Hello Internet! In case you’ve been hiding under a rock for the last week, I thought I would fill you in on what we’ve been up to with the ol’wedding planning process! About two weeks ago, Billy and I entered a contest through a company called CreativeLIVE to win a free wedding. You can see our video entry here. Over the years we’ve bought countless lottery tickets, and I think our winnings total about 5 dollars (which we then promptly reinvested into our get-rich-quick plans by buying another ticket) So we’re really not ahead, and really not luck of the draw people. Needless to say, it was actually a surprise to us that when we woke up last Wednesday morning, we learned that we were the couple chosen for this incredible opportunity! For the last week, we’ve been walking around in a daze, soaking it all in and trying to sort out what we need to do….. fast. I’ve had to practically turn my phone off because every time I hang up with someone it rings again, I’m a little overstimulated…  forgive me for being MIA. I’m trying my hardest to have life and business go on as usual, but it’s been difficult!

Here is the deal. Our new wedding date is August 27th, 2010! Hooray! We get an almost entirely free wedding, the only catch is… Jasmine Star HAS to be our photographer (which we are really really upset about…. insert sarcasm here :-) And our wedding will be broadcast LIVE through the CreativeLIVE website as a workshop for photographers who want to learn more about how to shoot weddings from Jasmine. We’ll be out there for the world to see, or not see. Tune in if you can’t make it or we didn’t invite you! Ha!

We really only had ideas in place for our former wedding,  we’re starting fresh. CreativeLIVE is working with the lovely and ever so talented Daniela Fagét of Bella Signature Design to create a wedding that is uniquely us. She really understands our aesthetic and what we’re going for with our wedding celebration. It is a major point of emphasis from everyone, that this process be about Billy and I. That our wedding remain in our taste and style, which is SO amazing. We feel so taken care of in this process. We genuinely connect with everyone on this team in a way that it makes it very easy for us to call them friends.

Here are just some of the things we’re working on this week!

Venue, Invites/Paper, Wedding dress, Wedding bands, Bridesmaid dresses, Cake, Decor color palette, and rentals… I’m sure more to come!

Friday we went dress shopping to a couple of stores here in Seattle, and the CreativeLIVE team followed me around at La Belle Elaines! BILLY DO NOT CLICK ON THIS VIDEO ;-)

We also checked out some wedding bands at E.E. Robbins, a really really great jewelry store here in Seattle that is very customer service focused. We have some great prospects there.

Honest concerns about this process: getting everything done in between, My clients, my family, my tan, they all deserve the attention they are used to getting. I’m only one person, one person who generally speaking is already stretched too thin. Hoping this doesn’t put me over the edge. Not sure what we are going to do about our bridesmaid dresses, and my girls call me every day to remind me that it’s important that they have clothes on at the wedding. Oy. My general disdain for Friday weddings, which I’m pretty outspoken about… and here I am, having a Friday wedding.

Concessions we’ve had to make: Bridal shower? Not sure when that will happen or if it will happen, bachelor/bachelorette, same deal. Some family won’t be able to make the event, which is good for the guest list, but bad for the heart.

So there it is! Thank you for tolerating my stream-of-consciousness ramblings. We don’t know much so far, but I know it will come together just fine.

Hope you’ll follow along with us during this process, and if you’re curious about more join us on Mondays at 12:00PST every week on CreativeLIVE for a live conversation about the wedding and where we are with everything!

xo,
Laura

It was definitely not your typical Monday this week at Laura Marchbanks Photography. Two very unusual things happened. One, we had a wedding! YAY! Two, we had a wedding of a wedding photographer! Wow! Tiffany and Matt decided 30 days ago to get themselves hitched. In those 30 short days they managed to plan a very thought-out and meaningful ceremony for the two of them, their families, and their little one to come. The ceremony was held at the bride’s grandparent’s house, a place held close to the heart of Tiffany. She has so many childhood memories from this place. Walking through the hallways and standing in the rooms, I was brought right back to the sights and smells of my own grandparents home. The creaky floor boards, the warm light. The symbol of a family at it’s roots.

Tiffany and Matt are a very talented duo of photographers based out of Napa, we both went to Brooks, so when she called to inquire about her wedding we immediately hit it off. Borrowed from her own words, “it felt like talking to an old friend…” so true. I’m not going to lie though, the thought of shooting for another photographer is crazy intimidating. Tiffany’s natural glow and easy demeanor immediately put fear out of my mind, and it actually made posing and shooting a cinch.

The uber talented Jenny Bowker hard at work.

yummy light….

Stunning…. simply stunning…. gasp.

Tiffany and Matt had a webcam set up so their friends and family that couldn’t make it could watch the whole thing on livestream… SMART!

mmmm cake. i heart Trophy Cupcakes.

These vintage cameras were borrowed from Tiffany’s grandfathers personal equipment collection. Much loved, and the perfect accessory.

Their intimate dinner reception was held at Purple Cafe, in the new downtown Bellevue location. One of my favorite restaurants, and perfect for their wine loving taste. If only Tiffany could drink…. ;-)

I’d like to consider myself a Gnocchi connoisseur of sorts. This was pretty tasty if I do say so myself.

Congrats Tiffany and Matt on so many levels! I can’t wait to see adventures in your future!

The possibility of ending up at this exact spot in this exact moment didn’t quite dawn on Jay and Nicole when they first met. Jay the small town boy and Nicole the city girl, met their freshman year of college at WSU while living in the dorms. As Nicole puts it, she was way too busy being a freshman in college to notice silly boys. But Jay noticed Nicole. Her infectious laughter, her stunning beauty, and her outgoing personality. It’s no surprise, that when an opportunity came up for Jay to move in with Nicole and 6 other girls their sophomore year, he jumped at the chance. Although, now that I think about it, I’m not sure there would be a guy out there that wouldn’t jump at that chance.

One thing lead to another, and Nicole found herself falling for his chivalry, dashing good looks and charm.

Saturday, as they stood there in THAT spot, they started into each others eyes reflecting on exactly how they had come to this point. Together, in Dayton, surrounded by their friends and family, standing at an altar together, holding hands. An entire lifetime of craziness ahead of them. You could see it. Happiness. Contentment. Adventure. Future.

Jay and Nicole,

You are my kind of couple. Totally in love, down to Earth, and CRAZY! I knew from the moment Nicole sent me that 3 page email inquiry we were meant for each other!  I had a blast shooting your wedding, and wish I could have stayed to party the night away right along with you. Congrats, and hope to see you again soon.

xoxo,

Laura

EPIC. Seriously, I could live in Dayton except I would need a Target within 15 minutes. It’s that beautiful.

Part 2 coming soon!

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I had 3 main goals for WPPI this year, and I really pushed to achieve them. Between naps.

1. GIVE something.

2. BUY something.

3. LEARN something.

Parts one and two were accomplished in the first two days, PHotoshoot, check!, new boxes (for a top secret project) at the trade show, check! Parts 3 and 4 were the ones I needed to focus on. Because I shifted my priorities this year from trying to do EVERYTHING to trying to do 4 things, I actually had a really wonderful week. I had lots of coffee dates with new friends, looooooooong dinners, shot a maternity session for two very good friends, and even had a mentor session with a photographer I love.

I met with Emilie Sommer of Emilie Inc. on Wednesday. She is a Maine based photographer, who’s work I’ve been following for years. I tried to win this mentor session on Ebay through the Thirst Relief auction. I stink at Ebay. I really do. I must not click enough, my strategy is always off. This time, I lost by 2 dollars in the last minute. I was devastated so I tweeted about it, not expecting a response at all. She tweeted back and asked me if I wanted to meet up for coffee anyway! Simply THE BEST. We talked about business, goals, life, and success. One thing I learned? I have a ton of work to do. We talked mostly about my web presence.

Emilie took a look at my website and confirmed what I secretly knew to be true but wasn’t ready to deal with. IT was HORRIBLE. Hard to navigate, limiting and not at all a representation of my brand. We talked strategy and exactly what direction to go! I can’t thank her enough for meeting with me. I know WPPI is a very busy time for most and I just think the world of her. I walked away from our meeting like I was floating on a cloud. I have a great new friend and I learned so much!

So here is the BIG news! BIGGEST news of the year! It’s a brand spanking NEW website!!!! I’m so excited about the launch, and because it is new there are still a few bugs to be worked out, but please take a look and let me know what you think. I used a revolutionary software called SHOWIT to make this site. It’s more than words. It’s my new best friend. I’m so in love with it.

Thank you for taking a look, I can’t wait to hear what you think!

www.lauramarchbanksweddings.com

Last week the office was unavoidably closed due to the annual WPPI conference in Las Vegas. This was my second time to WPPI and quite honestly I am still absorbing most of the information I took home with me last year. I kinda over did it last year. Between the 8am classes, the gigantic tradeshow, and the out-all-night-til-dawn industry parties, I came home desperately needing a vacation from my vacation. This year my priorities were quite shifted.

Sunday morning I arrived and took a cab straight to the Las Vegas Country Club for the photoshoot I produced for Portrait House Fundraising. I talked a little on the blog about what an amazing thing my friends Justin and Mary Marantz are doing with their goals for Portrait House shortly after I met with them while they were in Seattle. Portrait House is a charitable outlet for photographers to give back. They have an ongoing project list, and first up is Habitat for Humanity.

It’s just so hard to put into words how amazing it felt to address all of the participants at the shoot and realize that all of this hard work for the past 3 months was finally coming to a head. The monumental feeling that everyone there felt the same way I did about the cause. Mary spoke about their reasoning, about the larger purpose, and yes I’ve heard it before…. but this time I heard it. I heard it loud and clear coming from the crowd of eager faces staring up at me. They all got it, they understood what I understood. What we were doing here today was much more about getting the shot. We all felt pretty great about that too, trust me. I went back to my hotel room that night and had a big cry-fest by myself. This was the single-most-hugest-most-best-feeling thing I have ever done. EVER. SO much work, but so much payoff.

I also want to give a HUGE giant shout out to all of our amazing sponsors and talent. Without them, this would not have been possible:

Las Vegas Country Club, Thomas Meyer Designs, Couture Bride,  Tux One, Megan Mulligan Makeup, Bella Vita Design, Sami and Joey, Amanda and Mike, Megan and Mike, Jenn and Tim, Chantal and Jared.

I didn’t get a ton of shooting done because I was running around like a crazy person (more than usual). But I thought I would share with you some of my favorite images from that day.