So I've been TERRIBLE about updating this blog, but I've had some awesome sessions.  This post features baby L's 8 month session, I really love taking photos in apple orchards, I always come away with awesome images!

I had an awesome session with Andy H. at Stanley Quarter Park in New Britain, CT.  He definitely kept me busy chasing him around the playscape!  He definitely had a blast at the park.  Comment with your kids (or the kids in your life!) favorite place to go out and about.

When Chris and I started wedding planning it was not only overwhelming, but also somewhat depressing.  While I always expected my "dream wedding" to be low budget, I never planned on having very many people there either.  My plan was under 30 guests, beach ceremony, then taking everyone out for a nice dinner afterwards, or possibly having dinner under a tent with chinese lanterns and a jazz band on the beach.  

When we made our initial guest list, our invitee count was around 170, so the first place we looked at as a possible reception venue was a hall that in my personal opinion was best suited to bingo.  (which they definitely had there weekly, just saying.)  The higher the guest list went, the more I saw my dream of a beautiful, elegant event becoming an impossibility.  Obviously we didn't end up going with the bingo venue, and it's definitely possible to stay true to the spirit of what's most important to you while making concessions and allowances for factors you couldn't have known to plan into pre-engagement daydreams. 

The key is to figure out what factors are most important to you, and what you're willing to sacrifice. 
Is it more important to have all your friends and extended family there, or do you just want a low-key getaway with your bridal party level friends?
Do you want formal or casual?
What's your budget?
What is important to your significant other? 

My original plan sounded great to both of us until we started planning something concrete.  It was a great daydream, but in real life a beach wedding on the east coast means the sun in everyones eyes unless you have a sunrise wedding.  A few close friends and family sounds like a wonderful intimate event until you start looking at the list of people you have to leave out to make that happen.  Our final number was around 100, and there were still people we would have loved to include.  I didn't take into consideration Chris being the oldest child in his family, and the first one to get married...  This was a big deal to a lot of people, and I would have missed out on a lot if I had stuck blindly to my daydream wedding. 

In the end, we had a beautiful location for our reception, gorgeous flowers, everyone looked amazing, and it was still an intimate event because the people there were all people we were close to - all 100 of them.  One of the best memories I have from my ceremony is looking out over the church full of people who were all as happy to see Chris and I get married as we were to be getting married.  So many people have shared our day to day lives and been a part of our relationship, it was incredibly special to have them all there with us.  

Don't be afraid to let go of aspects of your dream wedding - stick to what's most important to both of you, and everyone will come away with special memories of your event. 

Having gotten married in May, I know as well as anyone the difficulties of wedding planning.  Here is my guide for navigating the confusion of choosing your vendors.  

My wedding day ran smoothly (except for starting the ceremony a half hour late because we left the flowers at my house... *ahem*) because I chose vendors I trusted and connected with.  I gave my florist and bakery, and reception venue general ideas of what I was looking for and trusted their creativity to come up with a fantastic finished product, and they totally delivered.   

Here are some of my biggest considerations in choosing my vendors:

-Experience
I needed vendors who were experienced in their fields.  The florist I chose has been in business since 1950, the tuxedo rental since 1966, and our reception location has been in business for 23 years.  While this doesn't hold true for all my vendors - my bakery is new in town--it was definitely something I took into consideration.   

-Creativity
Since I'm in a creative field I was especially picky with our vendors.  While there were a lot of details I was willing to sacrifice for our budget, overall I wanted a beautiful, unique event, and I needed vendors who would work with me to make that happen.

-Relatability
Our florist, tuxedo rental, and bakery were extremely busy when we were getting married since we were in the middle of prom season, but they made time for us and genuinely cared about our event.  They came through for us on time, listened to what we were looking for, and then educated us on what would work best.  

-Business Policies
All of our vendors had great business policies and worked to stay within our budget.  I had a phone call with my florist two weeks before my wedding where we cut our price by almost $300 (We had to subtract or substitute several different flowers) because I was over budget.  Not only were the flowers stunning, but the florist gave us free delivery and let us borrow pillars for our large arrangements and vases for the bridesmaid bouquets at the reception free as well.  Our reception location gave us a fabulous deal and we received phenomenal customer service the day of our wedding.  The bakery gave us awesome pricing on our wedding cupcakes--all of our vendors went the extra mile for our wedding to come together beautifully while working within our budget.