Wedding Planning Tips - Part 2: Booking Your Vendors

You're engaged! Congratulations! Now, it's time to start planning for your big day and reaching out to the people that you'd like to be part of creating your wedding vision. As part two of our tips series, we'd like to share some advice about the initial steps you should take in planning and communicating with potential vendors before booking.

Tip 1: Know the Details to Share

We have a ton of couples reach out to us immediately after they are engaged, and it is always great to be ahead of the curve when selecting vendors as many tend to book dates up to a year in advance. The single most important thing to have determined, however, prior to booking any of your vendors is a firm wedding date.  Asking for a photographer or other vendor, for pricing information to get a feel for what is out there and doable for your budget is acceptable, but without a specific date, you won't be able to book with the company and may be disappointed to find out later that they are unavailable. Generally, most vendors will also want to know your venue as well as some may charge additional fees for travel if the site is outside of their normal coverage area. So, set your date as quickly as possible, and go ahead and book your venue to get the ball rolling for your other inquiries.

 Tip 2: Respond and Just Ask

Any time I send an email, whether personal or business related, I am always impressed when the recipient responds quickly. This is something we really strive to excel at in our correspondence with clients, and it's one aspect of our communication that our couples really value. This is just as important when requesting information from a photographer, caterer, or venue, just as examples, from a client perspective. We always appreciate when a couple gets back to us, even if it's just to say that our pricing does not work in their budget. That's ok, and there are never hard feelings on our end. We are grateful for the response, and we both know that it's nothing personal or that they don't love our work. The other aspect of the pricing conversation is also being willing to ask what a particular vendor can do within your budget or requesting if there is a package or option that may suit your needs better. I always think, what's the worst that someone can say? No? I can handle that. If you really want to book a particular service or company, just ask, and the vendor will let you know if your vision is doable or not for them in your price range.

 Tip 3: Keep an Open Mind

Don't forget one important tip from our last blog as well; although pricing and budgets are, of course, important, many vendors want to get to know you a little better and build a relationship with you also. Sharing details and information about yourselves as a couple and being specific about your dreams for your wedding allow us to have some insight about who you are and if we are a good fit for capturing your big day. Quality work, goods, and services may cost more than you anticipate when starting your wedding planning, and although you should stick to a budget, make sure you are considering other aspects of what a vendor can offer including experience and the overall vibe you want to achieve for your wedding.

Thinking about the planning process from a vendor perspective can only help you achieve a more relaxing and smooth experience for your wedding day. To summarize, choosing your date and selecting your venue are usually the first decisions to make. Be open to corresponding with vendors openly and honestly and asking questions you may have. Finally, consider all aspects of what a potential vendor has to offer as part of their pricing. Referrals from friends and family are always meaningful, as personal experience is definitely valuable, and meeting with vendors in person to discuss options can always help you evaluate the connection you have with one another, which is another important factor to consider. Your wedding day should reflect your values and your style, and carefully choosing your vendors will ensure that you have the best, most memorable day possible.  

Dara's Garden | Whitestone Country Inn | Spence Cabin | Knoxville Botanical Gardens | Volunteer Princess Cruises | Walnut Hill Farm | The Barn at Living Water | Ijams Nature Center | Melissa Timm Designs | May Flowers | Echelon Florist | Grafe Studio Floral | Beez and Blossoms | Axel Marshall Productions | Rellek Films | Rivershack Farmhouse | Stylebar Chattanooga | Melissa Cubberley Makeup Artistry | Whitney Evans Beauty | Organic Infusion | Olde Enzor Lane | Magpies | Z Studio Weddings & Events | First Fruits Catering

The Magic of Wedding Details

When you think back on your wedding day, what comes to mind? The vows, the laughter, the music, and maybe the way your bouquet felt in your hands. While the big moments create the heart of your day, it’s the details—the tiny, thoughtful touches—that tell the full story.

Wedding details reflect your style and personality as a couple, from the handwritten vows to the lace on your dress, the heirloom ring box, or the floral arrangements tying everything together. They add layers of meaning and beauty to your celebration, ensuring it feels uniquely you.

As photographers, we love capturing those meaningful details. Whether it’s the shimmer of your shoes, the delicate pattern on your invitations, or the table settings you spent hours perfecting, we see these elements as part of your love story.

So when planning your wedding, take time to embrace the little things. The details might feel small now, but when you look back through your wedding album, they’ll remind you just how magical your day truly was.

Walnut Hill Farm Wedding - Jessica & Andrew

We started our journey from Knoxville to Dalton, Georgia, on rainy highways, and the drizzle continued to follow us until right before we reached Chattanooga. It was overcast and dreary, but we came prepared for Jessica and Andrew's wedding with our raincoats and clear umbrellas. As we arrived at the venue, we were greeted with a little sun peeking through the clouds despite the sprinkles still falling to the ground. When we walked into the Hilltop Barn at Walnut Hill Farms, we were blown away by the gorgeous fabric draped ceilings, elegant wooden chairs, and crisp white decor. With 20 foot high ceilings and giant wooden barn doors that can be opened to a view of the rolling pastures, this site provided an elegant space for Jessica and Andrew's reception.

Another truly amazing feature the barn has to offer is the breathtaking bridal suite made up of two rooms, one with a dining table perfect for Jessica and her girls to enjoy brunch together and the other a spacious room with navy walls, white trim, and tons of natural light for those amazing getting ready and "last minute touches" photos. True to our style, we asked Jessica and her bridesmaids to gather on the plush sofa for some "slumber party" photos before capturing Jessica getting into her gorgeous Martina Liana gown with touches of lace and that striking train. We loved that the barn loft opened so that we could grab some shots of Jessica from the ground looking out over her venue before strolling through the pavilion for some breathtaking bridal portraits. Andrew, our seriously dapper groom, was dressed in a navy suit, and shared stories on the lawn with his groomsmen as we snagged some candid moments of the group chatting and laughing. As we were finishing up with the guys, the rain made a brief reappearance before subsiding, and the skies parted to reveal the perfect amount of sunshine for the couple's early evening ceremony on the sodded lawn behind the barn with the most phenomenal mountain views (which you may remember from Jessica and Andrew's sunrise engagement).

Although it did starting pouring (as the promised storm arrived during the reception), all of the wet weather held off until we were finished up with the couple's photos taken at one of our favorite spots at this venue. A quaint pond nestled among lush, towering green trees provided the backdrop for many of the photos of the new Mr. and Mrs. What was so unforgettable to us in these moments was that Jessica and Andrew really didn't need much direction. Their happiness and love for one another radiates in these photos, and we couldn't have asked for better memories to share than these two laughing with one another.

Jessica and Andrew are seriously the most genuinely sweet people, and they were celebrated all evening by friends and family who joined them on the dance floor, showing off some impressive moves and toasting them throughout the evening. We are so honored to have been part of this spectacular day, and we wish Jessica and Andrew nothing but happiness as they begin their lives together as husband and wife.

Walnut Hill Farm | Martina Liana Bridal | White Lace & Promises | Stylebar Chattanooga - Ashlyn Moore | Monica's Bridal | Melissa Cubberley - MUA | Axel Marshall Productions | Mayflowers Chattanooga | The Find Lab | Michael Kors | Sweet Angel Cakes | Nice Entertainment | Oakwood Cafe | The Dessy Group |

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Wedding Planning Tips for Every Bride - Part 1

Our 4 year wedding anniversary recently passed, and it got us thinking about our big day and especially the photography from our wedding. See, it was really our wedding photos that helped inspire us to pursue a new direction with our own business, to begin photographing couples and weddings. Some of the things we think about when we look back at our day now, as wedding photographers, are the aspects of the day that impacted the overall energy and the flow of our day. We've decided to share a little bit of our insight with you today in hopes that it will help our current couples and prospective clients have a seamless and amazing experience with photography on their wedding day.

1. The Timeline

Although you may hire a coordinator for your wedding or the venue you book may include a day of coordinator, your photography timeline will be a pivotal part of keeping the day running smoothly and ensuring that you get all of the fabulous moments from your day captured.  Your photographer should schedule a time with you-- usually a couple weeks before the wedding-- to plan out a specific timeline for all of the photos you want captured on your special day. This really helps keep the timing on track and allows for brides and grooms to allot enough time for various details of the day.

It's one of the most difficult parts of the wedding day, though. Hair and makeup take a little longer than planned, the ceremony site finishing touches may not be completed on schedule, or a groomsman from out of town could be running late. These things happen, and the important thing is not to stress when they do. One of the things I think about when I reflect on our wedding day is that we were about 30 minutes behind the prescribed schedule because we took a little longer than expected at the salon. It stressed me out because I'm a very punctual person, but our photographers didn't skip a beat. They quickly caught us up and still managed to get all the shots we wanted (and more) from our day. Experience plays an important role in this. As wedding photographers now, we learned very quickly that timelines can't always be followed to a tee, but it is important that you try to maintain some sense of the schedule. A strong photographer can generally still get all of the shots that you want and can easily make up the time lost, but being realistic about how long set up, hair and makeup, and all the important preparations take, is key in having a stress free day. We have photographed enough weddings to know how to create a sensible timeline, so trusting your photographers to do so will help the day run as smoothly as possible.

2. The Coverage

Our poor photographers! That's what we think now when we look back on the amount of coverage we expected on our wedding day. We wanted our photography team there from the beginning of the day at the salon and the guys hanging out at the venue to the end of the reception. When we look back at our photos, though, did I really care that much about my silly jacket that said bride across the back or getting shots of my hair disheveled without makeup? Not really, but I did love the shots of Jason and his groomsmen hanging out and putting on their bowties, and I adored the photos of me getting into my dress. These are the shots we usually start with, what we call "the finishing touches," when we shoot weddings. We look back now and think we expected a little much, but we are grateful that we do have a glimpse of the entire day celebrating our union.

We always aim to tell the story of our couple's day through our photography, and you want a full picture of the day to do so. Some couples want every moment captured, and others only want the highlights; however, booking your photographer for a determined period of time is one of the most important decisions you will make. Budget generally comes into play with such decisions when a photographer offers a lower priced package for fewer hours of coverage, but it is important to consider other factors when determining the hours of coverage right for you. 1) How many family members will be included in photos? If you have a large family and plan on doing photos before or especially after the ceremony, you will need to account for that. We generally recommend that you only include immediate family for these posed photos (parents, grandparents, and siblings), but this is a personal decision. For example, I have a super small family, but Jason's is huge. We chose to do all of our family photos (aside from a couple quick shots with parents, grandparents, and siblings prior to the ceremony) at the rehearsal dinner. There are always options, but the bigger the families, the more time it takes to photograph individuals and smaller groups. 2) How big is your bridal party? We had 7 on each side, which is a pretty good sized bridal party. Throw in 2 ushers on top of that we wanted in photos, and you're talking 18 people. Although we work super quickly, we also like to get shots of the bridal party as smaller groups, as a whole, and individually with the bride and groom or couple. With that said, it's a good rule of thumb to include a little more coverage if you have 10 people on each side of the aisle than it is with just a maid of honor and best man or a couple of friends.

Although when we reflect as photographers ourselves 4 years later and think that we may have gone a bit overboard, each couple has to decide what they really want to see in that album or gallery down the road and exactly how many hours to book their photographers in order to achieve that vision.

3. The First Look

We frequently have couples who are undecided on doing a first look. The deciding factor for those who choose not to do a first look is often that one person wants that traditional, storybook moment of seeing the soon to be spouse coming down the aisle as everyone's eyes fill with tears. Others, however, choose to do a first look, and this is what Jason and I decided was best for us on our wedding day. See, we didn't want to have to take any photos other than candid, natural shots throughout the evening as we celebrated with our guests. We also didn't want a large time gap between the ceremony and dinner due to the need for more photos. The decision to do a first look is frequently one that goes hand in hand with the timeline and how a couple anticipates their day progressing. The main benefits to choosing a first look are having a private moment between the couple, allowing for more immediate couple's photos (and sometimes a less rushed series of shots), and the possibility to have most if not all of the photos completed prior to the ceremony. The first look does create an opportunity for the couple to share a moment at the beginning of the day that is just about the two of them, a sacred bit of time to see each other alone and maybe even share gifts (like we did...a bracelet for him and some new earrings for me) or just some raw emotion together. The couple's photos are typically immediately after, and this usually means that there is sufficient time allotted to capture several photos without feeling the rush to get to the reception after the ceremony.

Whether our couples elect to do a first look or not, we always discuss the idea in relation to what exactly the full picture of the day is for the two. We usually have about a 50/50 ratio on the first look, half of our clients choosing to do one while the other half elect to see each other initially at the ceremony, and regardless of the hours of coverage, strong photographers can make the timeline work with whatever the couple chooses. The day is, after all, completely about the newlyweds. When appropriate for the time of day, we like to offer for our couples (with or without a first look) to sneak from their reception for a few moments to grab some sunset photos. That way, they have even more photos together but do not have to spend a ton of time away from the party and their guests. This also has the added benefits of optimal light for gorgeous pictures and some alone time for the couple after a hectic day.

4. The relationship

Yes, we met with and inquired with other photographers before we selected ours, but there is a reason why we chose the husband and wife team we ended up using, Joe and Kathleen of JoPhoto. That was the connection we felt with them. They were personable, and they wanted to know about us as individuals (what we like to do together, our hobbies and interests, and our vision for our wedding day and wedding photos). We enjoyed spending time with them, and we felt comfortable talking to them and trusting them to help outline our day. These are super important factors to consider when determining who exactly to hire for photography. After all, they will be following you around paparazzi style all day.

We always strive to get to know our couples better from the initial inquiry; we include a complimentary engagement with all of our packages just to get to spend some time with the couple prior to the wedding day, time that we all use to get to know one another. These are just a few of the things we like to do build a meaningful relationship with our clients, who often become much more than that. We can't even begin to discuss how many lifelong friends we've made just because we photographed their wedding, and we are grateful that so many individuals have allowed us to not only be a part of their special day but also remain a part of their lives. It's this connection that means the most to us, and we like to think that this reflects in our work.

Although we could give advice on even more particulars, these are just a few tidbits that could have a tremendous impact on the flow of the day and the photos themselves. We hope you've gleaned a little knowledge from our personal wedding experience as both the bride and groom and now, as photographers, coming from a completely different perspective. Best wishes, and happy planning!

Part 2 of our tips series is coming soon!

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Charming Alabama Wedding - Nikki & Brian

This wedding took us to a small town in Alabama to meet up with a couple, Nikki and Brian, who asked us to capture their engagement photos while on vacation in the Smoky Mountains (check them out at Mountainside Bride). When we pulled up, we were taken aback by the phenomenal cotton fields spanning the property and the picturesque home set back from the road. We fell in love with this couple the first time we met and were honored to photograph their wedding and reception.

Nikki booked us, unbeknownst to Brian, as a wedding day surprise for the groom. We all just meshed from our first meeting, and that level of comfort is something they really wanted replicated on their big day. Family and friends gathered pond side to see to the two share vows along the dock, and a painter sat at the back of the ceremony, painting the scene as it unfolded. We loved the incorporation of the two planting a tree together during the ceremony, a symbolic reminder of their wedding day on their gorgeous property. 

Nikki shared some traditions with her sorority sisters at the reception, and the couple danced under the open sky as guests looked on from the tent full of rustic touches, personalized details, and photos of the couple. Although we're not Alabama fans (Go Vols!), we were super impressed by the groom's cake as well as the classically elegant white wedding cake adorned with gorgeous florals and the assortment of delicious cupcakes. 

Nikki and Brian's day was truly special because it was held at home, and they kept everything from the decor to the bridal party to the ceremony simple but special. This couple means so much to us, and we are excited to share these memories from their intimate Alabama wedding.

Dillard's | Hook’s BBQ | Crowe’s Chicken |  Julia’s Restaurant | Bayne Taylor of Beez & Blossoms | Teresa Pittman-Wall | Sunshine Tent Rentals | Platinum Tents & Events | Clinton Allen | Olde Enzor Lane/Connie Floyd

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Relix Variety Theatre Wedding - Kari & Ben

We love it when our couples choose a significant or sentimental location for their wedding, a place that has meaning to their story together. Kari and Ben did just that with their Relix Variety Theatre wedding. When the two first started dating, they both lived minutes from the venue, so this area holds a special place in their hearts and journey together, and we were so thrilled to be part of it.

Ben and Kari chose to do a first look, and we captured the moments as the two had an emotional exchange of wedding gifts. We took advantage of a super cool alley and all of its character for some perfect couple's shots. You may remember the sweet images of these two on their bikes from their engagement, and we decided to incorporate the classic bicycle again in some of our favorite shots from their big day.

Relix features a nice loft where Kari and her bridesmaids spent their time prepping together and another apartment just on the back of the building for Ben and his fellas. Our favorite detail in this venue is the super unique wall decor made up of purses and handbags of various colors woven together, and the addition of a backdrop of twinkling lights during the ceremony made this couple shine as they shared their vows from the stage. 

One really cool part of the couple's details was that the programs and invitations were from Ben's personal Etsy shop, ThPrntShp. Personalized items like this (and their adorable bicycle cake topper) made their wedding a true standout. The color pallette, including pops of yellow and lavender in the dried florals, evoked a fall vibe, as did the incorporation of cotton in the centerpieces and bouquets.  The gorgeous neutral dresses that the bridesmaids and Kari wore really stood out. We loved that Kari allowed each of her bridesmaids to choose her own dress in white to ensure that each was comfortable, and they looked amazing combined with her phenomenal lace gown (seriously, that dress was made for her) and the guys' gray suits and Ben's snazzy bowtie.

The day was filled with love, laughter, and personalized details that made this couple's day truly unique, and we are excited to share their wedding today. Congratulations, again, Kari and Ben.

Relix Variety Theatre | Jos. A Bank | Prestige Tuxedo | Publix | ThPrntShp | Kenneth Winston | Wedding Wonderland | The Blaithin Blair Shop | Smoky Mountain Lavender | Nick Stewart