Cent woke me with a little birthday song before he left for work.

My parents and sister called me this morning to do the traditional birthday greeting, thanks family!

I spent the day working out as a preemptive strike to all the cupcake consumption that is about to happen. Seriously. I’m currently in possession of five different kinds of Red Velvet goodies. I know, I need to stop, but I can’t help it. And now that so many people associate Red Velvet with me, I can’t stop now! So I figured that I would do a little review of my Red Velvet cupcakes in upcoming posts.

I had the chance to catch up with one of my very best friends and bridesmaid, and we remarked that although we don’t talk very often, when we do get a chance to chat it was like no time had past at all.

So thank you family and friends for your birthday wishes. I feel so lucky and so loved. You make my heart smile.

And because posts are better with photos, here is the Red Velvet cupcake from Sprinkles. There’s one here in Dallas!

(Photo from Muy Yum on Flickr…because I ate mine too quickly for a good photo.)

Happy Tuesday!

At The Simple Plan, Michelle Loretta asked me to share my experience with blogging and any advice I could offer.

So I’m hoping this is helpful. If this is helpful to at least one person, I’d be over the moon.

1. If you are going to start a blog, I recommend hosting your own blog and building a blog using WordPress.org. Note the “org” versus “com”. The “org” version is hosted on your own server and URL. Like “yourname-yourcompany.com” etc. versus “yourname.wordpress.com” which is owned by WordPress. Also, WordPress will give you the most bang for your buck, in my opinion, since it’s free, has a ton of free plug-ins, and you have control.
2. Set a schedule for yourself from the beginning and commit. If you decide you will blog 3 times a week, commit to blogging 3 times a week. If you decide to blog once a week, do it, and do it well. Because if you start blogging four times a week, then drop to two, then drop to once a week, then to twice a month…your readers will notice the inconsistency. Be consistent, whatever you decide your interval to be. Work it into your schedule.
3. Be authentic. Write in your regular voice, as if you are having a conversation. Because that’s the essence of a blog. A conversation. You don’t have to write as you think you “should” be writing or sound. If you will be interacting with clients, your blog should reflect you, so that when you meet in person, the transition is seamless.
4. Build content before publishing. If you are worried about not having enough content to blog, or that you don’t have enough time to blog, build a bank of content. One of the nice things about WordPress (and Blogger can do this too) is the ability to schedule posts to publish at a later date. You could potentially write all your posts for the week or the month over a few days and then schedule out your content. This is also helpful if you are launching a new blog. Write for a few weeks before you launch, and you’ll have some great content to share over time!
5. Be personal. I’m a big advocate about being personal on your blog. It allows readers to connect with you. For me, I blog fairly often about my obsession with red velvet cake and cupcakes in general. After posting about it, I had an engagement session where my clients brought me cupcakes. So fun! And now, it’s pretty funny how friends, readers, and other vendors associate me with red velvet cake. I like it and it’s a true reflection of me. Obviously, there are privacy boundaries, but be as personal as you feel comfortable.

And just for fun, said cupcakes from awesome clients:

Happy Friday!

what next?

1. Share this post on Facebook and Twitter!
2. Like me on Facebook here or follow me on Twitter here
3. Subscribe to the new monthly e-newsletter Slice of Photo Cake containing exclusive tips and resources for photographers, from hobbyists to full-timers.  Click here to sign up or leave a comment below.

I now have a vague idea what it’s like to live where it snows regularly. Note: I said vague.

Last week was the first time I drove in the snow and I was pretty nervous about it. Especially when Cent told me (on a precautionary note) not to slam on the breaks or else that would cause me to fishtail. What?! Thanks. So there I was, hands gripping the steering wheel, driving between 20-30 miles an hour to the post office. Then, since I was in the area, I decided to hit up Barnes & Noble. As I was looking at books, I was also checking on Twitter. Oh life has changed since Twitter hit the scene. It was there that I heard from photographer friends about organizing a last minute shoot since it was snowing. And well, it doesn’t snow everyday in Dallas!

So big thanks to my friend Celina Gomez for getting this together super last minute, and Magaly Abbott and Valerie Valdez for joining in on the fun!

Meet Steph and Jules and their adorable wolf-sized dog, Johan.

Steph and Jules were total troopers and up for anything!

Steph and Jules, you guys killed it!

Seriously, I’m surprised Steph didn’t melt the snow!

I should have shot a video of these piggy back attempts. Hilarious!

They were all good lying in the snow, my kind of couple. Up for whatever.

Then again, they were keeping each other warm.

Steph and Jules, you two were adorable. Thanks so much for coming out at the last minute to get some snow action!

Since the ceremony was in a different location from the reception, they provided these great maps for their guests.

I loved their cake.

This was my first wedding where they had pie. So fun!

This is a clear labor of love: each stone was labeled with each guest’s name.

And I loved this: a popcorn buffet! A fun spin on the candy buffets that have been a big trend for the last year or so.

Details help set the tone, the personality, and the feeling of the wedding day. Think about all the fun things you can bring together!

Happy Thursday!

Are you looking for online inspiration for your wedding beyond The Knot?

Well good news! A brand spanking new online wedding magazine launched today! Introducing Nonpareil Magazine:

It has tons of DIY goodness, affordable, yet stylish centerpieces, and tutorials!

Another online wedding magazine that I’m a big fan of is Utterly Engaged. Having launched last year, they are now in their seventh issue:

And of course, it wouldn’t be a blog post of mine if I didn’t offer a few more blogs to peruse for inspiration and entertainment galore!

• Once Wed
• Ruffled Blog
• Snippet & Ink
• Ritzy Bee Blog
• The Broke Ass Bride
• The Knot

Happy Tuesday!

what next?

1. Share this with brides you know!
2. Subscribe to our new monthly e-zine: tips from the best in the industry on creating a stress-free wedding that honors your relationship and, most importantly, building a lasting wonderful marriage.  Leave a comment below or click here to sign up.
3. See more inside scoop with other posts on wedding advice for brides & grooms here.

But I have to say that since moving to Dallas, I’ve been embraced by the wedding photographer community as well as some awesome wedding vendors. Of the folks I’ve been blessed to meet, they’ve taken me in, without saying, “Who the heck is this girl from California?” or “Oh great, more competition!” I’m happy to say, we’ve evolved acquaintances into friendships.

And trust me, it’s not super easy. For one, I’m a shy person, by nature. I know, I know, for someone who puts her life online, how can I be a shy person? Well, I wasn’t always this outgoing, putting my life out there. I was the quiet kid who stood on the sidelines, listening. But when I started my journey into wedding photography back in California, I knew that I had to find people who shared a passion for the craft, were fun to hang out with, and that maybe I could help with carrying bags. So I would go to photographer get togethers. Alone. I know, I didn’t even bring a wingman! But I was intent on pushing myself to get out there and meet people. Because I knew that eventually, I’d be moving to Texas, without anyone I knew.

It was great practice. And although it could be nerve-wracking, I learned that it wasn’t all that scary. Like the other person wasn’t going to eat me alive (and if they were, I could always run!) and for the most part, I knew that people coming to these get togethers shared the same interests and it was all about sharing our stories.

So I put the same principles into practice when I moved to Dallas. I also have to include that Facebook and Twitter were great resources for “meeting” Dallas/Fort Worth wedding photographers and wedding vendors before moving here. I met the awesome Kelly Simants of Sweet Pea Events through her business partner Michelle Loretta of mmm…paper and Sage Wedding Pros through Twitter. I “met” Cesar and Tanya Perez of Perez Photography through a combination of Twitter and Facebook. And when I met them in person at an industry event, it was kind of like we had already met, except not quite. And through interactions like that, I’ve been able to meet and connect with so many more wonderful people than had I done nothing at all.

If you know you’re moving to a new city or state, start connecting with people now. With social media, the barriers for meeting and connecting with others are really low. You just have to make the effort to do so.

And because sharing is caring, here are 5 tips for tracking readership of your blog:

1. Burn your RSS feed to Feedburner. If you are asking, “What’s Feedburner?” then please read on. Feedburner was bought by Google, so if you already have a Gmail account (or other Google-related account), you have a Feedburner account. Log in, type the URL of your blog in the box, and voila! It’s been burned. Take the URL that Feedburner gives you, and create a link on your menu or sidebar. Readers can click to subscribe to your blog! Easy.
2. Give your readers the option to subscribe by email. Some people don’t use Google Reader or know what it is. But they do know what email is (hopefully!) This service for email subscription is also available from Feedburner. Log into your account and select the feed you burned in Tip #1. Go to the “Publicize” tab and click “Email subscriptions.” You can pick up the code to paste into your blog post or website. You can choose your preferences for emails and to view who has subscribed. Pretty nifty!
3. Set up Google Analytics. Google is pretty awesome for offering these services for free. Go to Google Analytics. Log in with your account. Add the URL of your site or blog. It will give you a piece of code which you must insert. There are tutorials from Google on how to do this. Basically, you want Google to be able to “see” it on your website. You’ll want to insert it after the <head> tag and before the </body> tag. From there, you’ll be able to track hits, keywords, referral sources, etc. You’ll be able to know if traffic is coming from Facebook, Twitter, organically, Stumble Upon, etc.
4. Set up Google’s Webmasters Tools. Again, if you’ve never heard of that, keep reading. Since this is also a Google product, you have an account. Go to Google Webmasters Tools, and log in. From there, you can add your website. You will get a line of code which you need to insert on your website. Fear not! There are various tutorials from Google on how to do this. After a couple of months, you will start to see results, as to who is linking to you, the keywords where your site appears on a Google search, and other relevant information.
5. Do you use Twitter? Are you annoyed by super long URLs that don’t fit in 140 characters? Well, start using a URL shortener. There are several out there, but I like bit.ly and su.pr. Both are free services. Basically, you create an account and you can track how many times your short URLs have been clicked. Bit.ly is a basic URL shortener that keeps track of how many times your link was clicked. 0 times, 23 times, or 173 times. Su.pr is owned by Stumble Upon so for every link you submit, you are also submitting to the Stumble Upon network, which can be viewed by a greater audience. It also has some analytics to times of day that your link is clicked.

There you go. Five tips for tracking your readership, and make it a little easier.

And because photos make posts more exciting, can I just say I’m totally craving beignets from Cafe du Monde?!

Happy Friday!

what next?

1. Share this post on Facebook and Twitter!
2. Like me on Facebook here or follow me on Twitter here
3. Subscribe to the new monthly e-newsletter Slice of Photo Cake containing exclusive tips and resources for photographers, from hobbyists to full-timers.  Click here to sign up or leave a comment below.

Cotton-Eyed Joe.

Warm apple pie.

This was my first official Texas wedding, where I truly got the “Texan” vibe, including cowboy boots and country music. It was the first time I heard Cotton-Eyed Joe played at a wedding and the first time I got to witness the line dancing to go along with it. It was so fun! And so different from any wedding I’ve ever been to.

The ceremony was at the Frisco Heritage Center with the cutest chapel! There was also a train depot with fantastic spots for wedding photography. The reception followed at The Ranch House at Austin Ranch, and since the weather was being quite cooperative, it was a beautiful venue, with a gorgeous sunset. The Event Studio did a fabulous job of coordinating the details, including a popcorn station and a pie station. Not to mention that the cake was gorgeous, and delicious! I had the pleasure of shooting alongside Allison Davis, who invited me to join her for Kathy and Cary’s wedding.

Does this not speak Texas, or what? I know, I’m such a California girl and I’m wowed by everything.

A moment of prayer before the big moment.

Right before the ceremony started, to keep the mood light before the serious moments started, Cary and his nephews asked for this shot, so I obliged. So funny.

Florals were arranged by the Urban Blossom.

They had fresh, warm apple pie! How awesome is that? This Texan wedding rocked!

The Cake Guys did an awesome job of assembling this beautifully rustic cake.

The wedding cake had beautiful details.

So this isn’t something I see at every wedding! Again, my introduction to the Texan wedding was awesome. So maybe now, it may be something I see more often. My first exposure to line dancing! Only in the south.

Right behind Kathy and Cary is Allison Davis, lovely wedding photographer in action. Thanks for having me!

Happy Wednesday!

Ceremony: Frisco Heritage Center
Reception: The Ranch House at Austin Ranch, The Colony
Flowers: The Urban Blossom
Cake: The Cake Guys

And now, more than just any stories, I love listening to people’s love stories. How they met. Where they had their first date. How long they’ve been together and adventures they’ve shared. I love hearing couples talk about the quirks and idiosyncrasies of their better halves. How they fell in love and what keeps the love alive. All of it.

That’s why I love what I do. I not only get to listen to love stories, I get to document them too. For a lifetime of memories to share for years to come.

I get to witness happy couples who are excited about having found their love, excited about being in love, and looking forward to building a marriage to last a lifetime. Now who wouldn’t LOVE that?

Want to read ours? Read about Cent and I, and how it all began.

Want another? Read a real, true-life love story about my grandparents, written by my Auntie Kathleen who is a fantastic storyteller.

And just for good measure, here’s Taylor Swift’s song Love Story. I think Cent likes this song just as much as I do. Just sayin’.

Happy Friday!

What’s your love story? I’ve love to hear it and document it!

But I wanted to get this post out. And more is coming.

So because I love cake, and currently can’t have any, here’s a teaser shot from my first Texan wedding that Allison Davis invited me to shoot with her.

Look out for more next week.

And, if you happen to be in the wedding industry in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, join us tonight for the monthly Thursday Therapy, a casual, laid back, and FUN networking group, organized by the fabulous Kelly Simants of Sweet Pea Events.

One of the great things about shooting in a group environment with other photographers is learning from each other. I’m still learning a great deal about off-camera flash, so this was an ideal setting to learn new tips and tricks. While I prefer shooting in all natural light, daylight savings time sometimes puts a damper on things. So off-camera lighting it is!

I love the way these turned out. Thanks again Ashley and Tod, you made this photo shoot so easy!

Off-camera lighting allows for some dramatic engagement photos.

I’m loving the drama of this shot, with half of Tod’s face in the shadows.

This shot was partially lit up by the theatre we stood next too. It was sweet.

I have no idea what “The Decade Club” is, but there were a lot of people going in to go see it!

I like how off-camera flash can spice up a session. While I love natural lighting, it’s fun to mix it up and try new things!

Happy Thursday!

Interested in participating in a Shoot Out with other local DFW photographers? Shoot me an email! blog {at} catieronquillo {dot} com.