Hey Everyone! Welcome back or welcome if you’re new! I just had my second wedding of the year on Friday and it was absolutely wonderful! But that blog will come later! Today I wanna talk about how I prepare the morning of a wedding to get into the right mindset.

     The morning of a wedding I will make sure first and foremost my batteries are fully charged. Even if I spent the night before putting them on the charger, I like to double check to be completely sure. This is just erring on the side of caution for myself. I’ll even through some of my rechargeable batteries on their charger to recheck them. This might seem useless but it’s just another check on my checklist. 

      I like to go back down my list to make I have everything on it. As you can guess I’m a double checker for everything! And odds are, I’m still going to misplace or forget something minor. Chances are I will leave my camera straps behind. At this point if I’ve gone over the list, I will then load everything into the car to have it all ready to go.

     After I’ve double checked everything more than once, I will print the form that I have the couples fill out before that day. I do print mine in three copies, one for myself as the main shooter, one for the second shooter, and a third clean copy in case something happens to one of the others. After this I will go through and highlight everything in three different shades. One shade is what my second shooter should be focusing on. I like them to keep busy while helping out to make sure we cover every single possible shot. The second color is what the main shooter is focusing on. And finally the third shade is what both shooters can capture different versions of it at different times. The final step in this is to hole punch these and put them into binders for each shooter. The third copy goes in it’s own binder in the car.

      Sometimes the morning of a wedding I’ll jump on Pinterest and look at different styles of wedding photos and new creative ideas that I could turn into my own. This way I get inspired for the day and see where this leads me. Sometimes I’ll even look back at old wedding photos I’ve taken to see if I really liked any one certain type of photos to try again.

      Mostly I really think about how everything is going to be covered and getting into the mind set of where I’d like to be and staying positive throughout the day. Weddings are stressful for everyone involved but they are also an absolutely wonderful thing to capture. 

      If you’re married, let me know what your favorite photograph you received from your wedding. If you’re not married, let me know what photograph you hope is covered from your wedding day.

      Hopefully you all have a wonderful weekend! 

~Ashley  

    Hey Everyone! Welcome back if you’ve been here before and thank you for stopping in if you’re new!

    Currently I have been prepping for my second wedding of the year. Making sure that I have my checklist created and everything set up and ready to load into the car. I try to have everything prepped a few days before the wedding in case I am missing anything that could be needed. This way I have enough time to find it and add it to the items. One thing I’ve learned is always learned is always bring 2-3 of everything. So if one fails there will be a back up. Always have back ups.

    I am a list person. I have a checklist for every single type of photo shoot because it’s easier to make sure you have everything and can gather it into one place. This way it is quite fast and simple to gather everything needed for a shoot on short notice if need be.. For weddings, it seems my list is even longer just to make sure that I have everything for any unforeseen circumstances.

    I decided to share my list today since I’ve been getting ready for a few days. The first thing I like to gather is everything that has to do with the cameras.

• Camera(s)

• Camera Batteries

• Camera Battery Chargers

• Camera Lenses

• Go Pro

• Go Pro Batteries

• Go Pro Battery Chargers

• SD Cards

    The next things that I gather are anything that has to do with the off camera flashes.

• Off Camera Flashes

• Receivers

• Transmitters

• Flash Brackets

• Light Stands

• Double A Batteries

• Triple A Batteries

    Then after this I will gather any props that may be needed during photos.

• Chalkboard

• Chalkboard Arrows

• Liquid Chalk

• Tiara

• Photo Frame

Next I will put together every that could potentially be needed for a backdrop if there is no possible way to take photos outside.

• Backdrop Stands

• Backdrops

     The last step of gathering things for me is just odds and ends that I will need or may need throughout the day. 

• Binder with shot list and info

• Pens

• Highlighters

• Clipboard

• Extension cord

• Power Strip

• Laptop

• Laptop Charging Cord

The night before the wedding I will gather all my batteries together and throw them on chargers to make sure everything is ready to go. I will check all of the SD cards to see if they are clean and ready to be used. I will run through my whole checklist again to make sure everything on the list is ready to be loaded in the car the next day.

What is your favorite part of a wedding? Let me know in the comments below!

~Ashley

Hello to everyone new, and welcome back to everyone else!

            Today I’m going to talk a little bit about how I organize my photos. I won’t go too much into depth because everyone does this step differently. I try to stay as organized at possible, but there are times that I fall behind. I break all of my photo sessions by type, date, and sometimes month. So, without further ado, here is how I organize my photos.

            The first thing I do at the beginning of the year when I start getting folders ready is to make a folder called ‘2019’. Inside this folder I create two new folders named ‘Editing’ and ‘Website’. This just helps me see what I’m still working on and what has been fully edited and ready to be uploaded onto my website. I try to keep up to date as much as possible.

            Inside the ‘Editing’ folder I will normally create folders named ‘Wedding’, Engagement’, ‘Senior’, ‘Concert’. ‘Family’, ‘Sights’, and ‘Model’. This way I know where everything is easily, and what I have to work on. I love keeping everything separated by the type of session, therefore I can quickly find photos to share if need be for any new potential clients or even to show off for posts to hopefully find new clients.

            Inside my ‘Website’ folder I don’t normally create too many folders to break them up inside. Since I am just posting them to my website. I don’t need to find these photos as quickly as those in my editing folder. The photos that are inside of the ‘Website’ folder is usually lower resolution.

            This is basically how I organize my photos throughout the year. Sometimes I will label them by month taken to make them a bit easier. Other than that, I just try to keep them in their correct folders and keep as up to date as possible. Just a little insight into the chaos of keeping everything in order in my world. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

 ~Ashley