Did you recently get engaged or start the wedding planning process? This is a must see bridal event!

Hundreds of vendors offering everything from bridal accessories to wedding video will have booths at the New York Marriott Marquis (1535 Broadway, New York, NY) on Friday, February 10, 2012, and ALL of them are giving away prizes!

I can’t wait to meet you!  One lucky couple that visits my booth will win a romantic engagement weekend getaway to Newport, Rhode Island!  It includes 2 nights accommodations at a waterfront hotel, romantic dinner for two, engagement photography session, full rights to the retouched images, a custom slideshow, DVD in a leather case, and a storybook album.  It’s a $1320 value!  Wow!

Doors open at 5:30 pm!

http://www.greatbridalexpo.com/bridal-shows/New-York-NY-2-10-2012.aspx

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2dfmMw/lifestyle.ca.msn.com/weddings/11-amazing-trash-the-dress-photos#image=1

Stay tuned to my blog in February, where I’ll reveal more details about how to plan your own trash the dress photo session!

Special thanks to Caroline K. for her adventurous spirit that made the paddleboard images possible!

Don’t go it alone!  Bridal shows are much more fun if you bring along a posse of people.  Fiancé thinks bridal shows are too girly?  Try one of the shows at a sporting arena (Gillette Stadium, Fenway Park, etc), and remind your guy that these shows have lots of sampling (wedding cake, catering, even liquor tastings)!  Or, make it a girls’ day out and bring along your friends, family and bridesmaids.

Prep your crowd.  Make sure your friends know information like your wedding date and what type of services you are interested in learning more about at the show.  They can help steer you toward booths you love and will make the experience much more fun.  Some brides even come prepared with custom t-shirts, buttons or nametags announcing their “bride-to-be” status!  Have fun with it!

Arrive at the show early.  Some expos can get crowded and you want to make sure you have a chance to check out all the goodies.  Purchase your tickets online ahead of time.  You’ll often save on the cost by avoiding buying at the door, and some shows have incentives like VIP bags for the first people who register.

Make a plan.  Did you just get engaged?  When’s the best time to attend a show?  Bridal shows typically host 50-100 vendors offering services from bridal gowns to wedding cakes.  While a show can give you great inspiration at any stage of the planning process, you’ll get the most out of it if you attend early, when you haven’t booked many vendors yet.  Before you attend, sit down with your fiancé and talk about your priorities for your wedding.  Check out this guide for help.  Focus your energy and budget on items that appear high on both of your lists.  Spend time at those booths and ask questions.

Do your homework.  Does the bridal show have a website listing the vendors that will participate?  Look into them ahead of time.  Make a list of the businesses that stand out to you.  As you look at their websites, do you have any questions you can ask at the show?  Check out this document for questions to ask your photographer.

Print out labels.  Many vendors will offer giveaways or raffles.  To save yourself time at the show, print out address labels ahead of time, and bring them with you to the show.  Include your name, your fiance’s name, your address, telephone number, email address and wedding date.  If your wedding date is still up in the air, give the season and year that you are considering tying the knot.  You can peel and stick these labels onto the raffle tickets, or drop them in boxes to get more information or sign up for an appointment.

Give out wedding contact information wisely.  If you are worried about spam, you can open a PO Box and use that for your address, or start a new gmail account.  Use these contacts when signing up for wedding information.  Vendors will send you postcards and emails, so if you want to receive information only while you’re engaged, these can be great ways to minimize spam.  Once you’re happily married, close the PO Box and gmail account.  If you give fake contact information, you might miss out on valuable deals, but you won’t need this information once your wedding date passes.

Know your calendar.  If you love what you see at a booth, vendors may ask if you’d like to set up an appointment to discuss your wedding in more detail.  Bring along your appointment book, so you can set up a meeting on the spot.  Remember, bridal shows are like speed dating – you meet a lot of vendors and get a lot of ideas, but you might need another date before you move forward with a great match.

Bring your checkbook.  It’s not uncommon to find crazy deals at bridal shows that you won’t see elsewhere.  If you know you found the perfect dress, photographer, flowers, etc, make a deal and put money down on your contract on the spot.  You might save a lot of money by purchasing at the show, and you’ll still get to compare between vendors so it’s not a hasty decision.  Other common purchases at shows: accessories, shoes, veils, makeup, etc – you might even walk out with these items and save on shipping!

For a list of upcoming bridal shows, please contact Kristin.

First, take the time to read through your camera manual with your camera in hand.  When you come across a new button or tool, try it out.  You’re much more likely to remember how features work when you’ve tested them, and you may find a new tool (or a use for that tool) that you didn’t know about before!  If your camera didn’t come packaged with a printed manual, check out this website:   http://camera.manualsonline.com/

Canon and Nikon both offer free apps where you can read your camera’s manual (Canon Camera Handbooks, Nikon Manual Viewer) on your iPhone and iPad (great for using “in the field”).

Spend some time simply looking through your viewfinder or at the digital display, thinking about how framing affects what you see before you shoot.  The act of framing or cropping involves one of the first decisions every photographer must learn to make effectively.  Each photograph is a slice of reality taken or selectively isolated from the world.  We know that something beyond the edges of the picture existed, but it was left out by the photographer – so everything that’s contained in the picture must have some significance.  Seen in the real world, several objects or people might not be related in either real or visual terms, but when the photographer chooses to put objects or people together in the same frame, we (the viewers) can’t help but associate or assign some sort of relationship to them.

How does distance (between the camera and the subject) affect the objects’ importance in the picture?  Move the camera slightly to the left, then to the right, move in closer, then further back…does the picture change?  Think too, how every object within the frame takes on new importance once you choose to include it in a picture.  This act of isolating objects has its graphic as well as emotional and intellectual implications.  Choosing, framing and isolating forces the viewer to look at the edges of the picture and the shapes created by the objects and edges. Ask yourself where the subject lies within the frame.

By following some of the “rules” of composition, you can create more dynamic and compelling images.  Consider the following:

• Have a unifying thought to your photograph.  Use a single, dominant center of interest or subject.

• Try placing your subject slightly off-center.  Imagine your display has two vertical and two horizontal lines drawn through it, breaking the frame into thirds.  Place your center of interest at one of the four intersection points, for a more dynamic composition

• Keep it simple.  If something isn’t relevant to the photograph or distracts from the center of interest, remove it from the scene, change your viewpoint, or crop it out.

• Keep the horizon level.  Tilted horizons can be used for artistic effect, but should be dramatic and intentional.  Horizons tilted by only a few degrees can make the viewer seasick!  Horizons should not cut the picture in half either.  Include more ground if the sky is dull or washed out.  Don’t allow important tones and textures in your main subject to merge with the background.  Think contrast and use manual settings to control your camera.

• Fill the frame.  Get close to your subjects and keep extraneous details out of the picture.

• Don’t amputate parts of your main subject at awkward places (keep hands, heads, feet in picture; don’t crop off the end of a sign, etc).

• Avoid distracting shapes at the very edge of the photograph.

• Concentrate attention with leading lines, such as convergence and S curves.

• Employ strong diagonal lines to imply action, conflict or falling.

• Use strong vertical lines to imply height, dignity, stability and strength.

• If you’re accustomed to always shooting your photographs with a horizontal composition, try turning your camera 90 degrees and compose vertically (or visa versa).

• Remember that the viewer’s eye is drawn to areas of high contrast, areas that are bright or white in tone, areas of sharpness and the eyes of a subject.  Use this to your advantage.

• Be patient for the best light or the best conditions before taking the picture.  If you’ve been focused on one area for a long time, make sure you turn around to check out what’s happening behind you and your camera.

• Remember all your camera’s controls: shutter speed, depth of field, focal length of your lens, as well as the viewpoint you are employing.  Make creative decisions regarding which settings you use to come up with your best shot!

“The Knot Best of Weddings 2012 provides a “by brides, for brides” guide to the top wedding professionals across the country, and is a must-have when it comes to selecting the best-of-the-best wedding resources. From New York florists and Seattle bridal salons to DC makeup artists, engaged couples will find detailed feedback on local wedding businesses reviewed by thousands of newlyweds who had great things to say.”

Thank you to all my wonderful 2011 couples!  I feel so fortunate that you picked me to capture your precious memories!

Raynham Center, MA – January 23, 2012 – WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding Marketplace, is excited to announce Kristin Griffin Photography has been selected to receive the prestigious WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2012 for Photography!

The esteemed annual awards program recognizes the top local wedding vendors from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism within the wedding industry. While many industry awards are selected by the organization, Kristin Griffin Photography was selected based on its stellar reviews from past newlywed clients.

Kristin Griffin Photography is recognized as part of the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire local vendor community, comprised of over 200,000 wedding professionals throughout the United States and Canada. The Bride’s Choice Award recognizes  the best local wedding vendors across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, based on their overall professional achievements throughout the past year.

“WeddingWire is thrilled to honor the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community,” said Timothy Chi, CEO, WeddingWire. “Since the launch of the Bride’s Choice Awards™ program four years ago, thousands of outstanding wedding professionals have been recognized by the bridal community for their supreme service and dedication to the wedding industry. It is with great pleasure that we congratulate Kristin Griffin Photography for their continued professionalism and commitment to enriching the wedding planning experience for engaged couples.”

We are happy to announce that Kristin Griffin Photography is one of the very best Photographers within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Project Wedding, Brides.com, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for taking the time to review our business on WeddingWire. Thanks to their positive feedback we were able  to receive the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ for 2012.

To learn more about the Bride’s Choice Awards™, please visit www.WeddingWire.com.

About WeddingWire, Inc.
WeddingWire™, the nation’s leading marketplace serving the $70 billion wedding industry, is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding professionals. For engaged couples, WeddingWire offers the ability to search, compare and book over 200,000 reviewed wedding vendors, from wedding venues to wedding photographers. WeddingWire also offers a comprehensive suite of online planning tools for weddings, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding professionals, WeddingWire is the only all-in-one marketing platform for businesses online and on-the-go. WeddingWire offers one simple solution to build a professional network, improve search visibility, manage social media and reach mobile consumers. Businesses that advertise with WeddingWire appear on WeddingWire.com, ProjectWedding.com and other leading sites, including MarthaStewartWeddings.com (NYSE: MSO), Brides.com and Weddingbee.com.

Thank you to all my wonderful 2011 couples – I truly appreciate the opportunity to witness and record your wedding day!

I get a lot of questions about designing wedding albums and the options you have for covers and page layouts.  I created a pdf guide for you, to simplify the process.  If you have any questions about your wedding album, please call or email anytime!

Please click here to view.

-Kristin

Best wishes, Amanda and David!

One lucky couple will receive an engagement photography package valued at over $700, so don’t miss out!  There are tons of prizes to win at the show!

http://www.greatbridalexpo.com/bridal-shows/Boston-MA-1-15-2012.aspx