Felicidades, Becca! Congratulations A Los Angeles Love! You so deserved Best Bridal Blog 2010.  I just love that a wedding blog that’s about the words can garner so much attention!

(Even though I’ve been saving this *photo* just for you, in hopes of celebrating if you won!)

photo:: Gia Canali

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I have real ones in store for you next week! Happy weekend!

photo: Gia Canali

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The Inspiration For This Post Is You.

I have had drafts of this post floating around my computer for nearly a year and floating around my brain for much longer than that.  One of the driving reasons for starting this blog is that I want to help or coach people into getting the best photography that they can possibly get, from me or from any other photographer.  I want folks to be educated consumers (hmm … let’s say “patrons” or “commissioners”) of photography.  The truth is that everybody wants to get the most out of their wedding photography, and out of their wedding.  And each and every couple deserves an inspired performance from all their wedding vendors, right?  But sometimes—surely unwittingly—brides and grooms can get in their own way of making that happen.  I want to be delicate about this, but also truthful.  Nearly all of my clients are so thoughtful and considerate of us that it hurts my heart (really!) … but small considerations (or—gasp!—mistakes) can really make an impact, whether or not the client is really aware of it in the end.

(Okay, let me back up and be clear on this: the term “vendor” does kind of make me gag.  I’m used to it, after eleven years, but not happy with it.  Meg over at A Practical Wedding has kindly suggested a reconsideration of the terminology, maybe wedding elves.  It’ll do.  It at least describes the work ethic and energy most of my colleagues and I put forth at weddings.  But you could just call us artists. If you want to.)

I. The most important thing is TRUST.  Hire artists you truly trust, and then trust them to do their jobs with excellence.

Hire artists you trust, and then trust them. Nothing is more morale-busting or inspiration-deflating than micromanagement.  You want artists who share your vision, obviously, but keep in mind that they’ll do their jobs how they do their jobs and not how you’d do their jobs.   Listen to your wedding elves; we promise to listen to you.  We want to get you what you want (and then some!)—whether or not you know exactly what that is and whether or not you can articulate it—and we know how to do that.  The adage “expectations are premeditated resentments” fully applies, though.  Allow yourself to be surprised and delighted with our interpretations of your secret hopes and wishes.  We work so hard and consider our efforts a labor of love.  We are soulful about what we do.  I think there are probably folks out there who aren’t, but you don’t need to hire them, right?

II.  Give them what they need to do their jobs with excellence (e.g., time, space, resources).

This is a huge and, unfortunately, very common mistake we see.  For instance, so many weddings run behind because of hair and makeup (despite our often-repeated and LOUDEST advice for folks to pad the hair and makeup schedule).  I’ve previously always held an ill-founded vendetta against stylists themselves, but now that I have produced a short film (since I don’t have enough to do during wedding season), I can see how the makeup artists might feel flustered or set up to fail.  That’s not a good way to go into a job.  I know I can get flustered when folks step in and try to tell me how and how fast to work.

And I can’t tell you how disappointing it is when I have clients claim that portraits are so very important to them, how they’re envisioning all these set ups, lots of variety, and then they schedule fifteen minutes or less for portraits of themselves. Photographs are actually moments in time.  So we need time to make them.  Other artists need other things to do their jobs well.  Producing a wedding and producing a film are probably not all that different in the end.  You might want to think of yourself as a “producer.” On a film set, the producers (who put out all that money) make certain that everybody there—all the artists, all the talent, and all the so-called help—has what they need to do the best work possible.

III. Keep your artists, vendors, wedding elves performance-ready: well-fed, well-hydrated, and as rested as possible.

These considerations are of course much-expanded with a destination wedding, but the same principles apply to one-day local weddings.  My suspicion is that people can sometimes forget how really human we are.  I have heard this complaint voiced most often by the wedding planners themselves. We need nourishment, water, and a little appreciation (see below).  Keep in mind that you want your planner and photographers and videographers to be working their best all day long and after dinner, too – if you give them a crummy meal, not only does it literally leave a bad taste in their mouths, they’ll be running on empty and their growling tummies will be begrudgingly ticking off time until they can leave and get some real food … if that’s even possible.

1. Maintain a human pace to the day.  Your vendors will have a good sense about what’s realistic.  You want your day to be humane for you, too.  Harried and joyful might actually be mutually exclusive.
2. Keep water and other non-alcoholic beverages accessible throughout the day.  In California, with all our 100+ degree weddings, heat stroke is a real and serious concern.
3. A good vendor meal is nourishing, timely, balanced, and absolutely necessary.  A few years ago, I kept hearing people say, “a vendor meal is a courtesy, not a requirement.” Seriously?  We know catered food is costly and we aren’t saying you have to give us the filet mignon unless you want to (!), but remember that we are human: we can’t run on empty and we can’t go anywhere else.  You don’t want us to. It’s one thing to be a band member  and come at five o’clock (hence the ubiquitous bandwich), but for those of us who have already been running around for eight or ten hours before dinnertime with twenty five pounds of gear swinging around our necks, it’s nonsensical.  On my contract, I say “feed us whenever you eat,¹ and feed us well.  Warm, nourishing food is a good idea. Wedding photography is a lot like marathon running.”  And so it is.  I have to prep for my job with running, hiking, and lots of pull-ups.
4. Respect dietary restrictions.  There are a lot of reasons people eat the way they do, whether out of religious or ethical belief, allergy, or preference, but it is always personal.  I, for one, am allergic to the United States of America.  I can’t tell you how much I appreciate sitting down to a meal I can actually digest.  It’s a matter of consideration and respect at the most basic level.
5. Some things don’t count as real meals: pasta with no meat, salad with nothing in it, sandwiches with dried nasty chicken, just to name a few.  Think nourishing, timely, and balanced: protein, grain, and something that would feel good in your tummy.  Our favorite vendor meals are always from the folks at Lucques but we’ve had lots of good same-as-the-guests meals, too.  Lucques gives us a complete meal.  My last one was a beautiful, tasty, and nutrient-packed nicoise salad; my husband had a giant holy pilgrim sandwich with lovely thick slices of roasted turkey; we also both had an apple, a dessert (chocolate-covered honeycomb for me, chocolate chip cookie for him), and homemade sweet potato chips (still dreaming about those and Matt swears he’d give up Doritos if I could offer him a steady supply of them).  I know I’m going on and on about food.  But it’s important.  All of this is to say: be sure you know exactly what your caterer is feeding the vendors, whether it’s the same food as your guests are being served or not; don’t assume the caterer will just get it right.  You may be charged the full meal rate while your vendors are eating terrible cold sandwiches.  Not that good cold sandwiches don’t exist.  Your caterer might be trying to feed ham to folks who keep a kosher diet. Eeps! There are no hard and fast rules here, just a gentle call to attention to detail.  A good meal is a good meal.

IV. In the same way that actors perform better with a little applause, your vendors will perform better with a little appreciation.

I’m not talking about gratuity; I’m talking about gratitude.  We’ll do our jobs either way (with gratitude or without), but we’ll do it better if we know you’re thankful for our efforts and creativity.  We’re human.  We’ll work to our own high standards for anyone, but we can’t help but go that extra mile for the couples who love us.

That’s me! With my Leica! On a (rare) bathroom break!

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¹ If you feed us when you eat, all that you’ll “miss out on” are photographs of folks eating.  Which you don’t want anyway.  Feed us later on, and we’ll be missing the real moments.  You might need to make this point to your caterers if they are providing the vendor meals.  Sometimes they won’t feed the vendor-folk until after the dinner service is completely completed.  This seems counter-productive because we’ll be eating when things are getting going again …

photos: Gia Canali

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Wedding season and spring have both started a little bit earlier than usual, it seems.  Or perhaps I just feel like that because I’ve only gotten around to blogging about three of my weddings from last year and am well and happily into photographing this year’s weddings.  But I have managed to make a few more encaustic photographs along the way (and I’ve been cooking up some other goodies that we’ll share with you soon!) and other folks seem to be getting around to the blogging and publishing of my work much quicker than I have.  Above, from top left: encaustic photograph of Nada.  Her and Paul’s backyard wedding was recently featured on Style Me Pretty {here} and {here}; cover of C Magazine’s “C Weddings” which features Negar & Peter’s downtown LA wedding; and one of my Polaroid 55′s from Tom and Kimberly’s wedding which is featured on Snippet & Ink {here} today; detail of the encaustic photograph of Nada.  Below: another new encaustic photograph, this one of my cousin Bre and her husband on their wedding day (whose anniversary, come to think of it, is in three days!)  Happy Anniversary, Bre & Jeff!!

photos, except magazine cover: Gia Canali

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Some weddings are so marvelously right.  Julia & Eli’s was one of them. The equation might have read: happy couple + beautiful yard + perfect day + perfect night + joyous guests + “fireflies” = magical. We’ve featured bits of their wedding all summer, partly because I think this blogging real weddings thing rushes me much too much—as I prefer to turn over my photographic fascinations slowly—but mostly because we loved their wedding.  Even the intangible things, like Eli saying his {vows}.  Above, one of several Polaroid 55s I took.

{click any image to enlarge}

We loved the whimsical florals and decor by Krislyn.  The groom’s boutonniere was fashioned from a single (tiny) perfect echeveria ‘afterglow’.  I grow them in my garden, and in just the right light, the pinkish rims really do glow.  Below: celebrity stylists Nina and Clare Hallworth help Julia into her gown.   Sweetest up-do ever by Chris McMillan. Chris did Julia’s hair three or four times that morning before he came up with the final look, which made me realize how essential it is to allow all the vendors at a wedding time to give a top-notch performance.  (More on that later.)  I never would have guessed tulips would have been “just the thing,” but they were, and Chris’s hairdo inspired lots and lots of my photographs of Julia.

I spoke with Nina and Clare for a few moments before the reception, and asked if they had any advice for my blog readers.   They said it was so important to take time (by which they meant quiet time) to get dressed.  The way they spoke of dressing, it seemed like dressing oneself and composing oneself were the same act.

Some details from the ceremony.  The huppah was one of a kind, with peonies, branches, and a quilt the groom’s mother made by hand.  Yifat Oren & her gifted crew, led by Amy Cain, masterminded the design and production of the whole affair. Great job, Amy!

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Nina and Clare reused Julia’s veil as a wrap during cocktails and dinner.  It was not only a very inventive instantly “upcycled” accessory, but offered Julia a second glorious look for the evening. Bride’s gown, Carolina Herrera.  Groom’s three-piece suit (♥!), Tom Ford.

Above: a few images from Julia and Eli’s hora.  I love getting guests out on the dance floor (and before sundown if possible).  It’s one of the few chances we ever have in a wedding day for truly energetic and totally camera unaware photographs of everyone who came out to celebrate your tying-the-knot.

Because it was so sunny and because so much was going on in both the front yard and back yard all day, we couldn’t do any outdoor portraits.  So Julia and Eli agreed to sneak away for a quick walk after their first dances.  So worth it!

Julia felt differently about the sunshiny day.  She was thrilled to wake at six that morning and see the sun was out.  Those of you who live in Southern California will know “June Gloom,” and Julia & Eli’s wedding day was the first day after our (particularly long) June Gloom ended this year.  I laughed when she told me this: when I awoke on my own wedding day, I, too, jumped out of bed to see what the light was like, but was practically gleeful to discover a bright overcast morning!

Julia’s advice? She says to take a couple days to do relaxing things before the wedding.  On the day of the wedding, she had no stress for the first time in the planning process!

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The End.

p.s. I left lots of stuff out. I want to have photographs to illustrate my “real” posts!

photographs: Gia Canali

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One of the things I have always loved about this art is that it is technical and that in many ways, it relies (as it always has) on the ingenuity of mad scientist photographers in their kitchens and darkrooms.  Folks like Edward Land who invented instant photography (Polaroids, if you will) in the first place because his daughter wondered why she couldn’t see the photo he’d just taken of her by the family Christmas tree.  What we take for granted now because of digital photography was preposterous, even impossible, back then.  And I still love the very real magic of pulling apart a Polaroid.  Er. Fuji instant print.

It is no news that plenty of analog photographers are mourning the loss of Polaroid.  We are excited one minute about The Impossible Project and freaked out the next about our emptying refrigerators (since nobody is trying to make our most treasured instant films).  We have mixed feelings about Fuji film.  But in the last two days, I’ve gotten word that emulsion lifts and transfers are actually possible with Fuji instant film and that it is also possible to create a transparent negative from the throw-away side of Fuji instant film.  I spent the whole day yesterday in my studio, cooking and bleaching and washing and drying these fragile little first experiments, following and not following and adjusting everybody else’s recipes.  It’s different with Fuji, but it’s really exciting, too.  I was careful to keep notes and am happy to share them with anyone who asks.  Thank you, mad scientist photographers. Let’s keep cooking things up!

Above: a transparent negative, made from the throw-away side of Fuji instant film. Click image to enlarge. Below: a Fuji emulsion lift.  A few months ago, I posted its Polaroid sister. What do you think?

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polaroid transfer: Gia Canali

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Nevermind the all-day real-life focus on the bride, let’s say (only) that the bride is in a decent portion of her own wedding photographs.  Perhaps 75% of them, even.  So if we consider the dress as a design element, it needs to be off-the-charts incredible.  But it also needs to be right for the bride—for her body and personality.  It should suit her.

Here are some general considerations to keep in mind when and however the shopping happens:

1. Keep in mind that the dress will be an important part of setting the tone for the overall wedding design.  Choose a dress that will be appropriate to the venue and type of wedding your planning.  Or, if the dress comes first, then vice versa.
2. Consider structure and shape.  The dress should be extremely flattering to your specific body.  It should accent your loveliest features and downplay anything you don’t like.  If your collarbone is fabulous, for instance, choose a dress with a neckline that highlights it, rather than a high-necked halter dress.  If your ankles are great, perhaps consider a shorter dress … If you hate your back fat, don’t go for a corset-style bodice.  If you’re wonderfully curvy, the mermaid shape can be a total knockout on you.  The list goes on and on.  If you are having your dress designed and made for you, it’s easy to make these considerations.  But if you’re looking in a shop for a vintage or new ready-made gown, bring someone else.  Someone whose honesty you can depend on.  I think this advice is often-repeated, but judging by the number of bride’s body – to – bodice mismatches, I’d say it’s possibly ignored more often than it should be.
3. Be sure you can move in it.  Shimmy and shake, walk, dance, twirl, and definitely lean over.  Even if you feel a little silly at the dress shop, it’s totally worth it.  You want to be 100% sure your chest is both flattered and concealed during any movement you might make in front of people on your wedding day.
4. Be sure the dress is properly and expertly altered.
5. Wear the best undergarments you can afford, and the right ones for your dress.  I saw a fabulous feature in a gossip magazine recently (truly, and unfortunately I can’t remember which) on what the stars wore under their gowns for the Academy Awards.  I loved that the article seemed like it could have been written Bridget Jones under the headline “Knickers of the Stars” and that it also debunked the myth of effortless Hollywood glamor.  It reinforced something I think about a lot: good undies cover a multitude of wrongs.  In all my years of photographing weddings only one bride has gotten away with wearing absolutely nothing under her gown.   For the rest of us, an honest assessment of what might use a little cinching or perking up is priceless.  Spanx are a well-known option, but lots of other undergarments exist with lots of other self-improvement powers.  More on this in a future post …
6. Consider craftsmanship.  Most people buy clothing for emotional reasons.  Or rather, it’s an emotional purchase.  I think wedding gowns are at the top of the list here.  But the wedding gown is a big investment for a big day.  So I suggest you take some time to look really, really closely at the gown.  Evaluate it.  Even if you’re not a clothing expert, you’ll be able to see how well made it is.  Look at the hem (if it’s finished), at the seams, the waist; look at the fabric content and at the fabric itself; evaluate the fit on your body.  Fit is an important aspect of craftsmanship (and your future happiness with dress!).  I should mention even if in a whisper … that as much as I love designer clothes and wedding gowns myself, I have seen a couture gown fall apart before the bride even put it on.  So don’t be less tough on a high-end well-known designer.

Happy shopping!  There are zillions of ways and places to get a gown these days … And no matter how many tips I offer, I still think the gown you choose will be the one you fall in love with.  But try to keep your wits about you … in love and in shopping!

{*My sister Reva studies fashion, so she helped me  compile the craftsmanship-evaluation tips.}

UPDATE:  As Jessie pointed out in the comments, lots of brides end up buying the first dress they try on—even if they try lots of other dresses on after it.  So maybe one last tidbit of advice is to choose that first dress to try on very carefully!

polaroids by: Gia Canali … I took these dress shopping with my friend Katie on a hot June day in Chicago.

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