THE SEARCH GOES ON....

did some additional searching for some other potential photogs.... and found a few.

HOWEVER got dissed today by my other top choice.... he is truly good and truly booked!
cliff mautner- amazing pictures, and honestly just talking to him on the phone, sounds like an amazing guy. he was nice enough to give me referrals, and then say that if none of them worked out, to call him back and he would help me until i found one!

so here are the other one's i'm considering (if they have blogs, i'll list them instead since those seem to show more work)
susan stripling (this was the reco from cliff)
karen wise
christian oth studios (christian + shawn are too expensive for me, but the others are possibilities)

(extensive list here from wedding bee but based on various locations, budgets and styles)

if you have anyone else you'd like to throw in there, lemme know!
otherwise of those listed above- who do you like?


are you sick of looking at wedding photogs now too...?? :(

*SIGH*

i'll leave you with my color inspiration- compliments of esther, except the real thing (thanks!)

pain in the arse!

i never thought that booking the photographer
would be such a pain in the ( | )
(yup that's a butt)
i guess since this is the one thing that you absolutely don't want to compromise on and certainly want to splurge on to ensure great pictures (as everyone says, they're the only thing you'll keep to remember this one expensive, and special day).

so all that said- we have met with over 10 different photographers. everyone with their own style, their own sales pitch and their own "packages." some edit + some don't, some give you the negatives/files+ some don't, some give you 7 hours and others give you 9, some are worth what they charge- and most (quite honestly) probably aren't...

where does that leave me then......?

everyone we met with that i really liked is not available- except 1 whom i met with this past weekend (art of love). we met, her stuff was great (even in albums), and i had a good feeling! i especially liked that she actually edits ALL of the photos. THEN-i call her to follow-up and see if i can negotiate a package, and one of the major wedding planners that brings her a lot of business, ends up needing her now on may 2nd. of course she has to take that wedding and not burn the bridge with the planner....

so back to square 1

help
please...

- - -

fortunately everything else is coming along nicely...

thanks to everyone for voting on hair styles....i think i'm going to go with the 3rd style with a lower poooof-although my mom keeps trying to convince me that i should wear my hair down (EEEK!)

also my super awesome cousin sarah has agreed to be my day of coordinator. this is excellent for two reasons. 1) i won't go crazy now and i absolutely trust her 2) she runs her own catering + event planning business (Hanuri) in chicago so she is the perfect person for the job!
too bad the wedding's not in chi-town....it could have been amajing ;]

she also recommended Truly Smitten for the wedding invitations. i've been checking out her stuff and it's great! i bet she could come up with something super-fab with the color theme/style....so i really hope it works within the budget! also when i was blog-stalking her, turns out her own wedding colors were yellow + black! (the banner at the top of her blog was the design for her own wedding i think...)

bridal party....i know i am lagging on this like a gimp
this is going to be done in the next week of so. john and i were just trying to figure out # (4 or 5 or 6??) and also trying to decide how family would play into everything too.... we finally decided we're going to just go w/ 4 to keep it small and simple. but that also means there are a lot of friends/family we aren't going to get to ask :(


IN OTHER NEWS

john + i bought our first car together last week! it was so weird making such a big purchase, but definitely a good step towards realizing that we are actually a real (almost married) couple!
now if only i could get him to give me his credit card..... haha jk!

finally, CONGRATULATIONS to my favorite biotech Jaymin on getting engaged! if anyone has any cute pictures of farm/outdoor weddings, send links this way so i can pass along to her...