Thursday, July 23, 2015

First Look | A Good Wedding Trend?

Hi Everyone!

Today I am talking about the newer trend in weddings, which is the ‘First Look’.  I have already done a blog about ‘First Looks’, but since then, I have had my own first look with my now husband, Darrin. If you don’t know what a ‘First Look’ is, it’s when the couple see’s each other before the ceremony.  It’s usually just the couple, and their photographer. 

As a wedding planner, I have to always be practical with time when it comes to weddings.  If the couple has limited time to do pictures after the ceremony, I usually suggest seeing each other before hand so pictures can be done before the ceremony, and they aren’t rushed.  Some people, however, don’t want to mess with tradition, which I totally respect! 

When it came time to plan my own wedding, I already thought we would do a ‘First Look’, because we couldn’t have our ceremony until 6:00 in the evening, and I didn’t want a long cocktail hour.  Then I had to step back and think about it, and talk to Darrin. I had to forget about the technical side, turn off my wedding planner brain, and think about it as a bride.  Did I want that special moment when he see’s me for the first time as I walk down the isle, and stick to tradition?

Darrin said that he wanted to do a first look as well, which helped my decision a lot! I LOVED the special moment we had with just our photographers. You don’t get a lot of time alone together during your wedding day, so having that special moment was priceless for us. Time totally got away from me the day of the wedding, so I’m not sure what time we started pictures, but I’m pretty sure we had almost  three hours to do pictures of just the two of us, the whole bridal party, and family pictures. It worked out PERFECTLY! 

Here are some of the pictures from our first look! We wrote letters to each other before hand, which I LOVED!! It was absolutely perfect, and I am beyond thrilled that we opted to do a ‘First Look’.





He’s saying “did you see her?!” SO CUTE!




XO, Val 



photo’s taken by the amazing Red Arrow Photography!

Monday, July 13, 2015

MY WEDDING!!!!!

Hi everyone!!

It has been a CRAZY couple of months for me because I got married!! My wedding was on June 20, 2015, and it was the most perfect day I could have imagined! Yes, marrying my husband was the best part, but as a wedding planner, you know the other details mattered to me as well! ;)

For our venue, we wanted something very industrial and modern, but also somewhere we could have both the ceremony, and reception. I had no idea that The Akron Art Museum did weddings, but I am beyond thrilled that they do! It was the most perfect venue we could have imagined! I brought my husband there, and he took one look at it and we both knew there was no where else we wanted to say “i do”, and dance the night away. 

I’m going to be doing a post on each of my amazing vendors very soon!! I am extremely lucky to work with so many amazing people in the wedding industry, so picking vendors for my wedding was easy!

I am beyond thrilled that my dream photography team was available for my wedding day! I actually think I would have picked another day if they weren’t! I’ve had the honor of working with Meghan Meeker of Red Arrow Photography on many weddings in the past few years! Not only is she and her husband Scott amazing photographers, they are also our friends! It was so incredible to have them be our photographers.  

Our pictures turned out even more beautiful than I thought possible! Here are a few of my favorites!











We were allowed to pictures in the exhibits! LOVE this one!

Hope you enjoyed reliving my wedding day with me!! I will be posting more very soon! :)

XO, Val