal photoshoot. Make sure they are familiar with all it will entail.

2.       Thoroughly look over the contract they give you and make sure you understand every little piece. Some people only agree to be at your wedding for a few hours, if you want getting ready photos and pictures of the sendoff, make sure you account for all the hours! Remember you only get married once so make sure they give you what you are looking for!

3.       Are they going to bring a second shooter? Having a second shoot on site at your wedding is always helpful to capture the groom’s face when he first sees the bride and the bride as she walks down the aisle. One photographer can be taking pictures of guests at cocktail hour while the other does family pictures following the ceremony. If at all possible, having one male and one female photographer is ideal so you can get pictures of the guys and gals getting ready at the same time!

xoxo,
Amanda Grace

Showered in Blessings

Will & Grace

11/1/14

Grace and I went to high school together and became good friends our senior year on Homecoming Court. We went our separate ways for college but kind of stayed in contact over the years. When Grace got engaged to this mystery man from college I had to reconnect with her! We talked wedding details and that’s when the dream of starting a small business coordinating events for people I love was born!

Family was always the most important thing to Grace and her family. Growing up everyone knew the Hobgood kids had each other’s backs and nothing was more important to them than each other. When I met Will’s family, it was obvious this was true for him and his family too and it made perfect sense why they were perfect together. I immediately fell in love with the Potts who traveled from Florida to California for their sweet wedding. I got to spend the whole morning setting up and getting to know them as they shared stories about Will and Grace.

The Potts tied the knot at Quail Haven Farm in Vista, CA. It was my first time working with Lindy Waldman, the owner, and she was the best! With an all outdoor venue and rain in the forecast ALL DAY, we knew we were going to face some challenges. The cocktail area and parking arenas had flooding but Lindi’s team rented shuttles and brought guests up to the ceremony safely as I worked to move cocktail hour to the covered reception space. Despite the rain, the whole day was showered in blessings!

Just in time for the ceremony, the rain let up and the sun came out! It wasn’t long after the ceremony concluded and they were done taking pictures that the rain began again. Despite the cold and the rain, guests enjoyed dancing, celebrating, and the mini dessert bar from the bakery Grace used to work at. Right after they got married, Will and Grace moved to Florida and just recently had their first little girl Kinley, who is adorable as can be!

xoxo,

Amanda Grace

Where Did This Thing Start Anyways?

So many people ask me how I got into events. How did you get started? So what did you go to school for? Is it the best job ever? I love to share the journey that has brought me to where I am today!

I'm just going to be honest...I didn’t go to school for this stuff. But I have been around events for as long as I could remember. My mom always planned the best parties with the greatest themes and matching dishes and killer menus. She loves to entertain and a love for hospitality was ingrained in me from a young age. I used to love planning games for slumber parties with my American Girl magazines, coordinating logistics for events at the dance studio where I grew up, being in student government and organizing lunch activities or helping my mom with events at church. In college I started interning with the events department my freshman year and had several opportunities to be a part of creating and planning events for students and donors when I attended Biola. It was in these roles that my love for events grew and I realized this is what I was born to do. Before I got to plan the most popular event on campus for 4,000 people though, I was standing in a parking lot as an usher welcoming guests and helping them find a place to park. The little jobs are what made me appreciate ALL the people I work with and the jobs they do to make an event happen.

People think event planning is the most fun, exciting and glamorous job. It sure is wonderful but it certainly isn’t all roses and cupcakes! I will admit though, what I get to do, the people I work with, the stories I hear and the love I get to witness makes every toilet I end up cleaning, late Saturday hours and tired feet so worth it! Nothing brings me more joy than the look on a groom’s face when he sees his bride, the father daughter dance that always seem to make me cry or the way a room full of loved ones is excited to celebrate newlyweds!

In October 2014 I reached out to a friend from high school who was getting married and simply offered to help her if she needed anything. Little did I know that a dream would be born after dinner in small burger joint in San Clemente! A month later I was coordinating a wedding in North San Diego and I had created a simple website and gotten some business cards printed. Through word of mouth I booked a few more weddings here and there and after months of prayer, late nights, looking at fonts, writing, uploading and planning, I am so excited to finally share Grace in the Details with you!

So to answer your questions, my journey with events started with some American Girl magazines, the best mom/party planner in town, standing in a parking lot as an usher, and in a little burger joint in San Clemente. I didn’t go to wedding planning school but I have had so much experience working in the field that I’ve learned more than I ever could in a classroom. And yes, no matter how many toilets I clean, crying bridesmaids I deal with or stressed out moms I grab a glass of wine for, I have a pretty great job!

xoxo,

Amand Grace

An old, blurry pictures from the year I realized this is what I was born to do!