Google+ Lisa Olson wedding Archives - Page 4 of 5 - Southern Weddings

Southern Weddings

Tag: Lisa Olson wedding

First of all, I can hardly believe that as of this weekend, Dave and I have been engaged for SEVEN months! Y’all, it has flown by, and I am feeling more and more like our wedding will be here before we know it! Since we booked so many vendors early on (venue/catering, photographer, videographer, florist, DJ), we’ve really been able to enjoy these last few months doing very little wedding planning. That’s all going to change next week though, because we’re flying to my home sweet home of Houston to check two very exciting things off of our wedding to-do list: taking our engagement pictures and wedding dress shopping!

Since my nosey fiancé made me SWEAR I wouldn’t post a single detail about my wedding dress, I’m not going to be posting anything about dress inspiration or shopping (sorry, y’all!), but I am excited to talk about the other item on that list—our engagement pictures with our fabulous photographer, Ryan Ray. Ryan’s portrait-taking skills are one of the biggest reasons we chose him for our wedding, and it will be great to finally meet him in person!

I’ve been rounding up some inspiration images to narrow down and share the types of pictures and poses I like, and in general, I think it’s safe to say that I love engagement pictures that are relatively neutral, prop-free, a little bit dressy, cuddly, and twirly :)

Clockwise from top left: Jen Huang, Caroline Joy, Cassidy Brooke, Jose Villa, KT Merry, Town & Country, Elisabeth Millay, Ryan Ray, KT Merry, Jose Villa

I’m also very excited that a sweet Blue Ribbon Vendor, Tracy of Tracy Melton Artistry, will be taking care of my hair and makeup for the day! I want something relatively natural, but just a little bit more pretty and romantic than my every day look. Here’s the hair and makeup inspiration I sent her:

Source unknown, Jamie Beck

After spending so many years admiring other people’s engagement pictures, I suspect it is going to feel very strange being the one in front of the camera! I am 100% confident that Ryan and Tracy can work their magic on Dave and I, but truth be told, I always get pretty nervous before big photo shoots. Any last-minute advice is more than welcome! :)

In case you missed a post…
I’m Engaged!
The Main Characters
Our Venues
Our Photographer
Our Videographer

lisa Written with love by Lisa
7 Comments
  1. avatar Nicole reply

    Yay!! Ryan’s portraits are gorgeous and I can’t wait to see how he captures your dressy, cuddly, twirliness!

  2. avatar Emily reply

    That hair + makeup inspiration is perfection! Can’t wait to see how everything turns out!!

  3. avatar Dana reply

    I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!

  4. avatar Lisa's Southern Wedding: Our Flowers – Southern Weddings Magazine reply

    […] In case you missed a post… I’m Engaged! The Main Characters Our Venues Our Photographer Our Videographer Planning Our Engagement Pictures […]

  5. avatar Lisa's Southern Wedding: Bridesmaid Style – Southern Weddings Magazine reply

    […] a post… I’m Engaged! / The Main Characters / Our Venues / Our Photographer / Our Videographer / Planning Our Engagement Pictures / Our […]

  6. avatar Lisa's Southern Wedding: Our Save the Dates – Southern Weddings Magazine reply

    […] a post… I’m Engaged! / The Main Characters / Our Venues / Our Photographer / Our Videographer / Planning Our Engagement Pictures / Our Flowers / Bridesmaid […]

  7. avatar Lisa's Southern Wedding: The Gents' Attire – Southern Weddings Magazine reply

    […] I’m Engaged! / The Main Characters / Our Venues / Our Photographer / Our Videographer / Planning Our Engagement Pictures / Our Flowers / Bridesmaid Style / Our Save the […]

Southern Weddings reserves the right to delete comments which contain profanity or personal attacks or seek to promote a business unrelated to the post.  And remember: a good attitude is like kudzu – it spreads.  We love hearing your kind thoughts!

Reply to:
close

Hello! This post couldn’t have come during a better week–Dave and I flew up to Syracuse over the weekend for an engagement party with his family and friends in New York. My future in-laws outdid themselves with the sweetest “North meets South” party, complete with mason jars, my favorite Southern delicacies, Dave’s favorite goodies from New York, and even a real wagon wheel, in honor of our song! We were tickled pink, and it made us even more excited for our wedding, less than one year from now!!

Shortly after we chose our beautiful venues and amazing photographer, Dave and I turned to one of our next priority vendors: a videographer. Having read countless stories of brides who regretted not getting any video on their wedding day, or being disappointed when the whole “friend with a video camera” thing yielded less-than-stellar results, skimping on a videographer was not an option for Dave and me. I’m the resident wedding film nerd in the SW office and the term “cry-teria” was even jokingly coined as a standard I review films with–I get teary-eyed over most!

North Carolina is home to an impressive number of wonderful videographers (view them in the Blue Ribbon Vendor Directory!), but Dave and I were pretty set on our top choice. When we tell people the story of how we met and fell in love (read it here if you missed it), one thing people say to us often is that it sounds like a movie. To be honest, it has felt like one at times too! Our wedding day is one of the few big moments in our lives that will be on video, so we knew we wanted to hire someone we could trust to capture our relationship and the feeling of everything that led to our wedding day in a thoughtful and cinematic way. Thanks to their incredibly story-driven editing skills and filming expertise, Inkspot Crow was the natural choice!

Dave and I set aside a good portion of our budget for videography, but when we found out that Inkspot Crow’s smallest filming package was a few hundred dollars more than what we had budgeted, we almost backed out. There were some other things we could cut from our budget to make it work, but we took awhile to figure out whether or not it was worth it to us. In the end, we decided that we would rather have a smaller videography package that we were super confident about, rather than a larger package that we perhaps weren’t quite as confident about. (Disclaimer: I’m not saying at ALL that a more expensive vendor is always the best choice, no exceptions, but for us, we decided to splurge more because Inkspot Crow’s style was the perfect fit for us.)

We also made our decision with the sparkling recommendation of SW’s own Emily and John! I’m sure I’m not the only one who absolutely swooned over their wedding highlights film last year (see below!), and Emily spoke so highly of her experience with MacKenzie and Philip. Additionally, now that I know Emily and John personally, I can attest to the fact that their video is so them. When it comes down to it, the most important thing we want from our wedding video is for it to be a true reflection of our story and personalities. Especially considering that E&J’s fits them to a tee, Dave and I have total faith in Inkspot Crow to make our film reflect us beautifully as well.

Will you be hiring a videographer? How did you make your decision?

In case you missed a post…
I’m Engaged!
The Main Characters
Our Venues
Our Photographer

lisa Written with love by Lisa
16 Comments
  1. avatar Emily reply

    So excited for you guys!! I can’t say enough how glad I am that MacKenzie + Phillip were a part of our day. In addition to our love story, to us, it was priceless to have all of our loved ones, who won’t be around forever, captured for posterity laughing, dancing, smiling, and crying in such a beautiful way. And, of course, I am already looking forward to showing it to our future children :)

  2. avatar Molly reply

    LESS THAN A YEAR! Enjoy every second…it will fly by! Emily’s video is the sweetest!!!

    • avatar Lisa reply

      You’re so sweet! I’ll be thinking about you this weekend and can’t wait to see pictures of your big day!! :)

  3. avatar Kat reply

    I’m SO happy you two decided to hire a videographer!!! It is well worth the price tag & you’ll cherish it forever! I LOVE Inkspot Crow films and can’t wait to watch yours :) xo!!

  4. avatar MacKenzie reply

    Lisa, thank you so much for such incredibly kind words. I loved reading about your and Dave’s thought process in hiring us to capture your wedding. Less than 1 year! We can’t wait!

  5. avatar Ashley Relvas reply

    love this and inkspot crow! i only wish i had known about inkspot crow when i got married. such a wonderful decision and looking forward to seeing the video from your big day :)

  6. avatar Wedding Belles Photo reply

    These videos are top notch!

  7. avatar Whitley Gaffney reply

    Ah, I have been in love with this company for some time now (thanks to SW!) – I loved watching Emily’s video and can’t wait to see yours!

    My favorite Inkspot Crow video is a Washington D.C. wedding, I tear up every time – I love a good cry.

    Hoping one day this fabulous duo will shoot my wedding as well :)

    • avatar Lisa reply

      Thanks, Whitley! I joke with Emily that I watch her wedding video once a week :P All of Inkspot Crow’s videos are just so good!!

  8. avatar Dana reply

    I can’t wait for your wedding video!! Is it may 2015 yet!?!?!

  9. avatar Lisa's Southern Wedding: Planning Our Engagement Pictures – Southern Weddings Magazine reply

    […] Source unknown, Jamie Beck After spending so many years admiring other people’s engagement pictures, I suspect it is going to feel very strange being the one in front of the camera! I am 100% confident that Ryan and Tracy can work their magic on Dave and I, but truth be told, I always get pretty nervous before big photo shoots. Any last-minute advice is more than welcome! :) In case you missed a post… I’m Engaged! The Main Characters Our Venues Our Photographer Our Videograper […]

Southern Weddings reserves the right to delete comments which contain profanity or personal attacks or seek to promote a business unrelated to the post.  And remember: a good attitude is like kudzu – it spreads.  We love hearing your kind thoughts!

Reply to:
close

Hi y’all! This may be one of the Lisa’s Southern Wedding posts I’ve been the most excited to write—today, I’m introducing our photographer! As far as wedding vendors go, photography has been my number one priority since long before I got engaged. I truly believe that having the right photographer—someone whose style you love and who makes the effort to get to know you and your story—makes all the difference in getting the timeless wedding pictures that will become heirlooms for generations to come.

Before Dave and I had a wedding date or a venue, or even a state to get married in, we emailed the photographer we wanted to work with. While I do not recommend this (a time and place are obviously crucial details for booking wedding vendors!), we were too excited to wait, and thankfully, our photographer was very gracious with us! I’ve known for a few years now who I wanted to photograph my wedding, but truly, there are SO many photographers whose work I love. In case you’re looking for a photographer right now, I wanted to share a few other photographers I am a huge fan of—had our photographer not been available on our wedding date (once we chose one :)), I would have been just as thrilled to work with any of these talented people.

I love every picture Ali Harper takes more than the last. She uses light so beautifully and has an incredible editorial eye. Some of my all-time favorite wedding pictures are by Ali (like the photo on the left—swoon!), and she is so sweet—exactly the kind of person you want to have around on your wedding day!

Eric Kelley was one of the first photographers I met when I started working for Southern Weddings, and I must admit, it was a little surreal meeting him after admiring his work for so many years, but he couldn’t have been nicer! Eric is so amazing at capturing details and I especially love the bridal portraits he takes.

I just adore Landon and Jordan of Landon Jacob Photography—they are some of the friendliest people ever, and their work is so dreamy. From working with them on our V6 team shoot, I also learned firsthand that they’re not afraid to step in and “fix you” (out-of-place hair, necklace clasps, etc.), which I think is an essential quality for a great photographer to have!

As you can tell from this list, we were looking for a photographer who shoots film, has a strong editorial eye, and who Dave and I genuinely like as a person–after all, we’ll be spending more time with our photographer than almost anyone else on our wedding day. We are overjoyed that our photographer has all of these qualities in spades. If you haven’t guessed it already, I’m thrilled to announce that the one and only Ryan Ray will be photographing our wedding!!!

Seriously, y’all. Do I even need to say anything else following these beautiful pictures? Ryan is truly gifted at capturing everything from stunning portraits to sweet moments to gorgeous details, and his images just sing to me. I’ve been known to say that I can spot a Ryan Ray picture from a mile away! Plus, he is SO nice. I love working with him for Southern Weddings, and know his personality will be a perfect fit with Dave and I and our families. We are truly, truly honored that he’ll be making the trip to North Carolina to shoot our wedding day!

I’d love to hear, who is photographing your big day? How did you choose them?

In case you missed a post…
I’m Engaged!
The Main Characters
Our Venues

lisa Written with love by Lisa
8 Comments
  1. avatar Janine reply

    Ginny Corbett of Ginny Corbett Photography is photographing our wedding September 14, 2014! She has a heart of gold and her easy going, loving, and hilarious personality made it a piece of cake to choose her to be there to capture our memories! We’ve become GREAT friends and I can talk to her about anything, wedding or unrelated. She uses light in the most beautiful way and is truly interested in the couple’s priorities and captures their love in the moment. My fiancee and I had SUCH a fun time at our engagement shoot and can’t WAIT to share our wedding day with Ginny (as well friends and family, of course!)

  2. avatar Corinna Hoffman reply

    Beautiful pictures! Love the photo with the bride & her floral bridesmaids dresses!

  3. avatar Dana reply

    Ryan Ray is going to make me look soooo beautiful in photos! And of course, you. :D

  4. avatar Emily reply

    I love this post!! Like you said, there are so many talented photographers out there (a perfect fit for every couple), but I definitely believe Ryan will be an amazing addition to your day. Can’t wait!!!

  5. avatar Abby reply

    will you also be doing engagement pictures with him? Just wondering how that works since he is from out of state! I imagine I will be in the same situation someday, so just wanted to hear your thoughts. I know most people shoot with the same person to get comfortable before the big day. Would love to hear your thoughts on that!

    • avatar Lisa reply

      Hi Abby! We will be doing our engagement pictures with him. Ryan is based in Dallas and my family lives in Houston, so Dave and I are going to take a little road trip up to Dallas during a trip home. We’re really excited to meet Ryan in person before our wedding and start to feel comfortable with him photographing us. While it is definitely not necessary, engagement pictures are a great opportunity to get to know your wedding photographer, if you can make it work! One other possibility is trying to coordinate travel plans if your photographer frequently shoots in a location you can get to more easily. Hope that helps! :)

  6. avatar Lisa's Southern Wedding: Bridesmaid Style – Southern Weddings Magazine reply

    […] love to know! In case you missed a post… I’m Engaged! / The Main Characters / Our Venues / Our Photographer / Our Videographer / Planning Our Engagement Pictures / Our […]

Southern Weddings reserves the right to delete comments which contain profanity or personal attacks or seek to promote a business unrelated to the post.  And remember: a good attitude is like kudzu – it spreads.  We love hearing your kind thoughts!

Reply to:
close
Top