Blog

What colors are appropriate for a Spring Wedding?

This question was asked during a conversation my daughter and I had last night....She and her fiance' are getting hitched March of 2013. They really wanted a fall wedding but in order to plan the way they have to plan, this fall wasn't feasible...So they are planning for early Spring of next year.
The way Wedding planning is these days, it seems to me most couples do what they want...They plan by their standards and not necessarily by traditional values! My daughter really LOVES fall colors over spring colors! I said to her.... "Use whatever colors you want....It's your Wedding!!!" Traditional  etiquette is out the window...We've been doing Weddings a while now and every Wedding is so different! As much money and time that you spend on planning your Wedding, you should be 100% satisfied with every little aspect of the day!  It's your day....And it's your memories that you and your future spouse are creating....These memories are going to be documented in an album that you will have for the rest of your lives together....You want to love these memories 20 years from now as much as you do on that special day....Enjoy this time.....Make it yours....

I've seen black in June....Pinks in September....Lavender in September....One of our couples had the colors of the rainbow as their theme and it was beautiful...Does anyone really look at the colors that you're using at your Wedding? Most weddings I've attended are more focused on the bride and groom....And not so much on the little intricate parts of their wedding...but that's just me!

Please, we would LOVE to see comments on this subject...We need feedback desperately!!!!

What a beautiful and colorful Wedding this was!

Who's going to be your Valentine?
My husband and I have been married for twenty-seven years.... So you can take a wild guess who will be mine....

Where will you take your Valentine? Will it be a little romance brought home?...Maybe a simple rose and a card or even a dozen roses (or favorite flower) and a card? Will you tell your Valentine how important they are to your everyday living or will you show them?
There's tons to do with your Valentine in our beautiful Tennessee state! OMW...Shall I make a list? How about a weekend trip to one of our beautiful state parks for a picnic or a hike...How about going to an area winery for a glass of wine and some great conversation...How about going to Historic Downtown Franklin or Nashville to walk the city and hold hands! That's just a few very romantic suggestions from the top of my head that I love...I'm a huge romantic from the heart! I guess that's why I love the Wedding industry so much! I love watching the romance in a couples eyes when they're together holding hands....And I absolutely LOVE seeing all the engagement rings and the stories behind the proposals...Some are fascinating!!!

Happy Valentine's Day to all!!!

Congrats to my daughter and my future son-in-law...A proposal was my daughter's Valentine's surprise Saturday evening in Centennial Park where they had their first date! So romantic!!!

Yes...Another bridal show is coming up! Come pick and choose your favorite vendors for your upcoming Wedding....We have the best vendors attending in middle Tennessee! Our Pink Bridal Show is Sunday, February 19th from 12:00 - 4:00. We are excited once again to be a part of the Murfreesboro Pink Bridal Show! Looking forward to meeting new brides and grooms!

Bridal Shows are so important when planning your Wedding...And it's not just the fact that it helps to create your budget...The variety of options you have in your choices of vendors is fabulous! The competition is crazy for us as businesses...But it sure keeps us on our toes!

There's going to be lots to see and talk about for new bridal couples and their families. The bridal shows happen for you, the couples...This gives you a place to start preparing and to learn how to plan your Wedding properly. It's a great place to compare and collect prices, taste gourmet dishes, cakes and to look at beautiful photographs and wedding albums.

There will be beautiful venues too...Everything you can think of to plan your Wedding Day!
We have beautiful Storybook Wedding Albums to view and we love to talk Wedding planning with everybody....So come by our Forever Images booth and talk to us about your Wedding!

This is an iconic, ritual, traditional super bowl Sunday...whatever we shall call it at my house! The end of another football season Sunday maybe!!!
We love football...the men in my family moan and groan when the season starts to wrap up! It's so sad...They have nothing to watch now...what shall they do with their televisions!!! It's tradition that the men in the family (now the future son-in-law too) go the annual swap meet at the fairgrounds...I've never been, but I think it's one of the biggest in the state! Again, another man thang I'm thinking, "wouldn't dream of intruding"...But that's okay with me...they have to do those men things! LOL

Cooking BBQ and getting ready for the big game! I wonder sometimes how different other families are...if other families have their little family rituals and traditions, how different they are and what little family rituals are special! All of our family traditions are special in their own little way...I wouldn't change a thing!

Don't really have a preference on the game today...I'll enjoy watching the fam scream back and forth at the each other and the screen! I believe I've heard 3 for the Giants and my loner son is for the Patriots "he says because they're AFC", makes sense to me!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday folks!!!

This is how we run our photography business...right here (great article)! We should "Mind Our Manners" folks!!! It's really quite simple...Be honest, be yourself and be the best you can be for your clientele! Being honest is the best attribute any GREAT business should have...But honesty isn't held as one of the great business tools in entrepreneurship that I've noticed! It's all about telling the customer what they want to hear!

In every profession, there's competition...Why settle for a certain photographer when there are tons of us to talk to? We contracted a bride and groom a few nights ago because she had "a so called photographer" hired and her engagement pictures looked as if a five year old had done them...There was no sense of lighting or composition!!!
We have lots of these type of stories and they just frustrate me to no end! This couple lost several hundreds of dollars.... But the end result was that this beautiful, confident bride came to one of our fabulous bridal shows in January just to seek out a great photographer!!! And We can't wait to work with her and her gorgeous fiance'!

Just because someone has a nice camera, doesn't mean they know how to use it folks! It's more than just the camera...It's integrity, lighting, technique, style, product line...Equipment should be last on the list...Any reputable photographer will have great equipment!!!
Interview at least three "professional" photographers before you make your decision...It's worth every minute of effort it takes! I can't stress this enough...Don't ever settle!!!

What constitutes a great marriage and is marriage sacred anymore?

Marriage should be taken very seriously but today people take it very lightly...The sanctity of marriage shouldn't be torn down or so easily demolished with a simple meeting and the signing of divorce papers. We marry for better and for worse....The good and the bad! We hear of divorces after twenty or thirty years of marriage....How? Why? What possesses someone to enter that single world again? Men and Women are very complex human beings....It takes a lot of work, patience, compromise, compassion, drive and consistency in the things done day to day that makes a woman and a man compatible with each other on a lifetime basis!
I love to see a couple that's been together for sixty years or more....If at all possible when I meet an older couple that's been married basically their whole lives, I have to strike up a conversation! Talk about an education....That's one you can't buy!  If a young couple wants to know what makes a good marriage work, find someone who's been married for fifty years or more! And if they're willing, and most are, you will learn tons!

This is a beautiful couple of 65 years we met at one of our beautiful Weddings! Just absolutely amazing!!!!

We love the sanctity of marriage and appreciate the meaning of a great marriage!

What do you do with the pictures you take? Do they sit in your camera? Do you have prints made? Do you down load them onto your hard drive?

I had some down time in the studio here for the past week or so and I thought....I should get on some personal imagery work that I have been greatly slacking on! So, I went to investigate how far behind I've become on personal imagery work and it's about four years worth! It's been a blast creating pages for past Christmases, Thanksgivings, Graduations, College Softball Games, Mother-Son Senior dance, Fish Fries, Birthdays....that's just some work I've done in the past two days!

We love scrapbooking around here....We've done it forever and I will always scrapbook! Why do we take pictures? To store!!!! Your images are your memories, folks... I was looking back on some pages with my husband and I asked him this question....Would you ever think about Elvis if he wasn't here in this memory album? His answer was an immediate NO! Elvis was a beautiful black and white dog that would visit our sweet Reddog that's no longer with us....There are just some memories we do not remember without documents....So share your pictures with family and friends...There's a story behind every image we take!!!

We use to scrapbook the normal way with cutouts, paste, stickers, etc...My daughter still loves doing the hands on scrapbooking....Not me....I have a wonderful program I use that has papers, frames and tons of great attributes that I plan to share with potential scrapbookers someday in the future!

Here are some pages built from images that's waited on me very patiently...I have had a blast reliving these memories the last couple of days!!!

Brides and their fathers on the Wedding Day....

Brides with their fathers are one of those captures we love the most!!! The father isn't losing a daughter but gaining a son metaphor...But it's still very emotional for the fathers!  The image of these big, strong, tough dads that their daughters saw as they were growing up have turned into these very emotional human beings! The thought of giving that baby girl away to another man has to be very emotional...These daughters are the apple of their father's eye and most daughters look for attributes of their fathers in their future husbands. This is more common than you think...Especially if the daughter was raised in a home with mom and dad!

This blog was inspired by an image I ran across of a past bride and her father and it really got me to thinking about fathers and their daughters!

And this is the outcome....The images speak for themselves.....
This is only one of the reasons we LOVE doing WEDDINGS!!!!!

What are great DIY projects for inspiration and ways to cut corners on your Wedding costs?

We have several weddings that have awesome DIY projects and we've learned from our brides that it's lots of fun.... And lots of valuable memories are made doing DIY projects! With our internet resources now we can google "how to do just about anything!"  Read an awesome blog this morning about paper chains...I so remember doing chains with my kids (they're young adults now) at Christmas time...It was tons of fun!!!

	Here's a wonderful DIY project the Mother of the bride did for her daughter....The Wedding Party....Family and guests sign a quilt piece which she later made into a beautiful quilt for her daughter and her new son! Awesome idea!!!
This is a DIY program project....Loved this idea! Doesn't seem too time consuming, but who knows..Right?  Very elegantly done with the bucket and bows!!!
	Here's a classy and beautiful DIY project...Kissing balls is what our bride called them. This image is very classic and extremely priceless. One of the flower girls knocked one of the kissing balls off the pew....Then she had to try to fix it! Look at the dads in the door windows! Great Story Image!!!  Love this image!!!!

If you're a crafty person or even a wannabe crafty person, DIY projects are very special and memorable for everyone involved...

We had a wonderful show yesterday...met new brides and grooms to work with in this 2012 new year! Wedding season is right around the corner folks and we're booking quick!
Our new Pink Bride Magazine debuted yesterday at the show!!! We have some of our beautiful wedding stories told in this gorgeous magazine...so check it out!!! 

2012 is going to be a fabulous year for Forever Images and all of our new brides and grooms...So exciting!!!

This is a beautiful story of new life....We have had the pleasure of watching this sweet little angel named Andi Rose develop from the beginning....

From the very first time that we met her awesome parents at a bridal show and getting to know them during their engagement... We saw this gorgeous bride in her beautiful gown for the first time with her stunning Mother by her side during her bridal session.... We were there during their nuptials...It was a beautiful ceremony and the reception party was fun for all....Including us! We just adore this match made in heaven!!!

The baby bump...What a beautiful baby bump Heidi had. The first session was very intimate for Heidi and her husband....It's like I wasn't even there...So natural and so romantic....So very intimate....I could go on and on.... It was such a beautiful session!

The second baby bump session was about the same....Heidi brought her own ideas to the table which was fabulous....And we incorporated our skills and created some cherished moments that will last Forever! And what a fantastic husband she has...He was there for her at every little request and so romantic....Meeting her needs as a little pregnant Mama! I just can't say enough about her sweet husband...So much romance there....

And then there's Andi...Our last session was just a few weeks ago with little Andi in her parents arms...She is such a beautiful baby girl! I believe she looks a little like her father, don't you??? And what a lucky little girl she is...She has two older brothers that will always be by her side and protect her...Collin and Robby!

We were fortunate enough to know this family and work with them through this process of their growing family....We'll always care very deeply for them! Until the next family portrait session or wedding....You were a pleasure to work with!!!!

Beautiful Family!!!

Huge plans for the year 2012....

Well folks, another new year has begun and Forever Images has huge plans in store for our upcoming weddings!  We have renovations planned for the farm and we can't wait to get started!

Our first bridal show of the year is this Sunday at the Nashville Convention Center...And we're looking forward to meeting future brides and grooms. There are lots of events planned for the show so plan on spending the day. Here are great tips on what to expect and what to plan to do at our bridal shows! Remember ladies, wear comfortable shoes...They're a must at our bridal shows....Our shows are huge and if you plan to make progress in the planning stages of your wedding, be prepared to stay the day and shop....And dress comfortably!

When you attend the bridal shows, please come see us at our Forever Images booth! We're there to meet new couples to work with and help with all of your photography needs! We have a beautiful style and we have a great passion in our profession with photography to guide each individual couple we work with and to give them the setting that each couple wants...We're very personable and all about giving great customer service!

Our Wedding albums are designed according to what the photographer sees on your wedding day....Yes, your album is created by your Wedding Photographer! This is what matters to us the most...that beautiful Story Book Wedding Album that you vision and have dreamt of your entire life!
Come see our style for yourselves and lets talk about your Wedding!!!! 

We have a few tickets left here at the studio....Come on by and pick'em up!  We look forward to meeting you!

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Forever Images.
Enjoy family and friends during your holiday season and feast like no other with prayer and good will for others!

Looking forward to our upcoming New Year at Forever Images with our new couples and looking forward to meeting new Brides and Grooms at our January 8th Bridal Show!
So lets get pumped with new inspiration for planning your wedding in 2012...I know we are!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from my Family to Yours!!!

Your photography choices can pertain to every aspect of your Wedding!
Every part of your Wedding will be photographed.... Your dress, the venue, your shoes, the food you select.... Absolutely everything! So, the photography should be the very center part of your planning process!

How will your type of wedding dress photograph? First of all, what are the different types of dresses? Here's a great question... Would you dress your brides maids in white?

• A line/Princess
• Strapless A line
• Ball Gown
• One Shoulder strap
• V neck
• Sweetheart Neckline
• Beads or no Beads
• Lace or no Lace
• Mermaid

There are lots of different types of dresses to consider! What type is going to photograph best on your body type? Well, the best I can do is tell you what I've seen and learned by photographing brides in their gowns and watching how the brides do in their gowns during their wedding day.

This wedding gown had lots of detail, which is very beautiful! What a gorgeous bride she was!

I hate seeing a bride struggle with her gown on her wedding day...but a lot do! Some brides pull and tug on their dress all day and it's because they weren't fitted correctly by their bridal shop! Your bridal store/shop should measure your dress to fit your body to a tee!!! And your bridal shop should tell you if a certain style isn't right for your body type.... That's why you're there... For them to advise you on your dress choices.

This gown was a very classic gown with tons of class (the class comes from that beautiful bride). Her veil was made from her mother's veil with true family and sentimental value! This particular bride holds a special place in our hearts at Forever Images! 

Our bridal session is a fabulous time for our Brides to see how her gown wears for that special upcoming Wedding Day!

Our Next Nashville Pink Bridal Show
Sunday, January 8th @ the Nashville Convention Center

Are they important to a Bride and Groom?

First of all, let me say this...I wish I had attended a bridal show or two twenty-seven years ago! I'm sure they were around, but we sure didn't know anything about them! When we (my husband and I) were planning our Wedding over twenty-seven years ago, we were on our own! No insight, no advice....Or none of any significance that I remember anyway! We had no clue what we were doing!

If you have a budget and you're planning a Wedding, bridal shows are a MUST!!! The benefits are: GREAT IDEAS, learning different styles and techniques of wedding vendors, pricing information, etc. The options are abundant and very informational....Plan to attend the bridal show for the day...Don't try to get in and out of there quickly...You won't learn a thing that way. Plan to stay for the entire show! Talk to all vendors and get educated on planning your wedding! This will save you money, time and you won't be nearly as stressed when that wedding day gets closer!

We've been attending bridal shows for three years and we LOVE meeting potential Brides and Grooms and talking about their Weddings. Bridal shows give potential Brides and Grooms insight on what to expect and the shows also give your potential vendors a chance to show how they can provide a needed service for couples planning their Wedding!

As a Wedding Photographer, I feel Bridal Shows are a one stop shopping experience to Brides and Grooms looking for Wedding Vendors! They're a MUST for couples planning their wedding!
This show is going to be the biggest yet! I can't wait to meet more potential Brides and Grooms to work with!!!

We have free tickets for future brides, grooms and parents for the taking at Forever Images!

We've got to promote this beautiful six year old Greyhound/mix....

A volunteer of Snooty Giggles brought this sweet guy by the studio today! His name is Jasper and he was such a pleasure to photograph...I could have kept him for myself...But that's not how the organization works! Anyone that wants him will have to go through the proper channels to adopt this beautiful guy...
Jasper is housebroken....And he loves everybody!  He does great around other animals and loves to run! He's just an all around great dog.... He's pretty darn photogenic too!

I've been studying photography for quite some time now! And the more I study and learn, the more I want to do the practice of photography!

This Thanksgiving was our 10th anniversary for family portraiture on Thanksgiving Day!
It's gotten to the point that we don't need to call anybody in the family anymore. Everybody just shows up as usual knowing that we're taking our annual pictures! It's really quite awesome on my end because I'm doing exactly what I want for my family....Creating images! And it's something to see that my family really appreciates what I do... And that makes for great camaraderie for me with my entire family!

The day was so beautiful.... Sunny and in the mid 60's! My family and I arrived around 11:30.... Ready to give thanks for everything that God provides for us every minute of every day in our lives!
We walked in the back door of my sister's beautiful home and smelled all the makings of a feast! Then, I saw the next most constant and beautiful site of my mother...I do love her dearly! Besides my husband and children, my mother has always been one of the most constant and important people in my life!
The extended family started rolling in and we were so glad to see everyone! Some we haven't seen since last Christmas Day! Everybody looked really good.... The kids are growing up and looking so pretty (3 sweet young girls)! We have another young man graduating from high school this next year...We are so very proud of him! The years just fly by... I love watching the family grow and change for the better every year!

The photo shoot went great! We had a guest for Thanksgiving this year which played the part of photographer for the family. He said it was the most awkward thing he had ever done! He got the job done though...Thank you Austin...I do appreciate what you did for us!

Until next Thanksgiving my family....

What are some Wedding Photography do's and don'ts....

Wow.... Where shall I start? We've been involved in the Wedding industry for a few years and boy have we learned tons on some do's and don'ts in the Wedding Photography end!

First I would say to visit any wedding photographer at their studio.... Whether it's a home studio or a store front. Look at their work.... Ask tons of questions (no question is to trivial)! If you're asking questions that someone (a potential photographer for your WEDDING Day) doesn't seem to want to answer, that should be a HUGE red flag!! HUGE!! Since the time I've been in this industry, the wide array of personalities in professional wedding photographers is crazy! I don't see how some have work at all! Or maybe I see the competitor's personality and not the personality the customer sees (that's being bi-polar, I think)! I guess what I'm trying to say is, make sure you click (personality wise) with your Wedding Photographer. You should have great communication  with your potential Photographer!

• DO.. Be sure your photographer contracts. Contracts are documents that are legally binding. This contract spells out you're booking that specific date, contract price and putting that 1st payment down for your Wedding Date.... It should be signed and dated by both you (the customer) and your Wedding Photographer.
• ​DON'T.... Pay contract price in full at signing unless you're positive this is a reputable photography studio business! Lots of reputable wedding vendors offer large discounts if paid in full. This is something we never offer! I feel my clients should see some of our actual work before paying in full!
• DO.... Look at photographer's work....Look at their wedding albums, prints, websites, etc. Read testimonials on photographer's websites. They will tell you tons! Ask for references if you feel the need!
• DO.... Look for great customer service!

There are so many do's and don'ts in the Wedding planning process. Be sure to do your homework and do research on all your vendors. It's well worth the time!

God Bless our Military Couples!!!

What does Individualizing your Wedding Photography Mean?

It means...Put yourself in your images! Be creative.... Add personal items to your sessions.... Have ideas on what type of images you see in your mind!
What type of setting would you create?
Where was that special place you and your soon to be talked about getting married?
Where was that romantic moment that you'll always remember?.... Even when you're turning gray with one another?
I talk to all of our couples about what they imagine their images to be and most don't really know what to say! But sometimes we have couples that really want to get involved in the creative part of their sessions! We've gone to places where the husbands have proposed.... We have couples that come up with ideas on how they want to show their Wedding Date in their images! This is more fun and means more to the individuals if they're personally involved in the creative end of their photography!!!
When a bridal session is coming up and our bride is looking through magazines.... She sees an awesome image she absolutely loves.... We tell her to tear out that magazine page and we'll do our best to emulate it! It's being involved and creative that individualizes your Wedding Photography.... And not just leaving it up to your photographer to create every image!

Historic Downtown Franklin!
We had an AWESOME time with this couple in Downtown Franklin! There are so many photo opts in Franklin.... Lots of history.... And memories being made by hundreds daily!
Steve and Julie were a pleasure to work with!

How would you individualize your images?  

Baby Mason

We had the great pleasure meeting Baby Mason a few days ago... He was such a sweet little baby! He comes from a family that also gave us the honor of doing their Wedding.
The parents of this sweet baby went to school and grew up with my sweet daughter/assistant/office admin (my right arm), Dawn. Emily and Will are going to make the best parents! They both come from very structured, Christian families! We are very proud to know both families.

But back to Baby Mason!
He came in right from his mid morning nap and he was in the best mood ever! You can certainly tell, if you look at his images that he was at his best when his session first started. We captured tons of expressions from this little man! After looking and editing his images, I'm thinking... WOW! Do I see Will (his dad) in that baby! Looks like Will has molded himself! Looking forward to future sessions with this little man as his features change and he grows over the next nine months!

Both grandmothers were at this sweet baby's session. If I was his grandmother I would be there too!

Beautiful Baby boy Emily and Will..... I know you're very proud parents!!!