I'm A Wedding Photographer: Take 2

I did my first ever solo wedding yesterday.

I looked up tips for new wedding photographers and there was all this scary stuff like 

"you have no idea what your doing"

"you're not prepared"

"hire the couple a real wedding photographer"

"you will most likely ruin the wedding"

"don't do it"

After many encouraging messages, I figured the morning of the wedding would probably be too late to call and cancel...

So I put on my big girl panties and walked out the door.

This was my mantra for the day

"Stay calm. Act cool...kind of like you know what your doing"

I'm learning MANY new things every time I do a shoot.

Here are the things I learned yesterday.

1. My height is a disadvantage

2. I need to buy a couple extra lens covers. Those suckers get lost too easily.

3. A light diffuser thing is life changing. I need to return this one to it's rightful owner (Thanks Jedi Josh & Kelley!) and buy one of my own

4. Other vendors become your friends during the wedding and keep you company
5. It is a guarantee that I will put the camera down and join in on the cupid shuffle

6. Stay calm

7. Act cool...kind of like you know what your doing (I think they believed me)

This was like one of the most intricate weddings ever.

Christy handmade 98% of everything. Bouquets. Table decorations. Boutonnieres

I wish I could show you everything.

I'm not legit enough yet to say "Christy and Mike's Sneak Peek"

but here are some of my favorites. 

Or a lot of my favorites.

Whatever. Don't judge. There was a lot to take pictures of.

Every center piece was a different color of the rainbow and looked completely different

brown table

pink table

Brittany and I got a shout out!

These were used in the game to decide which order the tables got to get up and eat

All bouquets match the girls. Christy made each one by hand out of paper.

Christy's bouquet

paper flowers made that hung from the tree where the ceremony took place

getting Mike ready for the first look

the first look about to happen

they were having just a little bit of fun :)

She was just a bit stunning.

Boom.

First solo wedding. 

So Excited.

I am so stinkin excited. 

I entered to win a absolutely fabulous bag designed specifically for cameras. 

(On this blog)

First of all, let's just state the obvious.

I could NEVER afford this 3 digit number

(not that it's not worth it, just not in my oh-so-glorious teacher budget)

but I had seen ONA before and thought they just looked like wonderful.

Especially the plum color.

(Random fact: I am consistently teased by close friends, and the hubs, about having a different favorite color every week)

I think plum is a beautiful color to wear.

But red (and yellow) will always remain first in my heart.

Long story short, 

I WON IT!

This little padawan right here.

I'm so excited I think I'll post a couple more photos that this little ole padawan has taken from this little ole big girl camera that will soon have a beautiful new home!

I sure do hope I am "earning the respect" of a new lens. 

Did ya all know I still almost pee my pants when I hit the submit button for a post with pictures. 

That's fun fact #2 for the day.

Oh! We need a new photo up top. Don't get me wrong, I LOVED our wedding but it's about time. Anybody like to play photographer like me and would like to snap a few of us in the next couple weeks, por favor??

I totally would, but, let's be honest, we all saw how the self portrait turned out. 

ONA Giveaway!

Anyone who loves....

1. Photography

2. Great bags or purses

Go check out this fantastic giveaway!

http://colorissue.blogspot.com/2012/02/ona-bag-giveaway-woohoo.html

It is pretty stinkin' awesome.