Be sure to check it out on Something Turquoise and my full recap for this Southern Vintage Tea Party Shoot.

Happy Tuesday!

Thanks again to an amazing team of vendors:

Couture Events by Lottie
Southern Fried Paper
Red Sole Events
Rent My Dust
Colleen’s Cakes
Hair and Makeup by Angie Williams

When I’m not photographing my own clients weddings, I love to pick up a few second shooting jobs. In fact, I hadn’t even realized it, but as I looked back on projects from 2011, I found out that I took on 20 weddings through second shooting. I highly recommend newer photographers who are thinking about getting into weddings to start with second shooting if you can. I think it’s one of the best ways to learn the ebb and flow of the wedding day and get comfortable with weddings.

How to find second shooting gigs

But how do you find the second shooting jobs? Sometimes easier said than done, right? I’ve received emails about this subject, and figured it needed a blog post.

Well, if you are like me and moved cities without knowing anyone besides her husband, the prospect of picking up a second shooting position can seem totally daunting. First, I recommend seeking out other photographers in your area. This is what I did. I connected with them on Facebook, or invited them to coffee or lunch, or left comments on their blogs. Social media makes it really easy to connect, but the key is to connect in person. Offer to carry bags or assist with lighting. Be willing to do what it takes to snag a job. You may be working for free, but you’re picking up experience. From there, especially if you click with the main photographer, opportunities will pop up. Let me say that it is WAY easier to pick up a second shooting job if you know the main photographer in advance and if they know you do great work.

5 Tips to being an AWESOME Second Shooter

So what makes you an awesome second shooter?

1. Check your ego at the door. For real. Being a second shooter is not about you building your portfolio. Well, it is, but your main priority is working for the main photographer. On days when you are the second shooter, you listen, follow instructions, and fetch things. Be ready and willing. Be helpful. Remember that this is also a learning experience for you. And remember, NEVER hand out your own business cards. Ask the main photographer for a few of their cards in the event that a guest asks you for one.

2. If the main photographer says “jump”, ask “how high?” Okay, this probably won’t be the case, but if the main photographer asks you to set up lighting, do it. If you are asked to grab something from their car, do the errand with a smile on your face. This is the main photographer’s client, and you are working for the main photographer. If you want to be an awesome second shooter, you need to be ready and willing to do whatever they ask. And do it happily.

3. Be psychic. Sort of. As you second shoot more, you’ll be able to do this more and more. Learn to anticipate what the main photographer may need. Sometimes it may just be a bottle of water or moving bags, adjusting the position of a light, or running to the reception space to get photos before guests arrive, but anything you can do to help, is greatly appreciated.

4. Take care of the main photographer. This goes hand in hand with the previous tip. Be sure to do whatever you need to to take care of the main photographer. Whether that’s having their back during the first kiss and shooting what you can, or getting out of the way (sacrificing a potentially awesome shot) so that the main photographer can shoot. If this is capturing the guys getting ready and some group portraits, do it.

5. Capture what you are asked to. As a second shooter, you are there to capture alternate angles and help out the main photographer (especially if there’s no additional assistant, which is usually the case). Don’t get upset if you don’t get an epic shot of the bride and groom. Photos for your portfolio are merely a fringe benefit. In addition to capturing what you are asked to, remember to shoot what you think would benefit the client’s gallery. Sometimes that might be a photo of grandparents or the bride’s college friends.

6. Bonus! DO YOUR BEST.  This may seem obvious, but it’s true. Whatever you’re doing, do your best. Put out your best effort and show your value to the main photographer. You never know how your efforts will pay off. Perhaps it’ll be that you get another second shooting job with that photographer, or if that photographer is booked, they could pass you some referrals. Never look at an opportunity thinking it’s worthless. You never know!

Happy Wednesday!

Photos from weddings with Phose Studios, Karyn Kelbaugh Photography, and Lynn in Love Photo, respectively.

Ooooh. What does that mean?!

No, it doesn’t mean that I won’t be offering my clients the digital negatives, it simply means that I won’t be offering the digital negatives on a disc.

But why? Everyone else offers a disc!

• Well, first of all, discs (CDs or DVDs) are so 1999. No, those aren’t fightin’ words. What I mean is, when was the last time you inserted a disc into your desktop or laptop computer? You were probably just transferring files, right? Possibly photos to your computer? Then, what did you do with that disc? Put it away, or maybe even misplace it? I know I totally do that.
• Discs can go bad. Yes, like they can stop working and go corrupt. Discs don’t last forever. I highly recommend backing up photos from any disc to your computer. And then again online.
• Longer delivery. I don’t just slap a disc in a plastic jewel case and call it a day. For my past clients, I have ordered personalized cases, which take time to design and order. Discs take time to burn.

Instead, I’m ushering my tech savvy clients into the next decade with a fast, accessible, and secure solution: cloud storage. What does this mean?

• Faster delivery. That’s right, I can deliver digital negatives to clients two weeks faster than delivering digital files on a disc. Faster delivery means you’ll have your photos even sooner, and the faster you can share your photos.
• Security. I’ll be able to offer you a secure, multi-site backup, all online. This means that you can rest assured that you’ll always have access to your photos. Should some type of catastrophic event occur, you can be at ease knowing your precious photos are online and safe.
• Accessibility. With the awesome company that I’m working with, you’ll not only have the ability to access your photos at any time, download them at any time, and share them at anytime, you’ll also be able to access them from anywhere – your laptop, iPhone, iPad, or Android devices. This means you can share on the go – when you’re visiting family across the country or friends across the world.

And see the little blue Facebook symbol? That means you can share your photos straight to Facebook without even needing to log in. And the green button? That’ll allow you to download the photo.

Are you excited yet? All 2012 clients will receive access their photos in this new, easy, accessible, secure way.

Thoughts? Comments? Does this totally get you pumped?

But what if we totally want to have a disc too?! Don’t worry, it’s still an option.

Questions? Email me hello [at] catieronquillo [dot] com.

Are you a photographer and want to get in on it too? Email me hello [at] catieronquillo [dot] com and I can share more info! Or sign up here.

what next?

1. Share this with brides you know!
2. Subscribe to the 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.

I met Chelsea of Southern Fried Paper at a wedding networking event a several months ago. In fact, we kind of met at the end of the evening, the music was loud, I was exhausted, and we had to yell into each others ears to hear each other. Great first impression, right? Well, shortly thereafter, I met up with her and browsed her invitation portfolio. And the idea came. I pitched it to Chelsea and about three seconds later we found ourselves in planning mode. And the travel shoot was born.

We also recruited the fabulous talents of Kate of Kate Foley Designs, Heidi of Sugar Bee Sweets, Kay Castro an amazing makeup artist, and Vivien & Jon Jordan, our adorable, real-life married couple/models.

On the day of the shoot, thunderstorms were looming (in fact, we could see them across the lake, coming towards us), tornado watches in effect, and oh yeah, it HAILED. Marble-sized chunks of hail. And it rained on our shoot. TWICE.

The inspiration shoot was featured on Style Me Pretty Texas earlier this week, and I’m so pleased with how everything came together.

Be sure to check out the feature on Style Me Pretty Texas!

Sources & Vendors:
Dress: Urban Outfitters
Concept: Catie Ronquillo & Southern Fried Paper
Stationery: Southern Fried Paper
Flowers: Kate Foley Designs
Cakes: Sugar Bee Sweets
Makeup Artist: Kay Castro
Plate Chargers: World Market
Table Cloth: Target
Location: White Rock Lake

Happy Friday!

Here are a few tips to keep your focus of your wedding on marriage:

1. Let your groom help. While he might not be interested in picking out linens (he might!), he may want to have some input on the music or the cake. Cent did! Your wedding should be a reflection of the both of you, so make sure to keep him in the loop.

2. Ask your groom for his opinion. It’s easy to get caught up in what everyone else thinks and wants, your mom, his mom, your sister(s), your friends, and everyone else with an opinion. But at the end of the day it’s a union between the two of you, so make sure to ask your groom what he thinks!

3. Go on a regular date night. I used to think that date night was just for people with kids so that they could get away for an evening. Not so! Date night is important for every couple. Go to dinner, chat over dessert, and focus on each other. After a long week, it’s so nice to sit across from your fiance/husband/spouse and just spend time together.

4. Make your big decisions together. Marriage 101. After you’re married you’ll have a lifetime of decisions (big and small) to make together. I think this was one of the big ones I hadn’t really thought about prior to getting engaged. I was so accustomed to making decisions based on what was best for me. Now, we make decisions on what is best for “us”. Start early and make the big decisions together.

Remember that at the end of the day, the wedding will be over and you’ll be married to your best friend, your confidant, the one you love.

What tips do you have?

Happy Thursday!

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.

Photo by Travis Hoehne

As a non-native Texan, this heat is just killer. Although, I may be starting to get used to it. Kind of.

With it being so hot (and getting hotter!) this time of year in the Dallas area, like I’m talking 100+ degree weather, I thought it would be helpful to suggest the best times to schedule your portrait session – engagements, bridals, day after, and Beloved sessions. Because, if you’re like me, you don’t want to look a hot mess. A hot, sweaty mess. Unless you’re one of those lucky people who doesn’t sweat. And if you are, what is your secret?!

A few things to consider if you are in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex:

1. If you’re wanting to shoot an outdoor session, I recommend the fall (late September to early December) or the spring (March through early June). And even early June in Dallas is cutting close into the hot zone. We can certainly shoot in the winter, even if there’s snow, you may just have to bundle up a little more than usual.
2. If for whatever reason, timing only permits a session in the hot, summer months, then I recommend scheduling your engagement, bridal, day after, or Beloved session in the morning. Early morning, as in when the sun is rising. Even if you are not a morning person, (and let me tell you I am not one either!) shooting in the early morning provides much more comfortable temperatures, usually in the 80′s. And the light is also just as pretty as sunset.
3. And of course, there’s shooting indoors. While I personally prefer the outdoors, and natural light photography, we can always shoot indoors, should it be needed. Especially here in Dallas, where the weather can go from sunny, to cloudy, to storming in a matter of minutes.
4. So what time of day should you schedule your session? You may think that since it’s nice and bright in the middle of the day that it would be an ideal time for a session. No! Actually, it’s probably the worst time because it is SO bright that it cause squinting, it’s super hot (in the summer), and can cast unflattering shadows on your face.
5. I recommend clients schedule their engagement sessions about an hour and a half before sunset, during the “golden hour” when the light is nice and pretty. So in the fall and the spring that right around 5-6pm depending on when Daylight Savings Time starts/ends. Sessions usually last about two hours.

Why do I love shooting at the “golden hour”? Because you get golden light, like this:

And the golden light on the right? LOVE! These were shot in mid-May and the weather was amazing!

Happy Thursday!

For other Thursday Tips check out these previous posts:

Wedding Day Timeline
Feed Your Vendors
5 Benefits of Hiring a Wedding Coordinator
Why a Second Shooter is Important
Let Your Personalities Shine
Remember to Take a Break
Contacting and Meeting Your Wedding Photographer
How to Find Your Wedding Photographer
5 Reasons to Have an Engagement Session

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.

Oh and there were cows! I know, I’m totally showing you that I’m so not from Texas. But as we scheduled the day after session, Nikki warned me that her parents had recently purchased some cattle and to beware of cow patties. As a California native, and total city girl, I had never received an email quite like that. No worries, the cows were on the other side of the house.

Nikki and Blake got back into their wedding day attire and we roamed around for some casual photos.

Not gonna lie, I was totally excited to see a BARN! And there was the most lovely golden light! That light is why I recommend shooting at the hours around sunset.

Nikki also wanted to take a photo or two in her parents’ claw foot tub. I may have squealed in excitement. Nikki and Blake are SO my kind of couple! And I don’t squeal often.

Nikki and Blake, thank you for being awesome. I probably can’t say it enough, but seriously, you two are just the best! Congratulations again and I wish you a long and lovely marriage!

Happy Monday!

And Cent will happily attest that I can get hangry if I haven’t eaten. It’s too ugly for him to try and reason with me until food has been consumed.

A few reasons to feed your wedding photographer and other vendors:

1. If you don’t feed your photographer, we’ll most likely have to leave your wedding to get something to eat, which could delay the events of the afternoon/evening.

2. We’ll love you even more for it. Seriously, we definitely appreciate a warm meal after being up and around for several house.

3. Happy photographers = better photos! I don’t know that there’s a scientific correlations, but I’m pretty sure it’s true.

And if you’re at all concerned about your photographers missing a moment of your reception, don’t worry! I think I’ve mastered the art of gobbling a plate of food in about ten minutes. We try to eat when you’re eating, because honestly, no one wants a photo of themselves while eating.

It may not seem like a big deal, but trust me, if you feed your vendors, you’ll have happy vendors. And if for, whatever reason, you don’t plan to or cannot feed your vendors, PLEASE let us know in advance so that we can plan to get something to eat.

And because posts are just better with photos….here’s something that’s coming up soon!

Happy Thursday!

Thank you Lynn for documenting us! We love the photos. Here are a few of my favorites! AND, I ordered some prints so we can have something to decorate our walls. Yay!

Happy Friday!

PS. As a photographer I think it’s super important to let yourself be in front of the camera and get a taste of what our clients feel.

So I thought I’d share photos from our wedding to show what I mean. I guess you could say I’m putting my money where my mouth is. Is that how it goes? I’m TERRIBLE with American idioms. But that’s a subject for a whole other post!

Cent and I met at Disneyworld, so after we were engaged, on a trip to Disneyland, I picked up these bride and groom Mickey hats.

And had our names embroidered. A pair of Mickey ears is incomplete without your name on the back!

I DIY-ed our programs and used the monogram of sorts from our invitations on the front of our program.

In addition to honoring my heritage and doing the Filipino traditions of Cord, Veil, and Coins, we also jumped the broom.

I have a feeling that Jumping the Broom will become even more popular with the movie coming out this weekend. Back when we were planning the online resources were few and far between!

Our bridal party was awesome. Enough said.

So the groom’s cake was a surprise for Cent. We had talked about it, but never really set it in stone. I had casually asked him what his favorite video game and system was…and this was brought to life:

Yes, we had a blue cake. I encourage brides to think outside of the white cake box and be bold! When Nikki told me her cake was going to be orange I was so excited. I told her mine had been blue! I totally get brides who love thinking outside the box.

Each of our tables were marked with Disney Movies instead of numbers. The head table was Lilo & Stitch. Other tables included The Lion King, Dumbo, Aladdin, and The Little Mermaid.

And below you’ll see at every place setting a Martha Stewart paper pom pom. I must have made at least 200, and at the time I didn’t know how I wanted to use them. I just gave bags full to our coordinator. I love that they became napkin rings. Later, the girls put them in their hair! See my tutorial here.

I’m a huge believer that your wedding should be about YOU, the bride and groom. I think that your personalities and relationship should be reflected through and through. With hints of who you were, who you are, and who you will become as a couple. There are so many way that this can be done – from the invitations to the ceremony to the favors and all the elements of the reception. And this doesn’t mean that your wedding has to be grandiose, I’ve totally seen weddings where most of the items were DIY projects that turned out beautifully. Having DIY’ed some of the items for our wedding, I will say that DIY-ing is not for the faint of heart – it’s A LOT of work! But when done right, definitely worth the effort.

So let your personalities shine!

Happy Thursday!

[All photos by Travis Hoehne]

A new series I’m participating in: Thursday Tips! Check out these posts for photography advice and be sure to visit Lauren at Every Last Detail, Jenna & Elizabeth at Little Bit Heart, Becky at Bowties and Bliss, Lauren at Love Milk and Honey, Mel at The Oceanside Bride, Colleen at Soundtrack To I Do, Shay Cochrane Photography, and Stremel Photography for more great wedding planning tips + more.

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.