I recently discovered a new product that I am in love with and I want to share with you guys. As I’m sure you all know, I use Forbeyon albums and adore them, and a local woman has created the most amazing slipcovers for them! Her name is ChrysQ, and she’s the wife of very talented local photographer Ben Quintanilla. Her slipcovers are not only really cute and fashionable, but they’re also extremely well-made and reasonably priced. If you’re looking for a way to upsell your albums, an inexpensive thank you gift to give to your clients, or just a gorgeous, chic way to package your albums, ChrysQ’s Luxe Slipcovers definitely hit the spot. Here are some images I stole from her website:

This is the slipcover I have.. It’s so beautiful!

I adore this one as well.. Damask is so hot right now!

This one might be my favorite of all the fabrics:

And this one shows off another option that ChrysQ offers, the fabric-covered buttons. I think this just looks so classy and sophisticated.

Here’s the best part - She can even do custom orders! That means that if you have a fabric that perfectly matches your branding, she can create gorgeous slipcovers specifically for you. What an amazing marketing idea! To see all of her current swatches and get pricing information, check out her website at www.chrysq.com.

I am pretty used to my clients coming to their sessions with props or location requests. Lots of people want to shoot at places that are meaningful to them, which I recommend, and they want to include things that symbolize a part of their relationship, which I also recommend. However, never in my life did I expect to use the words “live fish” and “hospital” and “engagement session” in the same sentence. I can now thank Rebecca and Eric for making that moment possible for me.

Eric and Rebecca are pretty stellar for a number of reasons, but they’re extra special to me because they are unique, and they’re willing to go that extra mile to make their photos special. Literally - Rebecca ran a 5K the morning of their session! And while she was doing that, Eric was out fishing so he could use two poor unsuspecting little swimmers as props for their session. Talk about dedication! And to top things off, they ended the session with something I always dream about but can never convince my clients to do: they hopped in a waterpark and got soaked! The story is much better told in images than in words, so here are some of my favorites of the day, starting with some shots in the lobby of Hermann Memorial Hospital. (PS :: Did I mention they’re both drop dead beautiful?)

Rebecca and Eric, you guys will always and forever be two of my favorite clients because you are just so gosh darn unique, and you’re up for anything! I’m happy to say that no animals were harmed in the making of your engagement photos, and please tell your darling puppy not to give me any more heart attacks by disappearing into the seaweed. Love you guys, can’t wait for the wedding!!

Unfortunately, most grand exits come at the very end of the night, around 11-12, after most of the guests have grown tired and headed home. I’ve seen more than a few weddings where the only people left to send off the couple were their parents, wedding party, and a few intoxicated guests. Even worse is when there isn’t a grand exit planned at all, and the reception just fades off into the night, with tired guests wondering whether they should stay and wait for a big send-off that they expect but may never come.

The best way to ease this situation, other than having a short reception, is to do your grand exit earlier in the wedding day. Here are a few different options you can consider:

The first option is to have your grand exit as you walk down the aisle. Up north, it’s common for small paper cones filled with rose petals to be tied to the backs of the chairs during the ceremony, so that guests can shower the couple with the rose petals during their first walk as man and wife. This is great because the flower-filled cones serve as pretty decorations, as well as serving a more utilitarian purpose.

Another option is to have your guests gather outside of the church after the ceremony and line the pathway to your car, so that as soon as you are done with family photos, you can walk out the church and be showered with (fill in the blank with your favorite throwable party favor) from your nearest and dearest. Obviously, this option works best when you do the majority of your photos before the ceremony, so that your guests don’t have to wait too long.

Finally, there’s always the old standby, the “fake exit.” Usually couples who do this option choose to do all the major reception events - first dance, garter/bouquet toss, cake cuttings and toasts - as soon as dinner is over. Then the guests line up and do the “fake exit” just as they would normally do it, except that the couple doesn’t actually leave for good. Typically they go up to their room and change into something a little more comfortable, and come down to dance the night away with their more party-oriented wedding guests.

For those of you who want the experience (and awesome photos) of a grand exit, but don’t want your guests to have to wait until midnight to send you off, these suggestions might help ease the burden on you, your coordinator, and your guests. Enjoy!

I feel like every week I answer three or four questions from other photographers regarding their pricing, and my answer for all of these photographers is always exactly the same. It seems like everyone I know is making the same mistake in their pricing, simply picking arbitrary numbers out of thin air without any regard for cost, taxes, and profit. I got a little tired of giving the same speech over and over, so I’ve decided to put everything I have ever learned about pricing into one comprehensive guide.

I spent all weekend working on this, and it truly is special to me. I hope that it is helpful to you! You can download this guide on this page. Let me know what you think!

I shot some photos at an Obama rally for a local paper a few months back, and I absolutely love them, so at the very least I am glad to have an excuse to post them again. Congrats to Obama, I wish him the best of luck in the next four years and I hope - for all our sakes - his term is peaceful and prosperous!

In related news, can I get an AMEN from all the people who are glad to see this election come to an end?? I feel like this race has really brought out the nasty side of many people, and it has been very disheartening to see.  I am glad that now that a choice has been made, we can all move on and be friends again :)  Although I did enjoy my free election donut.. Yumm…

Beth and Jim, thanks for giving me a great excuse to come back to my old stomping grounds, and for entertaining us before the big game. You guys are definitely redass!!

Back in my sorority days (Kappa Delta - AOT forever!), we used to have a joke that we used to keep people in line.. “If you’re talking, you’re WRONG!” Well.. If you’re not Twittering, you’re WRONG! Twitter is an amazing mini-blogging tool that helps you keep people aware of what you’re doing, what’s going on in your business, how you feel about certain things, and what your future plans are, all in 140 characters or less. The text limit keeps everything short and sweet, so even the most ADD blog follower can handle it. Do you see that little blue box at the top of my blog? That’s my Twitter feed! You can click on it and see all the twitters I have tweeted (haha!) in the past, as well!

Here is a great article I discovered that covers the basics of what Twitter is, and how it can help you promote your business and keep in touch with your clients and colleagues. This is a neat video by the very talented Bui brothers specifically regarding Twitter for photographers.

To sign up for your Twitter account, simply go here and join! And once you register, don’t forget to follow me so we can tweet to each other

Side note: Twitter isn’t just for photographers. ANYONE can join! I would love love love it if some of my amazing clients would join, too (hint, hint)!

Heather and Anthony, I loved finally meeting you both! Thanks so much for navigating the prom-goers and the gawking White House Black Market salespeople with me, I had a blast! You both are so beautiful and way too good at this whole supermodel thing. I can’t wait for your wedding!

Today’s Tip for Brides is short and sweet.. I discovered this amazing vendor on my favorite blog, Southern Weddings Magazine, and I’m in love with their products. Check out Easter Yu’s Muscari line: (photos stolen from her website)

I adore these birch ring holders! They would fit in so well at a rustic, peach-and-cream wedding

Awesome shell ring holder for a beach wedding:

If you don’t want to make guests wait until the end of the night to give you a grand exit, fill these cones with flower petals and put them on the end of each row during the ceremony, and have the guest throw the petals in the air was you walk down the aisle. It’s a great photo op, especially for outdoor ceremonies!

I could not possibly be any more obsessed with these amazing boutonnières

Fantastic hairpieces to give to your bridesmaids or to replace your veil with at the reception

And for those of you who love to blow people away with amazing accessories, she has some seriously showstopping jewelry

To see more of Easter’s beautiful collection, check out her shop on Etsy.com!

Today’s Tip for Photographers is something that I talk about quite a bit already, but it’s super important so it’s always worthy of another mention. For me, albums are the cornerstone of my business. In my eyes, I sell two products - my time, and my albums. Those are the two biggest expenses on my pricelist, because they are the heart of what I do. Some people take photos to take photos, I take photos to create albums.

The company I use for my albums is absolutely wonderful and fantastic in every way. The company is called Forbeyon and they are a dream to work with. A few months ago I took a tour of their showroom and got a newfound respect for what they do. All of their albums are handmade, right here in Dallas Texas, with top of the line quality materials, and a rigorous quality inspection process. Since day one of working with Forbeyon, it has been obvious to me that the most important aspect of their business is creating a high-quality product, and I really respect that. I have looked into a lot of other album companies, but I always come back to Forbeyon. I could gush about them all day!! To learn more about the albums I offer, check out this page.

Although Forbeyon does have a design team that will create great album designs for you, I am a control freak so I choose to design my albums myself. I do this using the Page Gallery software by Yervant. Although I have had some issues with this software (their tech support is less than stellar), I really can’t live without it. It takes me about an hour to design a full 60-page wedding book, which is unheard of. It used to take me a week just to design a small book, now I can whip out 2-3 a day! It’s a template-based program, but has several options to customize pages, and it outputs PSD files so you can tweak them by hand, as well.

It blows my mind when I hear that some people are not even offering albums at all, let alone not offering them in their packages. If you’re not selling albums, not only are you providing your clients with an incomplete service, but you’re losing a lot of potential revenue. However, to sell a product, you have to have samples to show, so make sure you have several great, top of the line sample albums to take with you to client consultations. I have about 8-10 books altogether - one for each year I have been in the business, several duplicates of client’s books, a photobooth album, a details album, and a guestbook album. And don’t complain about how you can’t afford sample albums - a couple hundred invested in sample books will mean THOUSANDS of dollars in a return on your investment, if you price them correctly. Totally worth it!!