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.

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.

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!

Because I knew it was coming. And I was sitting on pins and needles. And getting nervous.

Why? Well, because of YOUR help we made it to the top ten of the Elizabeth Anne Designs and The Sweetest Occasion Inspired Creations Contest. And the winners were announced this morning.

And with MANY THANKS to YOU, we got 2nd Place!

Check it out on Elizabeth Anne Designs and The Sweetest Occasion!

Thank you so much for your votes and your support from our entire team, After Yes Weddings, The Left Handed Calligrapher, and Emily Hudspeth Hair Design & Makeup Artist!

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.

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!

Believe it or not, I still spend time reading wedding blogs. Why? Market research, of course. I love seeing what trends are in style, going out of style, and simply timeless. And no, I’m not longing to plan another wedding. Trust me, I’ll leave that to the wedding planners. But with a handful of friends springing up engaged, I thought I’d share my favorite wedding blogs.

• Southern Weddings Magazine – Real Southern wedding inspiration.
• Elizabeth Anne Designs – So much inspiration, and wedding bloggers.
• Green Wedding Shoes – Real weddings, photoshoots, trends.
• 100 Layer Cake – More real weddings and color palette inspiration.
• Inspired By This – Leila is a PR guru, and shares all kinds of inspiration.
• Wedding Chicks – Sweet deals, eye candy, and lovely real weddings.
• Blue Orchid Blog – Liene shares all kinds of useful advice for planning your wedding.
• A Practical Wedding – No-nonsense wedding advice.
• The Bride’s Cafe – Real weddings and great DIY projects.
• JL Designs – Carissa is a floral designer and shares her amazing work.

So where do I spend my time in blog land when it’s not related to weddings? It’s a mix between business and fun.

Business:

• Sage Wedding Pros – Michelle and Kelly are business dynamos teaching wedding pros how to rock their business.
• Think Splendid – Liene is a social media maven and offers great advice for how to leverage it.
• Lara Casey – She is Making Things Happen. all. the. time.
• Brand Camp Blog – Advice on beefing up your brand.

Fun:

• La Tartine Gourmande – Full of yummy food. And she translates everything to French.
• Elizabeth Anne Designs: Living – Everything outside of the wedding.
• Simply Recipes – Recipes. Recipes. Recipes.
• Dooce – Funny. Sarcastic. Awesome.
• Young House Love – Read this if you just bought a house.
• DesignSponge – DIY projects and great interior decor inspiration
• Smitten Kitchen – More food.

So, there are more, but this is what is currently living in my Google Reader. I try not to subscribe to everything, otherwise I’d inevitably be glued to my laptop. All. the. time. And Cent enjoys interacting with me every now and then.

What are your favorite blog picks?

And because a picture will spice this post up, here’s my sister’s bouquet from the wedding.

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Welcome to January. And welcome to my 365 project which you can find at http://365.catieronquillo.com!

And for a little preview of today’s post, here’s the alternate shot I took:

Say goodbye to my last piece of Red Velvet cake for the time being, to be explained in a later post this week. Enjoy!

If you’re interested in starting your own 365 project or checking out all the folks who have started a project, visit Tasra’s site at http://www.tasramar.com.

Happy Tuesday!

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