We were so excited to capture Sheila and Chris’ wedding. They were so much fun to work with at their engagement shoot, and we couldn’t wait to see them again!
They said their vows at the stunning Kohl Mansion, and it was a fairytale location. Fittingly, when Sheila and Chris first saw each other, it was as they crossed the dance floor to dance with each other. That’s a fairytale in itself!
Congratulations, Sheila and Chris! It was a gorgeous day, and we were so honored to be a part of your happily ever after!
Anne and Kevin’s wedding was such a treat to photograph! Their gorgeous wedding took place at Angela’s alma mater of Santa Clara University with a breathtaking ceremony inside the historic mission followed by a party under the stars outside of the Adobe Lodge.
Anne and Kevin met in Scotland (where Kevin is from), and they’ve been inseparable ever since. We loved hearing about their adventures in the UK, and how they became so close. You can tell these two are just filled with love and admiration for each other. It shines through in every smile, every glance, and every laugh.
Their reception was so elegant, and it also included personal touches too. Each table included a framed photo of their time together, and guests absolutely loved them! The couple also has a favorite chocolate from the UK, and they imported a ton of it to have as yummy favors for guests. Anne also made sure to wrap the cake stand holding those chocolates and her bouquet in a plaid ribbon to match Kevin’s family’s kilts.
The day was so special for everyone involved. Guests came from all over the world to support Anne and Kevin – even from Scotland and Iceland! The couple made sure to spend time with everyone, and there was certainly no shortage of laughter and merriment as the party went on throughout the night.
Congratulations, Anne and Kevin! Your day was beautiful!!
We’ve been counting down the days until Kristy and Kevin’s big day ever since photographing their sweet lighthouse engagement shoot. It was all laughter and smiles the whole time, so we knew their wedding day would be something truly special, and it was!
Kristy and Kevin’s ceremony was picturesque. They exchanged vows under a gorgeous chandelier with the woods and bridge in the background. Their first kiss was so sweet that the officiant even had them kiss again!
Their reception was an absolute blast, and you can’t beat the gorgeous background of the stone bridge! They had laid out sweet blankets for their guests for the nighttime, provided a photo booth so guests could take home photo strips (courtesy of ShootAnyAngle Photography), had great music for guests to dance to (courtesy of DJ Aaron Eegle), and had a wide selection of yummy cupcakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes! There was even a campfire and s’more makings for once the sun went down. Whether dancing the night away or catching up with family and friends or enjoying one (or two) s’mores, each and every person there had a wonderful time.
Congratulations, Kristy and Kevin!! Thank you for letting us be a part of your beautiful day!
It was a hot day in the rest of the Bay Area, but as we drove closer and closer to our final destination at Sutro Baths and Lands End in San Francisco, the fog rolled in along with cooler temperatures. It was like a special little world had been created just for Ashlee and Paul’s engagement shoot!
Ashlee and Paul were the winners of our Ranch at Little Hills free engagement shoot giveaway, and we had so much fun with them! They were ready for everything and anything, and they were just so happy to celebrate their love for each other. They were all smiles, and we couldn’t help but smile along with them!
James shooting at Sarah and Devon’s gorgeous wedding.
We’ve had a wonderful 2017, and we are so excited for the next year. To celebrate, we thought we’d show you a peek behind the lens!
Angela helping bride Keilani with her veil.We’re all smiles! This was a record hot day though – 114 degrees!Hiking through tall grass out in the hills is a normal day! Here, James photographs Lichy and Ken. In the next shot, Angela shoots under the veil to capture a special kiss at Melanie and Adam’s wedding.A photoshoot with Harleys? Yes please! This was such a fun shoot with April and Gabriel to celebrate their one year anniversary.April and Gabriel suggested we take a turn in front of the camera – and on their Harleys!A goofy moment at Caitlin and Tim’s wedding.An amazing film noir photoshoot for Ariel and David’s engagement at Fort Point in San Francisco.Alums Bri and Angela particularly loved this venue! Here we are shooting at Santa Clara University for Bri and Neil’s maternity shoot.Best little model ever!
Jessica and David’s beautiful day was at the historic Rengstorff House in Mountain View, California. They chose a romantic nature feel for their wedding, and it was perfect. We loved it all – from the floral crown to the lego tie clips to the moss and wooded centerpieces. There were so many beautiful little details that we were just head over heels for! Plus, it made the wedding so much more personal to the couple. Jessica even had a handmade gown designed and made by one of her bridesmaids, Janelle Yee. We absolutely adored it! Not only did Janelle make the wedding dress, but she made her own dark green, stripped bridesmaid dress!
Instead of choosing just one color for the bridesmaids, Jessica chose two – mint and dark green. The combination was simply beautiful for photographs, and they blended great with the guys’ floral ties and grey suits.
The centerpieces brought in a fantastical woodland element complete with little butterflies and birds as chandeliers and bistro lights hung from wires above. To add in an even more personal touch, the bride and groom used a family heirloom cake topper on their own cake!
The best part of the wedding was the bride and groom themselves. Jessica and David are so fun to be around, and every moment with them is a blast. They and the father of the bride even requested that they get a photo with us! It was so sweet. They are the perfect match, and it’s such a treat to watch the two of them together. There is never a shortage of love or laughter, and everyone can feel it. We love these two!
One of the sweetest stories we heard from this couple was that Devon immediately knew he had to be a part of Sarah’s life the moment he heard her laugh. These two are constantly making each other laugh and smile, and their love for each other is apparent to everyone who sees them.
Their intimate backyard wedding was the perfect mix of classic meets rustic meets Star Wars. The gorgeous estate, kindly offered to them by family friends, was a stunning backdrop. They utilized the wine cellar built into the hill as an altar, and it turned out beautifully. We then hiked up the hill at sunset for some truly amazing lighting.
As Sarah says, “Devon is obsessed with Star Wars, and [I go] along with it.” The classic movie was brought in with the tie clips, socks, and even the cuff links! When we learned of the love for Star Wars, we knew we had to do something special (being Star Wars fans ourselves). The couple already planned to bring light sabers to the reception, so we added in the nighttime shoot and brought in Andreas Bazylewski Design to incorporate his magnificent fan art into the photo. The couple loved it!
If you haven’t already, make sure to check out Parts One and Two.
Band/DJ
We decided against having a band or DJ. Instead, we used our pre-existing collection of AirPlay speakers and created the sound system with those. Then, we created our own playlists for each part of the wedding. We did a lot of tests of the system and even had backup plans just in case. We trained a friend to work the system, and it all worked seamlessly!
By using our own equipment and playlists, we saved around $3,900.
This was an interesting learning experience. When we started our search for the groom and groomsmen’s apparel, our first stop was naturally a well-known tux rental chain. The prices were way higher than I had anticipated. We just couldn’t pull the trigger and ask the boys to do the same. Then, my husband’s aunt suggested Nordstrom Rack. We went and found that to buy one of their suits was CHEAPER than renting one – and they each got to keep it in the end!! Plus, their sales brought prices down even more. There would be no rushing down to the store the next day to return the suit! So, it was a no brainer.
By going this route, my husband (and each groomsman) saved around $50 each, and they got to keep their suit.
Yes, this is one of the places I’m going to suggest you spend the money on. That may sound biased, but I felt that long before I became a wedding photographer myself. The reason behind this is simple: the flowers will die, the wedding dress will be trashed or stored away, the food will be digested, the silverware will be put away, the alcohol will be ingested (and hopefully not regurgitated), the bridesmaid dresses will be donated, and the leftover cake will go stale…. So, besides the marriage and the rings you wear, only one thing will last from that day – the photography. That’s why this is an area I do feel is worth the money. That doesn’t mean you should spend an arm and a leg though. Do your homework! For example, we offer prices for those on a budget, and that’s the kind of thing to look for. We used our own side-shooters for our wedding, and to give a more realistic estimate of savings, I’ll calculate it as if we had hired ourselves to shoot the wedding.
If we had used the second of our ShootAnyAngle packages, we would have saved $800 (and gotten an engagement shoot and canvas print out of the deal). Okay, enough of the self-promotion – onto the rings!
Ah, yes, the big purchase that starts the whole thing – the rings! This is also an area I feel it’s okay to spend more. That being said, you need to do your homework. There is a lot of jewelry out there that is WAY too overpriced. The big name stores will charge you more for their name to be attached to it, so avoid that route if possible. On the flip side of that, don’t be stingy. These rings need to last a lifetime. Buy the best materials to ensure they will. That may cost a little extra, but it’s worth it. I’ve seen both sides of this coin. I’ve seen a groom spend more money on his ring than both my husbands’ and my rings combined! I’ve also seen a couple pick the most inexpensive ring they could find, and the bride still hates it to this day. So, do your homework, and get the right rings.
To the men out there, now I’m talking to you. Part of doing your homework is talking to your bride-to-be. Find out what she likes. James actually came to me six months prior to proposing and asked me to give him a list of rings I liked and the reasons why. The ring I liked best was a unique antique-looking ring that I had seen at a hole-in-the-wall shop. I actually kept going back to “visit” the ring. I just loved it so much – and that’s the ring I got! He did it perfectly, and I couldn’t be happier with my ring. Not only did he get me my favorite ring, but he also had it already sized by the time he got down on one knee. So, plan ahead!
As for the wedding bands, that took even more research. My engagement ring is a unique shape and design, and I didn’t know where we’d find a wedding band to match it – but I’m not afraid to do a little work. We ended up finding the perfect match to my ring online. It looks as if it was designed for it! Then, to make sure we weren’t swindled, we took it to a jeweler to confirm that it was indeed gold and diamonds (it was!). We liked the ring so much that we ended up getting my husband’s band from them too. He’s an adventurer, so he wanted a very strong metal – Tungsten Carbide to be exact. The great thing about those rings? They are inexpensive! We’re talking around $20 even. Mark my words, as that metal becomes more and more popular (and it’s already getting there), then the price will go up, up, up. For now, though, it’s a great deal. Now, these bands cannot be resized, but since the price is so low, we just got him some back-ups in different sizes for down the road. I’ll probably even get a thin Tungsten band for myself to wear in place of my real rings for those adventures that are a bit too dangerous for my beautiful rings.
By doing our homework, and using the strategies above, we saved around $5,900.
For the most part, if you need rentals, they are going to cost a pretty penny. Again, always do your homework, and find the most inexpensive rental place you can. We lucked out by choosing William’s Rentals (located in the Bay Area, CA). They helped us out every step of the way, and I can’t recommend them enough! Since our venue didn’t provide tables, chairs, etc, we did have to rent it all, but we saved money in our choices. Yes, the silverware may mean a lot to you, but your guests are more interested in the food. Choose a more inexpensive setting. When in doubt, do something basic. If it’s not unique, odds are it won’t be noticed – and it probably won’t be noticed even if it is unique. Another option for a more eclectic wedding is to buy mismatched silverware from thrift stores. You can do the same with plates and bring the look together with plastic charger plates that you can find at craft stores or dollar stores. When it comes to linens, basic colors are just fine (and they cost less). To bring in some flare, put the money towards fancy runners rather than the tablecloth itself. You’ll save money, and it will look nice. Where the money should go to are the chairs and some unique pieces. We splurged to get a Farm Table for our cake stand. We only got one, but it looked really nice.
By going with the cheaper rental options, we saved around $1,000.
To recap, the areas where I personally advise spending the money are the venue, the dress, the photography, and the rings – but this all depends on what is most important to you. By following the tips in these blogs (and by finding other routes on your own!), you can have your dream wedding without spending your life savings.
And, what was the grand total saved by all these tips, you may ask? The total my husband and I saved off the 2013 national averages by using these strategies was $21,840!! Which, by the way, is way more money than we spent on the entire wedding and honeymoon combined!!
I was lucky to have such crafty people help me for our wedding. For invitations, I had a fantastic card-maker ready to make them for me – my mother! I come from a very crafty family, if you couldn’t tell already! My mom and I worked on the design of the invitations together, and then she made each by hand. This is a bit of a long process to be sure, but they came out beautifully. She also made my shower invitations even though friends hosted the event. She also made simple “reserved” signs for our front row. For the Save-the-Dates, my husband and I took point on those. We did a nighttime long-exposure shot that utilized a technique called “light painting.” We did the photography ourselves (it’s our job after all!) and I designed the final product around the image. I had them printed at Costco. By using these techniques, we saved around $450.
I think the ring pillow is a place where you can let your imagination really come out. James, my husband, actually came up with the idea to use an object we already owned that had special meaning for us. Since we had gotten engaged in Disneyland, and we had gotten Mickey and Minnie wedding ears to commemorate the occasion, we decided to tie the rings to his Groom Mickey Ears. It was adorable on its own, but to make it even better, our ringbearer ran down the aisle waving the ears behind him! It was so cute. By going this route, we saved around $45.
Odds are, you are going to spend a good chunk of your budget here, and it’s one of the places where you should if you want a specific look. It was very important for us to be outdoors in an area that we both loved. We had previous connections to the Rengstorff House, and we loved the grounds, so we went for it. They do quite a few weddings there, but it’s not well-known for being a wedding venue. That kept their cost down, so they were pretty reasonable. If you go with this particular venue (or any that does not have sufficient lighting), just note that you will have to buy twice as many hours as your event to allow for set-up and break-down of lighting. Of course, if you or your fiancé have a nice big property available to use for free, go for it, and save even more! By going with a venue that wasn’t known for weddings, we saved around $200 off the 2013 average for venues (their national average venue cost is listed as $1,993, which seems quite low to me – at least for the Bay Area, California, so this is an underestimation of what it saved us).
In some venues, an officiant may be assigned to you – like at a Church. However, we weren’t able to have a priest due to rules about being married outside. So, we decided on using a friend of ours as the officiant. He did such a great job, and he really cares about us, which made it much more special. He got “ordained” online for free, and then we gave him a gift as a thank you. So, we saved around $150 here.
As I mentioned earlier, one of our bridesmaids was a born planner, so she handled this role for us. We did get her nice gifts as a thank you, but even with that cost, going this route saved a lot. I worried that it was too much work for her, but luckily, she loved it! Check with your friends and see if any love planning parties. By using a friend, we saved around $1,600.
Stay tuned next week for the conclusion, Part Three!
Let’s face it. Though a wedding is a very important day, it is just one day. Sadly, some couples spend so much on their wedding, that their savings are hit hard. There are ways to make the day great without breaking the bank though. After all, being able to afford a home someday would be nice!
As I’ve mentioned before, it’s important to know what aspects of the wedding are the most important to you. Those are the aspects where you should spend the money. For me, it was photography, details, and the venue that were the biggies. Photography was the number one because, besides the marriage, that’s what will last, so it better be good!
Catering is really expensive – I mean REALLY expensive. When we were planning our wedding, I talked to several caterers and provided them with our catering budget and our overall budget for the whole wedding so that they knew what we were working with. Every single caterer came back to me with a quote that was more than our ENTIRE wedding budget! How is that right? The second they heard the food was for a wedding, their quote skyrocketed.
So, we decided to have a restaurant cater. A restaurant doesn’t care if it’s a wedding or a birthday party or a small dinner with friends – their prices remain the same. They are also a lot easier to deal with, in my opinion, because they aren’t trying to sneak in extra costs like the caterers were doing to me. You also can spend a little more to give your guests more options and yet it still comes way under the price of a wedding caterer. We used the Old Spaghetti Factory, and everyone loved the food at our wedding, and it worked out perfectly!
By going this route for our 150-person wedding, we saved around $4,300 when compared to the 2013 average for a wedding caterer.
I was quite lucky when it came to my wedding dress. I love fashion, and I do feel the dress is one of those places where it’s okay to spend a little more. I’ve seen women who bought a cheap dress just because it was cheap, and they were not happy with it. That shows on their face, and this should be the happiest day of your life – so feel your best! Luckily, I found THE dress straight off the rack. It was a sample dress. The price was so low that it cost the same as my mother’s dress cost 30 years ago! So, don’t forget to check that rack – you may just find the one! As for the veil, I knew purchasing one was out of the question for me. As a seamstress myself, I’m just amazed how much money a bit of tulle can go for once it’s labeled as a “veil.” So, I made mine. Grand total cost to make it? $3. Yup, $3. That’s much nicer than the 2013 average of $128 (and they can go for a lot more than that!)
For bridesmaid dresses, I was determined to find something that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. It’s important to realize that though the wedding may be the center of your life, it is NOT the center of theirs. When I was a bridesmaid, the bride did not take into account how much each girl was spending on her. It ended up totally over $1,000 each, and that was money we didn’t really have to spend on someone else. I was determined not to do the same to my girls. Instead, I went to Amazon.com to get ideas. I ended up finding a pretty mint/turquoise dress by Ever-Pretty. The cost? $43 plus another $5 for the add-on lace.
By buying a sample dress and making my veil, I saved around $805 when compared to the average. By buying a dress online instead of an official bridesmaid dress, each girl saved around $75-$250.
I was very blessed to have a bridesmaid who is an absolute natural when it comes to all things “wedding” – including flowers. That being said, we still needed to buy them! She came up with an alternative to a florist: buying them from Costco and Whole Foods! We went with Baby’s Breath, Chamomile, Hypericum Berries, and Spray Roses. Then, she assembled them herself. They were stunning! I also added fabric flowers that I had made. Each had a memento from a family member.
By going this route, we saved $1,500 off the average cost of flowers.
Like catering, cake can also be very pricey – especially if you have a multi-tiered masterpiece. We liked the idea of cupcakes better (and it’s becoming more and more popular), so we used a local bakery that is actually quite famous for the heaven that is their confectionary goodness. This way, you also don’t have to worry about cake cutting fees (which are just silly!). We also made the cake stand ourselves – or rather, my father did. He’s an expert wood-worker, so he created the perfect stand for our cupcakes.
So, by buying cupcakes and a small cutting cake instead of going the traditional route, we saved around $290 off the average cost.
Decorations
Beautiful gold mason jars hanging from the chairs.Cameras and books from our own collection with handmade table numbers. http://ShootAnyAngle.com/weddings/Handmade sign! http://ShootAnyAngle.com/weddings/
I love crafts, and luckily, so did my bridesmaid! Between her, my mom, and I, we made most of the decorations at the wedding. The signs were all handmade by my bridesmaids using frames I had bought for cheap at garage sales. I made the props for the photo booth, my mom made the table numbers by hand, and I made the guest book online using a freebie coupon. Though not handmade, the old books and cameras that served as our centerpieces were from our own collection, so we’ll continue to display those for years to come.
By making most of the decorations, we saved around $850.
One of the sweetest stories we heard from this couple was that Devon immediately knew he had to be a part of Sarah’s life the moment he heard her laugh. These two are constantly making each other laugh and smile, and their love for each other is apparent to everyone who sees them.
ShootAnyAngle Photography 