Project 4: Choosing a Photographer

This was the second big thing we knew we had to spend money on.

I had to convince Edward that his mom's digital camera and some happy snappy Chinese relatives was just not going to cut it on the day.

Being an OCD freak about details and design the photographer was a big NB for me and I knew I wanted someone different who could capture this different wedding and understand what it was all about so I could hold on to this special day forever.

I promptly e-mailed dozens of photographers, stalked their blogs and put them all in to an excel spreadsheet accordingly to what they offered.

Edward had a budget of R10k in mind and to him that was already too much.. I guess being in the car industry he couldn't quite grasp the countless hours spent editing and the difficult task wedding photographers take on every weekend.

I came across so many amazing photographic artists who were just breathtaking in their abilities but according to budget it narrowed the search down significantly. Also I knew I wanted something different for our wedding album so looked at packages without albums included which helped lower the initial cost.

Admittedly being my over-zealous self i proceeded to book a photographer in January because i was so scarred about not finding the right person only to find myself crying over finding the perfect photographer days later. This put everyone in such a tight spot but the photographer we originally booked so kindly refunded our deposit and we proceeded to book Andre Badenhorst from Blackframe Photography & Design Studio. http://blackframephotography.co.za/blog/

Daniella from Oohlala suggested them as they had photographed a friends wedding and after clicking the link I knew these guys were perfect for our wedding! And after meeting Andre at his studio/house and seeing their 'interior decorating' I knew these guys were thinking the same craziness i was :)

As for shooting with them on the actual wedding day, WHAT A PLEASURE!
They are pro's and were so calm and chilled pointing and telling us what to do or where to stand i didn't feel nervous in front of the camera at all! I've only seen sneak peaks on their facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Blackframe-Photography-Design-Studio/379599708087
but shew wee I am loving what I've seen so far!

A good photographer can make any wedding look like the event of the year so choose wisely and DONT skimp on this. We were fortunate enough that our photographer was flexible in selecting a package without an album and fitted in our budget so always check the possibilities with them.

Here are some other amazing photographers who's work will inspire and motivate you!
- http://blog.tyme.co.za/
- http://welovepictures.blogspot.com
- www.hiltonprophoto.co.za
- www.andreacarlylepgotography.co.za
- www.christiaandavid.co.za
- www.droryeyal.co.za
- www.katforsythphotography.co.za
- www.millsphotography.co.za
- www.michaeltree.co.za
- www.studio77.co.za
- www.silversuitcase.co.za
- http://splendidproductionsblog.com/blog/


xXx Mrs C.

Project 3: Wedding Invitations

After booking Oakfield in Dec 2010 we were in time to go to their annual wedding expo held at Oakfield farm.

While walking around my eyes caught the sight of a pinwheel on a table and i made a beeline straight for it. picking it up i twirled around to find the owner of the stand and met the vibrant and lovely Mrs Daniella Balona of Oohlala Designs. I clicked with her immediately and after exchanging details we set up an appointment to discuss stationary for our carnival wedding and that was that.
I had ideas about lasercutting our wedding invites but as amazing as they would be the cost was almost double standard printing methods and after speaking to a few of our guests the invites rarely make it through the 6 months leading up to the wedding. One guests told us how they cut up out invite to use our pictures for a doll house and a few were lost whilst moving.

I made an e-version (in powerpoint) to send to guests over seas and those we could not post to which proved handy in the final days with people misplacing physical invites.

One thing about Daniella is that she is not limited to wedding stationary alone. She goes beyond the normal set of tasks and finds a way to make your ideas a reality.

I recommended her to a friend who also used her and Daniella ended up HAND sewing red felt hearts as thank you gifts which also doubled up as napkin holders and even felt cake toppers.

Another concept which I absolutely love is setting up a wedding website which guests can browse at their own leisure. This way you are not limited to how many invites you send out and save on printing costs. A brilliant South African example is Adri & Francois.
This couple put so much love and effort in to everything about their wedding plus being great people I'd like to mention them as a good source of inspiration!
http://fradri.wordpress.com/

I had the fortune of being introduced to Adri through a friend of my sister.
After seeing her wedding photos and amazing talent this lady has i am sorry i did not meet her sooner! Check out her incredible wedding here:

http://www.theprettyblog.com/2011/07/turqoise-red-farm-mpumalanga-wedding/

or here:
http://welovepictures.blogspot.com/2011/05/francois-adris-fun-farm-wedding.html

Anyway after commissioning Oohlala to do our wedding invites there was ALOT of pics exchanged of carnival inspiration.. here are some of my favs:

i also found some sooper free carnival fonts easily accessible here: http://www.i-do-it-yourself.com/2009/01/fonts-circuscarnivalwild-west-type/

and here is what our wedding invites looked like :) sorry for the bad image.. for some reason I don't have any good photos on my pc!