As I always do, I promptly fetched the mail from our mailbox. Stuffed inside was about 25 pounds of late holiday cards, Christmas catalogs, and other detritus. However, hiding among the treasured cards and other trash was a curious little package. In a Christmas habit, I gave the package a squeeze and a shake. Then it hit me! I tore into the package and was greeted by long awaited, but temporarily forgotten news. The new Knot Magazine had arrived.

I am pleased as punch to announce that a Hunter Photographic wedding has been featured in The Knot Magazine for the second time in a row. For the Spring /Summer 2012 issue, the editors of the Knot reached out to me and requested a fresh wedding right off my site. They chose Holly and Brian’s amazing wedding at Lantern Court and Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, Ohio. I was not surprised at all when the Knot requested the wedding. Holly and Brian’s wedding is definitely one of my favorites from this year. It was so special in so many ways.

I was just there to capture the moment. Holly and Brian deserve all the credit for planning such a unique wedding. Also, special thanks to Carri-An at Holden Arboretum for presenting such an amazing venue and for being a gracious help. Also, kudos to JMS Originals for putting together such amazing flowers. The flowers were truly unique. Lastly, Cakes by Maria & Joe put together a fabulous cake. I hear it was very tasty!

As I noted above, this is the second Knot Magazine feature in a row for us. Jamie and Ethan’s wedding was featured in the last issue. Looking forward, I will have a lot of good news to share over the next few weeks. More publications, blog posts, and new ideas are coming soon. To say the least, 2012 is going to be a truly special year. I hope everyone has a bright and beautiful 2012!

See y'all soon,
Hunter

Many thanks to Gina from Shi Shi Events for planning such an amazing wedding and working with TheKnot.com. Also, thanks to the fine people at Plantscaping for providing the amazing floral arrangements designed just for Ethan and Jamie.

The issue is hitting news stands now (going to get mine today), but you can see the feature article below. The featured wedding was for Jamie and Ethan, two of my favorite people. They had such an amazing and beautiful wedding. Elsewhere on the site, you can also see some more of Jamie & Ethan’s wedding photos. Looking forward, this year’s weddings are off to a great start with some amazing results. I’m certain many more magazine and blog features will be in our future.

See y'all soon,
Hunter

As we always have, we continue to provide our clients with the very best prints. All wedding prints are printed on true archival-quality photo paper by the best lab available. But as part of the branding redesign, I wanted to make delivery of client proofs into a “gift.” So, we teamed with the best wedding album producer available to create something really special for all of our clients. Cypress Albums helped us to create the Proof Presentation Box.

Like any other print, we give our clients fine-art proofs. The individual proofs are now paired with a archival-quality box for storage and display. Each box is bound in Japanese book-binding silk, features a magnetic closure, and decorative ribbon. So far, the response has been overwhelming. More so, I want to keep each box that arrives, but I am happy to give them to our wonderful clients! Should a client choose, each box can be customized to match their style  in one of many different fabrics.

Our albums have received a similar upgrade. Working again with Cypress, we created the Heirloom and Whistler albums.

Heirloom Album

True heirlooms are build to last for generations. The desire to feature such high quality albums is born from my own experience. I still have prints from my great-grandparent’s wedding. I love the vintage feel and quality of the prints. Each Heirloom albums is custom designed for our clients. After carefully selecting the images, design the layout and choosing fabrics, the albums are then hand-made by Cypress. Each fine-art print is adhered to a very heavy page and bound tightly into the album. Many clients also choose to keep the album safe in a presentation box.

Whistler Album

The approach to the Whistler album matches the Heirloom album – the best build and quality available. The image selection, layout design and fabric selection all follow an identical process. However, there is one key difference between the Heirloom and Whistler albums. Where the Heirloom album pages are like boards, the Whistler has thinner, lighter page cores. Each page is still very thick, but the weight of the book is reduced. Due to the lighter weight, the Whistler sits nice in the hand.

Many of our friends and clients choose the Heirloom album for themselves and order a matching Whistler album for their parents.

Of course I just love showing off our samples. They are filled with create memories from friends and clients. I keep them in our living room as a nice reminder of all the great couples I have met. I am certainly looking forward to crafting many more heirlooms for future couples.

P.S. – Completely unrelated, but I wonder if our dog understands trips in the car. Does she know she’s moving, or does she think the scenery is just changing really fast?

See y'all soon,
Hunter

Sitting around small table by a fireplace, I simply asked Jennifer and Chris to imagine their wedding day. Was the wedding naturally organic, simply elegant, or fun and whimsical? Jennifer immediately latched onto simple elegance as the main theme for their wedding. This answer was important because the save the date card is the first wedding introduction guests would receive. Furthermore, it would help to establish a brand for their wedding design.

I had researched design options ahead of time and had some images to offer Jennifer and Chris. The set of images tied neatly to the different themes offered above. After reviewing sample ideas together, we had the perfect plan to highlight their engagement photos in a great custom save the date card.

We chose a 10-panel accordion card and an beautiful font. The text would be kept simple to highlight their engagement images. Each panel of the card would feature either photos or information. Jennifer wanted to direct her guests to a website where information would be kept current, so we were certain to include the web address. To help underscore the theme, I used a mix of black and white photos and color.

Below is the finished save the date card. I made sure to order one extra for myself -

I am so happy that Jennifer and Chris chose to include their engagement photos in the wedding design. It was an absolute delight putting something special together just for them. Projects like this are why I always recommend engagement sessions to clients. First, you have great photographs that will last a lifetime. More importantly, the couples I work with get used to being in front of the camera before their big wedding day. Last, you have some great material to help add personality and detail to your wedding day.

That’s all for today. Be sure to check out Jennifer and Chris’ engagement photos as well.

P.S. – Also make sure to check out our updated wedding portfolio. I just finished selecting all new images including some recent work. The overall presentation has changed as well.

See y'all soon,
Hunter

Have you heard of Etsy?! Are you kidding me? Well then, let me fill you in. Etsy.com is a community of artists and designers. Each person sets up a shop within Etsy to market and sell their handcrafted goods. And you would be amazed at the quality. Etsy is certainly no flee market.

Here is where it gets better. Etsy has a wedding category! If you want good style, unique items, thrifty prices and handmade, have a look at the weddings category. After just a moment of browsing, here are some of my favorites -

• Silver Aspen Leaf Necklace – for the Colorado bride
• Wood Wedding Direction Sign
• Custom Silhouette Print handmade just for you

Etsy has a great selection in the wedding category and the prices are fair to amazing. You can also make your wedding green and support your community by shopping only for local artists. You would be amazed at how many artists are on Etsy. A ceramic artist neighboring my Cleveland photography studio is on Etsy.

Now for a little DIY inspiration. Check out the wooden table markers and planters I came across at Ethan and Jamie’s wedding. I am sure you could find something like this on Etsy, or make your own with a little inspiration (and a table saw) -

See y'all soon,
Hunter

Ethan and Jamie's engagement by Aubrey Trinnaman

I have said it before and I will say it again – my clients freakin’ rock. They are some of the nicest and most creative people. You have to check out what Ethan and Jamie created for their wedding announcement. They both work for a major technology company and have a serious creative streak. The video below is their wedding announcement.

Now that is how you get some wedding attention with style. As a wedding photographer, I absolutely love the stop-motion video. Not to mention the creative scrabble usage.

Take a moment to check out their engagement photos as well. The photos are by Aubrey Trinnaman, an amazing San Francisco fine art and wedding photographer. I love Aubrey’s California style.

Are you getting married and need ideas? Have a look around and come up with something creative. It seems certain formal aspects of traditional weddings are fading. Consider something a little outside the normal.

See y'all soon,
Hunter

Update – Google just launched an updated version of their wedding planning tools with a nifty site redesign to boot. Have a look at what they have in store.

I am a huge, huge fan of Google. Did I mention I love Google? Seriously, I would marry Google (don’t tell Brooke). For such a huge company, you would think weddings would be too small of a subject for them. Nope, Google has wedding tools!

Together with Style Me Pretty, Google has launched wedding planning tools based on their popular Google Docs platform. You can do all sorts of cool things with their tools. You can create an online tool for your guests to enter RSVP information. You can collect addresses. You can create an event calendar. And you can share all of this wedding information online between whoever is involved. Just give those participating in the wedding planning access to your wedding planning tools. Brilliant!

You might be asking why use Google when there are other sites like The Knot who offer similar tools. Well, a couple of reasons (did I mention I love Google). The Google wedding tools come with all sorts of existing docs like address lists, budget planner, and to-do lists. The great part is that you can extend what’s there to make the service better for you. If something doesn’t exist, you can make it unlike being trapped into what ever functionality a specialized wedding site decides to offer. Furthermore, Google Docs is used by millions of people. If someone else shares a document or function you like, you can easily add it to you wedding planning site.

Definitely check out the provided video. It features a real couple getting ready for their wedding and discussing how they solved some common planning problems.

Whether you are planning a wedding in Cleveland, Akron, Lakewood or someplace in between, definitely check out these tools. It should make the whole process much easier. As a Cleveland wedding photographer, I would love it if my clients used these tools. It would certainly make it much easier for me to contribute to planning as needed.

See y'all soon,
Hunter

Will your wedding album last always and forever? Consider a solid traditional design for the look of ages.

For couples, there is a lot to consider when designing a wedding photo album. The easy stuff is whether the album quality made and printed on acid-free, archival paper. Just about any wedding photographer can provide a high-quality album. But what about a great design that outlasts changing fashion?

Have you ever seen a dated wedding album? Maybe your parents or a friends wedding album? Just a few bad choices can quickly can quickly ruin a wedding album. Photos stylized with too many actions or page layouts that are more about fashion than thoughtful design can “age” quickly. This is a problem that I see a lot. The following tips may help when working with your photographer to design your album:

The number one rule – Choose quality images thoughtfully. Concentrate on a good mix of candid and formal pictures. Choose images from before, during and after the ceremony. This will be tough, but it is the most important thing to do. Take your time and make sure the final images are your favorites. Listen to your photographer. Wedding photographers have to be good photo editors. Their input can be very helpful.

Give the finger to actions – Oh! This gets me fired up like nothing else. Photographers call them “actions”, but they are great way to ruin images. Actions are stylized “looks” applied to images in Photoshop. For example, an aged look, or polaroid, sepia or selective color. And selective color is the worst! My personal feeling is  quality photos do not need any actions. A good photo is good on its own merit. Certain actions can become quite fashionable. Even worse, stylized images fade from fashion really, really fast. Remember a few years ago when everyone wanted images with selective color (flowers in color and everything else in B&W)? Yeah, that is sooo 1992. Now the look is polaroid. What will it be next week? I don’t know, but your images will last forever if you go with straight-up color or B&W. Trust me, let the images stand on their own merit.

Page background – Damask patterns are the stylish thing right now. Before it was Tiffany blue and chocolate. Maybe next is plaid…er…gingham….er…something? Point being, like the photos themselves, watch out for highly-stylized page backgrounds. They too can cause your wedding album to look dated quickly. Classic black or white are timeless. A pencil-thin contrasting border around each photo is a great touch. It helps to define the edge of each photo. Otherwise, choose backgrounds carefully. I actually use some texture and patterns for backgrounds, like a really light paper or fabric texture. However, I suggest to clients that backgrounds be kept light, almost like white on white. Again, keeping close to the traditional.

Covers – Album covers are a little less important. You can’t go very wrong with the cover. Most wedding album providers offer a good selection of classic covers like real or simulated leather, printed images, metal or cloth. I like leather or the printed cover best. Cloth can stain if you are not careful. When it comes to leather, stick with black, white, chocolate, medium brown or red. Avoid teals, green, blue, and other chartreuse colors. For printed covers, go with white, black, a very understated pattern or a picture. The printed covers that I offer come in a opalescent white when left plain. Think of it as a fancy white. I like it with just a little text.

Layout – You want the pictures to be visible more than anything else. If your album is 10×10 or 12×12 inches, avoid having more than four photos per page. This will keep each photo nice and large. Also, seriously consider the square layout. I highly prefer this dimension for many reasons. When closed it looks nice and handles well. When open, you get a great wide layout that is not too wide. A horizontal layout like 12×9 is also nice, but not my favorite. It can be tough to do full spreads on such a wide layout. I generally avoid vertical because it feels too much like a magazine.

Each photo is nice and large when you keep to just a few images per page. Also consider the square album format for great handling and nice, wide spreads

Flush mount – Keep this term in mind. I said I would assume the book and paper quality were already taken care off. However, definitely choose a flush mount album binding. In essence, each page is individually print on a single sheet of paper. The pages are then mounted into the album spreading right across the seam. This gives you a great seamless look to each page. Another binding technique, Leporello, will give you the same look. In this case, every page is printed to one giant paper ribbon. The ribbon is then folded like an accordion and mounted into the binding. Again, you get a seamless binding. Both wedding album styles I offer are seamless, with the Handmade being Leporello and the Boutique being Flush Mount.

A Flush Mount or Leporello (above) binding allows an album to lay completely flat and allows images to spread right across the seam

Other tips for a good album design -

• Leave the first page and last page blank, like a book
• Look for an album with thick, heavy pages
• Avoid silver or gold gilding on page edges
• Layout some images right to the page edges, with others inset into the page

These tips should really help your wedding album remain timeless and stylish. With these ideas in mind, you can design an album with your photographer that looks great in fifty years. Personally, I work carefully with clients when designing their wedding album. The goal is to ensure the client gets what they want, while also considering good style.

See y'all soon,
Hunter

If you are planning a wedding, you definitely should take some time to lurk these blogs. The blogs have some really good ideas that would work for any wedding. The list includes an assortment: a blog about the entire wedding, one about details, and some more targeted blogs too.

While I might be a guy, I still love weddings. A couple’s personality really shows in a well planned wedding, and it need not be expensive. Hopefully, this list of blogs helps you to find great inspiration for your wedding. Just try not to get carried away.

All About Design – chances are that you have already found StyleMePretty.com. The blog is dedicated to covering the design factors in a wedding. The team really puts some thought into presenting the various design aspects of a wedding. If you are looking for a theme (color, style, etc), StyleMePretty.com is a great place to start. However, don’t get too carried away.

All the Little Things – Becky and Jenny are the incredible team behind Weddingistas. They have a clear focus for their blog: they cover each piece in detail. Looking for a creative card? They have some great card finds. Looking for some fashionable necklaces? They have that covered too! Definitely take the time to review their blog if you need some ideas for the smaller stuff.

A Little Offbeat – Are you a little “different” than the average bride? Then checkout Ariel from the OffBeatBride.com. Ariel also wrote the book, which you can find on the blog as well. The site contains great ideas for couples who want something a little different. If you want a crazy fun wedding, definitely make it match your personality! By the way, “crazy fun” is a technical term

Make It So – A great way to introduce your personality to a wedding, and save some scratch, is to make your own stuff. The blog for TheHandcraftedWedding.com has some great design ideas for making your wedding your own. While the main site features a directory of designers that provide handcrafted wedding goods, the blog has some great ideas about how to roll your own. Definitely worth a read.

That about covers what I have found. when I am able, I will post more great resources for brides and grooms. I think I will even maintain a directory that can be easily accessed at any time.

If you have some sites that you love, pass them my way. Just use the contact form to reach out to us.

See y'all soon,
Hunter

We have just implemented a new feature that will allow wedding clients, portrait client and friends share galleries on many different social networks. The feature is integrated directly with each client photo gallery. To share any gallery, simply locate the share links at the top of the screen.

Select your favorite social network, such as Facebook or Twitter, and share the images. Friends and family can then easily find the gallery and access the images at any time. This is a great way for our wedding clients to inform their friends and family about the galleries. Simply share the gallery on your Facebook page and everyone will have access to the images.

However, the feature goes well beyond sharing images on Facebook and Twitter. Hundreds of social networks are available for selection. Just pick your favorite!

To access the wedding and portrait client galleries, simply click the “Client Gallery” link at the top of the page.

See y'all soon,
Hunter