Last summer we had the pleasure of coordinating Maribeth and John’s wedding. The ceremony was held at the beautiful chapel at Willow Valley while the reception was at the always gorgeous Cork Factory Hotel.

Cork Factory Hotel was the perfect venue for their rustic yet chic wedding. The details in this wedding were amazing. From the votive candle holders, to the “Mr and Mrs” sign, to the cake topper made to look like the couple, and MUCH more. No detail was left out. And most of it was made by the bride herself!

The flowers from Weddings and Blooms fit perfectly with the feel of the wedding also. They were gorgeous and I heard many guests remark how much they loved them.

Here is a picture from the fabulous KM Photography to get you started. Check out their link on Facebook to see more of the pictures!

Thank you to all the vendors that made this day perfect!

• Photographers – KM Photography Weddings
• Flowers – Weddings & Blooms
• Ceremony venue – Chapel at Willow Valley
• Reception venue – Cork Factory Hotel
• Hair and makeup – Plum Salon
• Lighting – Shumaker PDT
• Limo – Expressions Limo
• DJ – DJ Freez

Whew, 2012 was a crazy year for us here at Stylish Occasions Wedding & Event Planning! I’m finally getting around to blogging some of the weddings we helped plan!

Judy and Bryan got married at Bent Creek Country Club last summer. They live in Florida but most of their family is in the PA area so they decided to get married up here. They were referred to me by their photographer – I ♥ PhotOlé. Ole is also Judy’s cousin.

The day turned out to be a gorgeous day which allowed them to get lots of outdoor photos at their venue, Bent Creek Country Club. There were a few minor issues throughout the day but we took care of them without the bride or groom knowing!

Judy was absolutely stunning, as were her bridesmaids! They were also some of the nicest people I have ever worked with. The families were also so nice and helpful!

Here is one of the photos I was able to capture. It was with my iPhone which is by no means professional! To see the good pictures check out I ♥ PhotOlé’s blog here!

Thank you to all the great vendors we worked with that day:

• Photographer – I ♥ PhotOlé
• Florist – All Things Beautiful
• Officiant – Dave from Wedding Dayz
• Venue – Bent Creek Country Club
• DJ – Doug from DM Productions
• Hair and makeup – Envy Studio
• Cake – Byer’s Butterflake Bakery
• Harpist – Mary-Kate from Seasons
• Uplighting – Mikie Mic

Today’s guest post is from Matt Stambaugh of Matt Stambaugh Media about wedding videography:

A wedding film and photography are the most important aspects in capturing your wedding memories.  A wedding film will help you relive one of the happiest days of your life. Photography captures instances of great emotion, happiness and joy, and a wedding film will provide you with clean audio and a story of your day!

In hiring your wedding cinematographer and photographer, here are a few tips that I would recommend so that you have the most pleasant experience along your wedding planning and day.

In planning my own wedding for June, 2013, here are some tips that I’ve found I would like to share!

1.  Start your search early!

Hiring your wedding filmer, photographer and DJ is one of the first steps that you should take.  Wedding professionals book their schedules up to a year in advance and sometimes more!  Some businesses also only photograph one wedding a day, or one wedding a weekend so being in contact early is important.

2.  How to search?

In today’s world, brides and grooms are able to search for filmers and photographers almost everywhere! Wedding photographers and filmers sometimes advertise on websites such as The Knot, Wedding Wire, Style Me Pretty, The Wedding Channel, so starting starting your search online may be the first step for some.  It’s nice that some websites provide reviews of the vendors for starting points!

You will also be able to ask family and friends about who they used for their weddings, or any of the reputations they’ve heard.  You can ask everywhere for recommendations! And if you have a wedding planner that’s an even better resource!

Wedding shows are also very popular in searching for your wedding filmer and photographer.  Look at the quality of the booth, the appearance of the vendor / owner and talk to them!  Try to find some common ground to make chatting easy.  It’s nice to be able to “click” with who you will be sharing your wedding day with!

3. Price!

Planning my own wedding, I 100% understand that price is a determining factor in choosing who you will use for your wedding.  However, I will say that in my experience, you get what you pay for in some instances.

If you are looking at three or four different wedding film or photography businesses, don’t check  everyone off the list based on just their price.  You may want to compare the offerings for different packages before you make any decisions.  Also meeting with each vendor is great!  You are able to put a face to the business and see you who might be working with on your wedding day.  Make sure you ask questions!  Wedding professionals love meeting and working with new bride’s and groom’s!

4.  Style, style style!

Are you looking for a documentary style, video journalistic style, a wedding film (cinematic style)? There are many different options and each one may fit a different couple better than another!  Vimeo and Youtube are great resources to use to find a film style you are interested in having for your wedding day!

Some vendors capture the video and create a full-length documentary style that will be a long running film, while others focus more on story telling!  Only you as a couple can think about what you would like to have!

5.  Check their professionalism

Does the filmer fit the style and professionalism are looking for?  The website is often the first representation of the business and company.  Don’t always judge a book by it’s cover, but the website is a great way to start.

Professionalism may set your experience apart from one another.  You may want to find out the history of the photographers filmer’s business and or company.  There are businesses that are new in relation to others in the area.  Ask how many wedding’s they have filmed or what experience they may have.  How does the filmer or business capture audio throughout the ceremony, vows and toasts?  Is there any back up equipment?  What will you do with my wedding footage when it’s all over?

6.  Check your costs and contract!

While the first question you may want to ask is to check to make sure the date is available, you will also want to check with the filmer or photographer on costs.You want to make sure that you understand the complete package you are purchasing and that there are no hidden surprises.  Ask questions, and read!

Know your filmer and photographer, their business and become their friend.  PLAN, PLAN, PLAN!  Pre-wedding day planning will often help your day run smoothly!

Last but not least, have fun

Your wedding day is one of the biggest days of your life and you want it to be a day that you will remember forever.  Photography and videography are great methods to help relive your day again and again!

A few weeks ago there was a 20/20 feature about the wedding industry called “Wedding Confidential“. It was advertised as being the “secrets the wedding industry doesn’t want you to know”. Many of us in the wedding industry watched this and were very upset by it. The show made it sound as though all wedding vendors are just after your money and that we consider brides to be ATMs (yes…they really said that in the show!).

I was one of those wedding vendors that was outraged by some of the things the show said. Personally,  I don’t charge an arm and a leg for my services because I really love what I do and I am blessed to be able to do it full time while also staying home with my 6 year old daughter. And I truly feel my services as a wedding planner are well worth it. As a wedding planner I save my clients money by passing on any discounts vendors offer me. I save them tons of time (and they say “time is money”) by finding the perfect vendors so they don’t have to weed through the dozens and dozens that can be found online. I review contracts to make sure they aren’t being taken advantage of. I take care of any issues that arise so that they don’t have to.

I love working with brides, grooms, and their families to help them plan their dream weddings. I love helping them find the perfect vendors, ones that won’t scam them. I know a lot of wedding vendors and very, very few that I feel are only out for your money. Most are in this business because they love it.

I had planned to write a blog all about the show but then I came across one written by Lauren at Every Last Detail. Be sure to read her article on “Is The Wedding Industry Scamming You“. It states how most of the wedding vendors I know (including myself) felt about the show. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please leave me a comment!

And if you’ve never checked out Every Last Detail you really should. They offer all sorts of tips and inspiration when planning your wedding.

The official announcement of who won The Knot Best of Weddings awards came out last week. And guess what?! We won!!

I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of our wonderful clients for helping us to be voted the 2013 The Knot Best of Weddings in the Wedding Planning category. It is such an honor and I feel so humbled by how great you all have been! I truly appreciate all your kind words.

I am also so proud to have won this award along with a lot of other top notch vendors, many of which I refer to my clients. Check them all out here. I’m so happy to work in an industry like this where we all really care about our couples and we are here to help them plan their dream weddings. I truly love what I do!

We also won the Wedding Wire Bride’s Choice Awards! Thank you again to all of you. We couldn’t do this without you!