I love make up artists for weddings!  They really make a difference in many ways beyond the obvious.  First of course they know their craft and how to make clients look their best.  Second they understand photography and what works best for me.  Every day makeup applications and special event makeup is very different and when photography is involved well, even more so.  A bride or her maids or mom may not feel it necessary because we apply makeup every day or it isn’t in the budget or just don’t think it necessary but make up artists really do make a big impact.

This is a day when you should be taking the time for yourself.  Let someone else pamper you, let you look your very best and make sure that you love the way your photographs look.  When you feel beautiful it shows through your soul and then when you see me coming with my camera you will smile with your whole being and voila–amazing images.  On your wedding day there is so much going on so let someone else do what they do best and hire a professional make up artist.  Do you research though!  It is really important that you do the trial, make sure they have good reviews on Yelp or the like and aren’t just someone who buys some make up and calls themselves a make up artist.  This goes for any vendor you hire.  When I walk in I want you to feel like “great Misti is here!”  This should go for ANY vendor you hire.

I do have some recommendations for make up artists for you.  Below are some of my most favorites.  I’ve worked with them numerous times and their reputations are well established.  If you have questions about hiring a make up artist then call them!

• Kathleena Gorga Make Up Artist 
• Sherrie Long Make Up Artist
• Nellie Magunda Make Up Artist

My good friend Laurel Winzler of Laurel Designs did an amazing job with the flowers and it’s really important to work with great people to help you in your own job.  It can be really daunting to plan a wedding and book vendors.  I always recommend a professional wedding planner or professional event planner but sometimes it’s just not in the budget or people really want to do it themselves.   Be prepared to spend a lot of time planning your wedding!  When you hire a professional they can recommend people they know well and trust.  This is the most important step. A lot of times I walk into a wedding event and know the DJ, florist, venue coordinator or caterer and it’s great because we make sure we are all on the same page and make sure it goes off without a hitch.  Other times it’s important to introduce myself and make sure we keep communication open during the event to keep things running smoothly.

However way you decide to go with either a wedding planner or no planner make sure you are in communication with your vendors and you know they are dependable and reputable and experienced.  I know budget is a concern sometimes.  But just be sure you hire the best you can afford. One example of a vendor I worked with that was not good is a videographer I had never met before.   I’m not sure what their experience was but some things that I noted and actually had to point out or fix myself was:

1. An electrical cord lying completely across the dance floor
2. Electrical cords untaped in the middle of walkways
3. The light from the camera always in my shots
4. No communication on planning and staying out of the way of each other

These are all very serious issues.  Can you imagine if your grandmother were to trip over a cord?  That is really inexcusable.  So hire the best you can!

I hope you enjoy the images on IDoVenues but here are a few too from the hilarious engagment session we had at the Embarcadero waterfront and Flora Grubb in Hunter’s Point, San Francisco.

Cheers,

Misti

Kissing at Flora Grubb

It was about two women who were both recently married and contemplating changing their names to their spouse’s last name.  They totally surprised their husbands and brought back the officiant that married them to have a “ceremony” celebrating the name change.  They included wedding photographs and many of their guests that had been there that day.  By incorporating all of these things they brought together all the best moments of the celebration of their weddings and kept the fun going in their marriages and with friends!

They women (remember the husbands were surprised!) went all out on the theme of “Maiden Voyage”. You do get that right?  Emphasis on MAIDEN!   The colors were yellow, blue and white and the theme nautical of course.  Their professional photographer did a great job of capturing the event, the people and definitely the details.

While they went all out on this idea you could do it with your own special spin in the backyard of your home and just keeping it intimate with your closest friends and family and a Do It Yourself or hire professionals to help you out with resourcing vendors and supplies.  DIY does bring on other issues like finding vendors, supplies and all the time it can consume.  I have come across many unique ideas when I’ve done DIY weddings but the common comment I hear is just how time consuming it is!  Remember this of all things though to be sure to research your vendors thouroghly before hiring them.  This is on you in DIY as a planner will be able to make great recommendations based on experience with them personally.

This is an amazing idea.  So many of my couples get married not deciding on the whole thing about doing the name change.  This is a great idea and one I’m going to be sure to pass on!

Here is my original post on my blog for the red, white, blue theme.

Purchase images here… Help Le Sueur Cheetahs.

Since the dawn of digital I get asked a lot “I just want the raw files on CD”.   Well, if only it was so simple.  I once thought of this situation when I saw an advertisement for doing self-surgery and I think it was removal of a kidney!  My thinking is to leave it to the professionals and this is why…too much can go wrong.  I’m a photographer specializing in people so things like wedding photography, event photography and corporate and head shot portraits.  I wouldn’t imagine going in to an industrial commercial situation and say I know what I’m doing.  I definitely do not!

I recently got an email from someone who wanted engagement photos taken and wanted the raw files.  He mentioned he was a photographer but I saw he actually had another full time career.  So the dilemma for me is, as an artist, the image I take doesn’t end at just the push of a button and do I want someone else to not let me finish my process.  It’s a whole lot more.  I often run into amateur photographers who ask why I don’t do this or have that or tell me their Nikon is better than my Canon etc.  The best thing about photography is that there are a million ways to do it and all of them your way if you choose it to be that way.  But there are things that can wrong.

The process of being a photographer isn’t just about owning a camera. It is a whole lot more and I won’t even begin to discuss the business aspect of it in this post.   Experience, vision, education, tools, passion and creativity are all a part of it.  It starts with “seeing” the image. You have to see something, maybe manipulate it to make it better, make some technical choices and then perhaps change your mind again because it wasn’t right.  Oddly enough the biggest part of taking an image for me is getting my subject to connect to me and forgetting the camera.  Yes, you read that right.  I want us BOTH to forget the camera.  When the subject is in front of me whether for a wedding portrait during their wedding or acting head shots or a family portrait the camera is just a tool and believe it or not I mostly shoot in P.  Yes, you read that right too.  Once I have my basic settings and choices in equipment I use P or A and nothing else (this is in Canon I’m not sure about Nikon settings).  If I fiddle with the camera and try to think about technical things then my client can get restless, lose mood or feel uncomfortable.  If this happens the shot is lost and I have nothing anyway.  This is why you see emotion, expression and feeling in my images and not a perfectly posed, placed portrait.  Cameras today are built with a zillion different algorithms so why not trust them?

Once that part is done there is the post production which with digital is more complicated than film.  Developing choices in film can be made and then labs will still look at all your negatives and work with the color or adjust chemicals for a different grain or you can push or pull your negatives.  All of these processes lead to the final “image” that was in my mind’s eye when I pushed that button.  If you get the chance Google Ansel Adams and look at the extensive notes he did when printing his images.  They were never straight out of the camera and there was never just one print.  When I develop prints there are other choices that need to be made and all of this my artistic expression.  In regards to post production on digital images the process is all on your computer but those choices of intensity, brightness, color, filters are all the same thing leading again to my choice as my final image.  Here is a sample of images that about post production choices that made the images stand out and feel “finished”  Intimate Weddings, Documentary Weddings, Head Shots

So when you are choosing a photographer for your wedding or family portraits or even just head shots remember it isn’t just about owning a camera and while your friend is “into” photography it’s always best to hire a professional and trust them and let them do what they do best.  It is NOT about the camera and definitely not a good idea when it is your wedding and no chance for a do-over.  What about head shots?  You only get the one chance for that first impression.  Do you want to risk that to an image that isn’t finished?  Let’s be honest, will you ever make that album or retouch those photos yourself within the next couple of years even?  Most likely not!

While digital photography has brought cameras to the masses and some amazing pictures taken there is a big difference with a professional photographer.  Find the right one for you and you won’t be sorry.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me!

Ellie and Legs

If your wedding is in a hotel or more urban setting usually lines are better when clean and work with the architecture.   A large room needs large centerpieces but be sure your guests can see and speak to each other!  Nothing worse then leaning into your neighbor to converse with the person across from you.

But most importantly just have fun with your plans and be creative.  Let your professionals help you to create something that is unique to you.