I recently posted about the new Wedding Planning Templates from Google and thought I’d include a few other helpful sites that I think would be useful during wedding planning (i.e. if I were planning a wedding for myself, these sites are where I would start!).

First, for you local folks, is Beantown Bride. This is a site that was recently launched to cater to Boston area couples looking for inspiration and vendors for their wedding. I really don’t know why it took so long for someone to finally start a local resource like this. New England weddings have a personality all their own, and I think this site does a great job of presenting the types of celebrations that take place here. It includes real weddings from vendors in the area, tips and tricks related to preparing for the big day, and interviews with professionals in the industry. It’s a great place to start your search.

Another great site is my Kate Parker Wedding. Think of it as your online wedding planner, or as a more organized alternative to having a scrapbook of all of the images of gowns and other details that you’ve ripped out of magazines. But the site goes further, allowing you to really tailor your planning experience by your location, budget, style, season, etc. You can search inspiration boards, search details by color, find vendors based on the style of weddings that they’ve shot and that you’re looking for, and much more. Check it out!

Another great site to visit is WeddingBee. It’s a blog written by real brides during the wedding planning process and even through the big day and post-honeymoon. It’s a fun way to get personal with the planning process and learn what others are going through and to come across topics you may not have even thought of. The site also includes forums where you can chat with other brides, classifieds where you can buy/sell wedding related items or connect with vendors offering their services, find do-it-yourself inspiration, and more. Definitely worth a visit!

I hope this helps! I’ll make sure to post more helpful sites as I come across them.

Some images from a walk I took along the Charles. I was really fascinated by the ice and snow on the river. And I can’t believe the photos below were taken within this past week. The weather has been so dreary these past few days!

As part of my packages, I give couples a disc of their wedding images, all enhanced and ready to print. What exactly do I mean by “enhanced?” A lot of people don’t know it but a lot of back-end work goes into editing a wedding after all the shooting is done. Everything you see here on my blog has been processed in some way or another. I don’t mean that I do anything too crazy like smooth out wrinkles or remove blemishes (unless you want me to). I fix exposure, color-correct, tweak highlights and shadows, and add a little warmth. My style is very natural so people often don’t realize that I do any editing at all–that is, until they see the final image next to the original.

Some examples, just so you see what I mean. The first image in each pairing is the straight-out-of-the-camera image and the second is the one that has been enhanced by me.

People often ask if I give away the RAW or un-enhanced “digital negatives” to my couples, and at the moment I don’t. I don’t believe in giving away what I consider unfinished work to clients. Part of the reason is that I think what differentiates one photographer from another is not only what he/she is able to capture but how he/she is able to present it (e.g. through processing techniques). The other reason is that I just enjoy processing images; it’s my way to leave my mark!

Hope this helps to satiate some of your curiosity. :)

Just a couple photos I came across when browsing through engagements from last year. They didn’t make it onto the blog the first time around, so I figured better late than never. :)

I’m really excited to share a new Google offering that is going to be SO helpful for all you brides and grooms who want to stay super organized while planning your weddings! Google has recently teamed up with Style Me Pretty and released 20 Google Docs Templates to help you with getting all of your wedding planning lists and spreadsheets into easy-to-organize places.  There are templates for just about everything–working out your budget, organizing guest lists, planning your wedding day timeline,  getting your music list going, etc. There’s even a template where you can create a form to send to guests which will automatically collect all of their addresses in one spreadsheet. On top of that, they’ve also included tips from industry professionals to help you as you go, such as what questions to ask when meeting with certain vendors, what to think about when creating your seating chart, and more. This is such convenient way for you to work on wedding-related planning whether you’re at home or at work (admit it, you know you sneak in wedding planning at the office!) or elsewhere, and because it’s all done through Google you can collaborate or share with bridal party members, your vendors, etc.

While you definitely don’t have to use all of the templates they offer, I am certain you’ll find many of them useful and maybe even learn there were a few things you’d forgotten to think about.

Happy (and organized) Planning!