I consider myself lucky with my wedding planning because my big must have was booked within a few weeks of our engagement – the photographer. Yep, the photography was my number one wedding must-have. Ya’ll should know something about me – I have always attached memories and feelings to the things that I look at. For example, I have a water bottle that my 12-year-old sister saved up for and bought me as a Christmas present. Every time I see it - I smile.

I love having my memories up and out where I can see them and relive them; thus, the photography for my wedding was SUPER important. I wanted gorgeous photos that told the story of the day that we became a family. That meant coughing up the dough, skipping the DIY path, and hiring a pro. Here’s how I did it:

The first part of the hunt was figuring out exactly what kind of photography I wanted: traditional, posed, candid, photo-journalism, artist, retro? I basically spent loads of time looking at photos and seeing which style “spoke” to me. After lots of looking, I realized that I really liked candid shots and more of the photo-journalism style (along with a few traditional, posed shots for my mom). Also, I wanted a photographer who could take beautiful stylized shots of my DIY projects and décor so that I can showcase them on Kiss My Tulle.

Next, I really had to decide on a budget. ***FULL DISCLOSURE: Because I own and operate a for-profit wedding blog, if I use any of the photography from my wedding day on the blog – I can write-off the entire expense.*** With this in mind, The Boy and I have treated the wedding photography as a completely separate part of our wedding budget – we are treating it like a business expense. It was determined that we could afford to spend $2,000 – $3,500 on this wedding expense (so basically, my $7,500 wedding is really going to be a 5k wedding).

Next, came the actual finding of the photographer – not that easy when you consider the fact that I am planning a wedding in a city that I’ve only recently moved to. I tried Googling it but was overwhelmed by choices. Enter a local wedding fair -where I made it my goal to find my wedding photography before I left it. At the show, I looked over the portfolios of each photographer there and the end of the wedding fair, I had narrowed my choice down to two vendors. I liked both so I decided to interview them. I approached each vendor and was very upfront about the fact that I was talking to them because I was trying to decide between two vendors. Then came the interview portion of the day. I asked each photographer the same set of questions:

• What experience do you have with photography and with shooting weddings?
• Do you offer a free engagement photo session?
• Will there be two photographers shooting the entire wedding?
• Do you have experience shooting middle-aged/not-model-looking people?
• Do you have experience doing wedding shoots with pets?
• Do you have experience/feel comfortable shooting a wedding with an autistic child in the wedding party?
• Can you travel to our wedding venue (our home)?
• How many images will you release to us after the wedding?
• Are your images copyright-free so that we can print them whenever and whereever we want?
• How long do you display the images online after the wedding so that our guests can view them?
• Are you willing to do a few tradtional, posed wedding shots for my mom?
• Do you have experience doing detail shots (for my blog)?

All Images Courtesy of: Miranda Laine Photography

After asking those questions and really listening to the answers I was given, I was able to make a decision. I headed right over to my selected photographer, asked to book my wedding date, and whipped out my checkbook to make my deposit. If you live in the San Antonio/Hill Country area – book Miranda Laine Photography - you will not regret it!

Miranda Laine Photography + Cris = WEDDING AWESOMENESS 4-EVAH!!!

Oy. The decisions one must make during wedding planning… because you can try and put them off for as long as possible but eventually – they needs to be made, y’all. One of those major decisions has hit The Boy and I right smack dab in our collective faces, too. And that decision is – where will we be honeymooning?

From the moment we began planning a wedding, we also knew that we wanted to do a honeymoon. See, one of the major reasons that we’re getting married is because we want kids (not romantic but very true) and, due to our ages, we really do need to start trying pretty soon after we get married. So, a honeymoon would be more to us than a fun trip together post-wedding. It’ll be our last big vacation without kids for a long, long time. Because of that, we really want to do it up right.
p style=text-align: leftSo, we’ve been tossing around ideas for places to go and have been trying really hard to come up with a compromise. I want the beach. He wants history (actually, he wanted to go to a hunting lodge but there is NO WAY IN @*%*% I’m spending my vacation butchering something thankyouverymuch). Anyhoo, we’ve narrowed it down to three options:
strong/strong/p
p style=text-align: centerstrongLondon, England (and surrounding areas)/strong/p
p style=text-align: centera href=http://thebudgetsavvybride.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/London.jpgimg class=aligncenter size-full wp-image-13608 src=http://thebudgetsavvybride.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/London.jpg alt= width=600 height=478 //a/p
p style=text-align: center(Image Courtesy of: a href=http://www.studylanguages.org target=_blank target=_blankStudy Languages/a)/p
p style=text-align: left
The Boy was stationed in England and Wales in the early 1980’s and LOVED it. Unfortunately, due to the political climate of the time, he was never allowed to visit Ireland and that’s always bugged him. Also, one of his good friends (whom I adore) is currently stationed there and it would be fun to see him again./p
p style=text-align: centerstrongCrete, Greece/strong/p
p style=text-align: centera href=http://thebudgetsavvybride.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Crete.jpgimg class=aligncenter size-full wp-image-13607 src=http://thebudgetsavvybride.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Crete.jpg alt= width=500 height=333 //a/p
p style=text-align: center(Image Courtesy of: a href=http://www.lannavacations.com target=_blank target=_blankLanna Vacations/a)/p
p style=text-align: leftThe beach! Yummy food! History! This is the one that I’m pulling for, especially after we discovered the a title=Armed Forces Vacation Club href=http://www.afvclub.com/ target=_blankArmed Forces Vacation Club/a – they offer killer deals on lodging all over the world to members of the armed forces and veterans. We found out that you can rent a fully furnished apartment only 100 meters from the beach for just $53.00 a day. A DAY! Score/p
p style=text-align: centerstrongNew Orleans, Louisiana/strong a href=http://thebudgetsavvybride.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/New_Orleans.jpgimg class=aligncenter size-full wp-image-13606 src=http://thebudgetsavvybride.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/New_Orleans.jpg alt= width=560 height=366 //a/p
p style=text-align: center(Image Courtesy of: a href=http://madeinneworleans.org/ target=_blank target=_blankMade in New Orleans/a)/p
p style=text-align: leftThis is our omigodwehavenomoney option. Neither of us has been there before and, after the devastating one-two combo of Hurricane Katrina and Gulf Coast spill, we loved the idea of helping support the economy with our tourist dollars. Plus, we lurve eating fresh seafood and mocking drunk people (preferably at the same time)./p
So, have any of you made your honeymoon plans yet? How’d you make the decision? Which place do you think we should pick? Are any of you going to (or have any of you been to) London, Greece, or New Orleans? What should we know before we go? In the meantime, you can also a href=http://pinterest.com/kissmytulle/honeymoony/ target=_blankfollow my honeymoon board on Pinterest/a and see what I’m thinking of packing!

I came very close to not living to see my wedding. That sounds dramatic, but it’s true, and I’d like to take a moment to share my story and remind all of you excited, stressed-out brides-to-be exactly what is important about this crazy time in your life.

One night in early December, I was driving through rural Virginia on my way to visit my parents when I hit a deer that was standing on the interstate. I lost control of the car, slid across the road, flipped and then rolled several times before the car came to a stop resting on its wheels, or what was left of them, facing perpendicular to the interstate in a ditch.

It was the first time in my 23 years I have had an experience that I did not expect to live through.

I don’t know why or how, but at the end of that tumble I was able to walk away from the car with some seatbelt abrasions, a swollen lip and various bruises. The car, on the other hand, was missing most of its front end and had a shattered windshield, barely operable front doors, crunched back end… you get the picture. I never saw what the deer looked like, but I imagine it fared about the same as the car.

As I spun, only able to see the air bag that had deployed in my face, thousands of thoughts flew through my head. The thought that crystallized in the forefront of my mind was the realization that after spending nine months frantically trying to plan my perfect wedding, stressing over the most useless details, one twist of fate almost prevented me from being there to actually experience my wedding day.

There’s nothing like a near-death experience to make you realize how twisted your priorities are. What good does it do to spend hours agonizing over the kind of ribbon I tie around my centerpiece arrangements if I don’t live to see the wedding day? What good are any of the wedding planning moments if in the end I don’t get to spend the rest of my life with the man I love?

We’ve heard all the clichés in the world about counting our blessings and not taking anything for granted, especially our time on this planet. In fact just a couple days after the wreck I spent two hours watching an incredibly cheesy Spy Kids movie dedicated to the importance of spending time with our loved ones. I had zero desire to watch the movie, but what would I have accomplished by denying my little sister the opportunity to share a simple experience like watching a movie together? I spent some time with my sister and my parents, and got a few silly laughs in the process.

When the car’s rolling came to a stop and I realized no sharp pains had pierced my body and I wasn’t rising above the earth on a shining white cloud, all I could process was how amazing it felt to be alive. There are plenty of things from that Saturday night that won’t remain with me forever—the bruises, the fear of driving at night, the intense hatred of deer. But I hope that I am smart enough to hold on to the lesson that life is too precious to waste it. Crying over ceremony programs or panicking over piano notes definitely count as a waste. I am thoroughly blessed, and I’d like to spend every moment remembering that important fact.

We are getting married because we found the one person in this world that makes everything better, who makes us laugh, makes us smile and makes us feel like nothing in the world could ever hurt us. Stop your wedding planning, and take a moment to stare into the eyes of your fiancé. Remember what you love about him (or her), and remember how incredibly lucky you are that you get to spend the rest of your life with that person. Don’t waste a moment of it, and don’t lose sight of why you’re planning this wedding.

This crappy cell phone photo actually hides most of the damage, but you get the idea

I love when weddings and technology come together, especially when an iPad is involved I recently was introduced to a super-cool wedding planning app and thought I’d share it with you in case any of you budget savvy brides have an iPad!

The ULTIMATE WEDDING PLANNER by 2 for Couples is chock full of friendly, accessible and honest information, including a Special Wedding Magazine Issue, a gown search and interactive worksheets. As you step up your wedding planning, take your iPad with you so you can consult this app and record important info. If you  or someone you know is getting married, recommend this app to them—or give it as a gift! In January you can get this app for absolutely FREE so download it today to check it out!