Nicole Friedler Photography

Wow.  How did it get to be March 11, 2011??

Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of my engagement. So many things have happened since then, and I have now had the opportunity to go inside the experience of wedding planning, and have such an incredible understanding of what my clients go through in the process!!

With 22 days to go, I think everything has fallen into place.  We are lucky enough to live on Martha’s Vineyard and to have a strong connection with so many wonderful people in “the industry” here, many of whom have gone above and beyond to help us put on the wedding of our dreams.  Quite frankly, I think it will exceed our dreams, as our original intent was to have no more than 80 guests.  Oops.  Guess that didn’t happen. (In truth, Michael’s real desire was to have no more than 30, something that is a complete impossibility considering the number of dear friends we have).

In the next few days, I will try to outline my process in planning, perhaps providing some help to those of you who read my blog.  And maybe, just maybe, you’ll write to me.  I’d love to share my experiences with you.

To begin with, we attempted to choose a date! 

We had limitations as to when we could have our wedding as Michael opens his restaurant at the end of April and we wanted to have our anniversary at a time when we would always have the time to celebrate it, envisioning being somewhere special each year (that was Michael’s desire – he’s quite the thoughtful romantic).  We originally chose March 12th (tomorrow!) because it was close to our engagement anniversary and far enough away from the restaurant’s reopening to allow for a honeymoon.

Now here’s the thing: try to be as receptive to advice (even if unsolicited and from a parent) as possible: my mother commented that the weather might be crappy in different parts of the country, making it more difficult for our friends and family from farther away to reach the Vineyard.  I hemmed and hawed a little, but then realized that she was right.  We then chose April 2nd, which gave us enough time to take our honeymoon AND it was a much more “hopeful”-sounding date.  And it might be warmer.  AND daylight savings time begins on March 13th!  So, all in all, it was a great decision.

Once we had the date set, we made a list of what we needed to do.

Which I will share in my next blog entry.

And yes, it’s about your WEDDING ALBUM!!  My clients, Skye and Ryan, who were married June 12th in New Hampshire, have already gotten me their favorites and the design is being put together now (will post it on the blog soon).

Today’s email was entitled “10 Rules For Every Bride”.  Here’s number 10:

I’ll make my photo album within one year of the wedding.

When
you come back from your honeymoon, putting together your wedding album
may seem like a daunting task. There will be so many beautiful and funny
photos to choose from, and after months of daily wedding-related
decisions, you may decide to take a break and do the album later. Not to
mention the fact that a nice album doesn’t come cheap, so it’ll be
tempting to wait until your funds have been replenished before shelling
out for it. But as many of your married friends who had similar plans
will tell you, the years slip by quickly, and it’s all too easy to wind
up with nothing but a proof book and some Snapfish albums on your fifth
anniversary. So bite the bullet and order your album while the memories
are fresh and you still have a little wedding planning momentum driving
you forward.

So that’s my advice for the day. 

But please don’t ask who’s photographing our wedding, because the jury is still out on that one!

A photographer friend of mine just posted this on her facebook page and it’s the perfect answer to this question.  If you’re planning a wedding (as I currently am!), please read this.  I think it will be enlightening.  And I’d like to thank the author for putting this into words.

I know I said that the next entry would be about the engagement, but if I am to go in chronological order, I would need to back up to the choice of the ring…

There’s a saying that goes, “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride.”  I
have felt at times that it should have been “Always the photographer,
never a bride.”  Those days are over.  I am thrilled to share with you
all that I am engaged to be married to the love of my life, my one and
only, my dream come true.

And although I verge on being a
facebook junkie, I don’t usually like to divulge too much very personal
stuff about my life to the public at-large (and now the universe
at-large it seems, via the internet).  I will, however, be sharing my
thoughts and experiences about being a bride-to-be here on the blog for
the next however-many months until we tie the knot.  I thought it would
be a great way to get advice about things and to share in the experience
with the soon-to-be-marrieds (and marrieds…and singles) among you. I
must admit that I get hives just contemplating planning a wedding. 
After eleven years of photographing weddings, I have seen it all
from the casual to the most elegant, the simplest to the most elaborate,
the smallest to the largest, the easiest to the not-so-easy.  People
have said, “Well, you MUST know what you’d like for your own wedding.” 
No, I don’t.  I have some general ideas, but when I think I know what
I’d like, I have a completely opposing thought.

After the first
question, “Who’s going to photograph YOUR wedding?” comes the
inevitable, “When’s the date?”  I don’t honestly have an answer for the
latter.

More in my next entry about other things. 
Like the
engagement.  And then, of course, the ring.  But here’s a sneak peak of
that…