…

Having planned the wedding on my own, I was very conscious of what I could spend my money on and what I needed to cut back on:  The dress (a must!), the food (of course), drinks (a given) and location, décor, flowers…it all adds up.  Photography ranked up there in the top 5 must haves but as a young girl I never dreamt of what I wanted out of my wedding pictures…until I saw Tomme Hilton’s work.  I fell in love with the photography at first sight.  She has a touch of class, a bit of edginess and an artsy feel to her pictures that I did not see in other photographers.  I had no hesitation in hiring her.

Having been only an attendee at weddings a handful of times over the years, I had no idea what I was in for when I decided to plan this wedding on my own.  EVERYTHING went wrong.  The dress didn’t fit, the caterers cancelled, my flowers were the wrong color AND…the limo broke down.  Everything that could go wrong…did.  Except for the photography.   Tomme was on time…and prepared.  She had hangers and backdrops, lighting, everything ready to go.  I didn’t realize how much I would appreciate this except that everything else was wrong…she was the one thing I did not have to micromanage and ‘fix’ that night.

I remember when first meeting Tomme, her words were “We will spend a lot of time together on that day, you need to make sure you like me because I will be in your face all day”.  Of course I liked Tomme immediately, her bubbly personality and persona are so charismatic, you can’t help but feel at ease.  And as for the day of the event… she was right, she was following me all day!  To this day I cannot thank her more!  Tomme and her team worked hard.  My wedding was on a hot, balmy June evening and Tomme worked her butt off.  She was covered in sweat and still had the ability to catch the scenery of the event and angles in the evening light.  The pictures are gorgeous and will live forever.  She captured scenes throughout the night that show the elegance, the romance and the love that is so often felt, but rarely seen in the pictures.  The photography is GORGEOUS.  She captured the details of the wedding day, but more importantly, she captured the romance around it.  I will continue to recommend her to my newly engaged friends and to rehire her when the time comes.

Ultimately, the wedding dress was custom altered and delivered to me the day before the wedding,  a friend recommended Iverson catering who worked their schedule to fit me in on a busy Saturday in June (did I mention ONE week before the event!! – and the food was wonderful!) and the limo service ultimately had a similar car they offered for a portion of the night.

In looking back at all of the stress and commotion of the day…I can only remember the words of one of my friends when reminiscing of the pictures.  To quote “ She captured the moment of the wedding, not just the pictures”.

…

We are so thankful to have had such a wonderful daring couple! After a little over 5 years in the business, I finally got to see a couple JUMP into a pool at the end of the night! I must say, it was HOT and a wonderful way to cool down!

Thanks Kelly and Jay! We cannot wait to see you two grow as a couple! Hope to see you again down the road!

xo,

tomme and erica.

STAY TUNED for more weddings!

If you have not entered for the FREE wedding package, do so now!!

We are now accepting emails describing to us the reasons you should receive free wedding photography. Emails shall include the following:

• Name of the Couple entering

• at least 1000 words describing you two as a couple

• 3 or more photographs that show who you are as a couple

To be considered for our contest, each applicant must blog, tweet and facebook about Tomme Hilton Gallery! When you email your entry please send us your links to prove you have done all three!

DEADLINE: August 31, 2010

*Your wedding should be scheduled in the off season of November thru February.

*Valued at 4500.

*Please email all entries to gallery.tommehilton@gmail.com

Thank you for applying! Best of luck to each of you. We look forward to our next FREE wedding couple!

RENATE & BRAIN

Married on June 5th! (wow, it’s been that long… eeekk!)

If you don’t remember Renate and Brian, check out their engagement photos… they were awesome! Despite the rain… We made it happen! AND, not to forget her bridals!! Sigh. Love, love, love them! She is the reason I can’t stand bridals! They turn out so great… yet ‘you’ cannot post them until AFTER the wedding! Ugh… the beauty of secrets right?

Renate and Brian’s wedding day started out with no parking at the hotel, wind that made your hair a whirlwind and humidity that that made you question if it was sweat or not. Ahem, It was a wonderful day to get married… ON THE BEACH! But let me just say… Renate and Brain… YOU ROCKED IT!  They were amazing. And let me drag them EVERYWHERE to get that extra shot… or as I call it, the ‘One more’ shot!

Take a look at their wedding photos. Let us know what you think!

…

Well, As all weddings tend to never really go as quite as planned, enter Candice and Erich who were to originally nab their nuptials in April. But, Erich, who was working in Cuba got detained and Castro declared… ‘Wedding or not! You’re staying!’ Dictatorship. Get it? ((fizzle!?))

…..

Everyone who is reading this has at least one thing in common: The love of wedding porn. If you aren’t familiar with the term, let me enlighten you. Wedding porn is the visual embodiment of all things nuptial related. It often results in squees, jitters, listmaking, and sighs of brides to be, groans, silences, and nausea from grooms to be, and fond memories from married women. For the occasional groom: Flashbacks and rolled eyes.

Yes. All of us here love the wedding, whether it is ours or someone else’s. We come here to look at the pictures, take inspiration, lavish in the beauty, and then, just once (or maybe twice), applaud ourselves.

The other thing we have in common is love of The Tomme. For most of us, Tomme has entered into our life, or the life of our loved ones, and captured beautiful images on our wedding day. She’s managed to stop time and give you images of that day that went by in such a haze that when you paused to listen to the voicemails or watch the video, you don’t even remember half of the things that were said.

And so, I present to you (in the best of my bride frazzled memory), a day in a wedding with Tomme:

Firstly, the most important thing about anything ever is time. I’m a bit neurotic about time, so I made sure that we had (in our ideal nothing ran late schedule) 3 hours before the ceremony for pictures and one between ceremony and reception for pictures. That’s four total hours just for pictures. Cuh-razy am I. And you know what? I wanted more. But okay. Here’s a snapshot of your day with Tomme if you’re crazy like me.

7:00 am: My bridesmaids and I rolled out of bed, kissed our menfolk and were off to the hair dresser. We had a hair cut appointment crisis the day before, so we had one bridesmaid who had to get her hair cut that morning. Luckily, the only one who was planning to get styled was I. We arranged for our make up friend (awesome wedding present) to meet us at the salon to do makeup there.

9:25 (ouch, the plan was to leave at 9:10): We arrive at our ceremony reception site and guess who is there and waiting! My already dressed man and Tomme and Erica! I was so relieved to see Tomme there in her very own car. It has been in the shop the entire week before and she had only gotten it back on Friday. She had been ready to rent a car to come, but that expense on top of a transmission! Yikes! Hugs and kisses were delivered all around and Tomme went straight to my shoes. I was preoccupied for a bit getting things organized (our wedding was completely planned and set up by myself and our family and friends, no vendors etc for that) while Tomme and Erica had fun with kayaks, shoes, buckets, bicycles, ladders, my dress, flowers, leaves, and all kinds of creativity. I kept coming back to see what they were doing because it just looked so neat! Greg (the husband, I guess I should mention his name!) and I shoot ourselves, but I know I’m definitely not on that level of creativity. I think I heard Tomme say “Purple shoes!” at least three or four times.

*From here on the time is an estimate because I took my watch away from myself.*

10:00: Time to get dressed! Tomme, I, and my mother went into the downstairs apartment where we were holed up to get dressed. This consisted of open windows and Tomme teetering precariously in a chair because the light was poor, and pulling my dress up very, very slowly.  After this, we ventured outside for my portraits. Erica went to take care of a very patient Greg.

I have to admit that before the day got there, I was very anxious about locations to do our photos. I didn’t think there would be a lot of opportunity for photos at our actual location so I was obsessing over other locations we could travel to. My stress was unneeded. Tomme apparently had more than enough to fuel her creativity. I was able to go on auto pilot, just be happy that I was there, and forget about the time for bit! Tomme directed and I followed as clumsily as I could, and from the images I’ve seen, I look like a super model! I didn’t feel the least bit self conscious, was totally at ease, and just had fun being me, being dressed up, and knowing I was getting married. I can’t even remember if we really talked. I think we did while shooting, but then there’s that fuzzy bride memory.

Finally around 10:40 or so, we decided to head downtown to the Sheraton Hotel on the roof of which Greg and I shared our first flirty moments with each other. Tomme even makes walking down the street a photo shoot! Not an opportunity slips past her or Erica. Tomme was walking in the front occasionally jogging forward and turning around to snap pictures, and Erica was behind doing the same. I definitely felt like a movie star with an entourage posing in front of buildings, crossing the street, kissing, and hugging. Once inside the Sheraton, Greg, Tomme, and I shared private elevator ride to the top floor *wink*. Here we discovered Greg was not a fan of my sticky lip gloss!

**side ramble about the amazing-ness of Tomme**

All lip gloss aside; I do have to say that in both shoots I’ve done with Tomme thus far, Greg is her crowning achievement in my eyes. As much as I look at the pictures and say “Man, she made me look HAWT!,” the primary thing that sticks out in my mind is just how comfortable she makes Greg in front of the camera. Before our engagement shoot, I was so worried, because he has always been a behind the camera person, and let’s face it: Men don’t generally like having their picture taken. Greg is a photographer, his dad is a photographer, his uncle was a photographer, etc. Comfort being the subject isn’t exactly in his DNA. However, Tomme gets to talking with him fabulously and he just loosens and flows to the point that he even helps my awkward self move to where I need to be!

**return to timeline**

Once we were met by the rest of the group, we sadly realized that the roof of the Sheraton had been changed substantially, but we still made it work. Tomme once again was a fearless leader, moving things about the bar that the roof had become and directing us where she wanted. Hope the wait staff upstairs didn’t mind us relocating everything. I’m pretty sure none of us put it back.

Even waiting on the elevator shots were being taken. Even going back down the elevator more shots were taken. One I especially love is of the two of us coming out of the elevator holding the doors and kissing. So much time utilization. If I did that at work, I’d be so productive. Instead, I’m writing this! Oops.

12:25pm: Then of course, we return back to our ceremony and reception site predictably a bit behind time. At this point, my response is “What the hell? It’s a wedding!” The ceremony was supposed to start at 12:30! At this point, I honestly lost track of Tomme until after the ceremony, for obvious reasons. One surprise however, was Erica up in the balcony when we were getting ready to walk down the aisle! I saw my sister waving like an idiot up at the balcony of the house and I, in big sister fashion, look at her as if she is an idiot. Lo and behold, Erica is upstairs taking pictures! Every angle covered.

During the ceremony, I had absolutely no awareness of photographers anywhere. The only thing I was aware of was my shaking knees, Greg making a silly face, my telling him not to make me laugh at the point in my vows where I was promising to make him laugh, and ending up laughing instead of crying. If you haven’t gotten there yet, I hope your ceremony is just like that. It was awesome.

After the ceremony, the herding of cats commenced. Greg’s family was fabulous. They were where they needed to be when they needed to be. My family however, wandered off immediately if their picture wasn’t being taken at that moment exactly. (To any of my family potentially reading this, I love you but it’s true and you know it!) Tomme’s skill with Greg apparent does work on other beings. She was able to make my parents hug (Squee) and look cute and lovey! I think we got some nice family portraits, and I have a pretty awesome picture of me almost licking my sister’s face that I’m  pretty excited about. Who would have thought? Family pictures made fun!

What I loved though, is that after this, after stealing our rings for ring shots, and the eating and everything, Tomme took advantage of every spare moment to snap a few more pictures, steal us away for a few more moments, and in reality it gave us a nice bit of alone time away from all the chattering family. Alone time with Tomme is definitely worth it. She gave us a chance to just talk, be silly with each other, be silly with her, and have fun. I think Greg’s mom knew where to find us whenever we weren’t readily available by following the sound of shutter clicks.

Tomme initially entered into my life as a potential wedding vendor who I begged and pleaded with to shoot my wedding, knowing I couldn’t afford her. I was just that in love with her work. I eventually managed to get money wrangled in, and we managed to work up a deal. With all of her editing (and trust me guys, she puts a lot of work into her editing), she’s on her computer a lot, we became chat buddies and began talking and texting regularly. My car is a local only vehicle (barely that anymore) and we live in Columbia, so our first face to face meeting was at our engagement session in Charleston. I’m really glad to be able to say, that not only have I found someone I can continue to have chronicle big moments in mine and my family’s life (I’m so going to be doing maternity pics one day down the line), but also a really good girlfriend and confidant.

The moral of the story from this Bride is this: Love your photographer, be willing to do that crazy stuff she comes up with, give her the time she needs and your pictures will show the results, and practice smiling for hours on end a few days before the wedding, otherwise your face will hurt.

…..

What a great blog! Thank you Natalie and Greg for taking the time to write about your experience! We enjoyed sharing your day with you! It was a great trip to Columbia! Hopefully out next trip will be to TRASH THAT DRESS! *wink*

Looks a lot rockier than our beaches.

And we had about 40 minutes or so to get me to the airport.. we venture to where we parked…….yet there was no CAR! Attention to those of you who may go to BOSTON on a TUESDAY!! Heed our warning!

I, again got the BOYS.. and I never complain. Guys are fun. They entertain one another and that makes my job pretty easy.

but I got to sneak in just a couple of the ladies…

Ok, I tried to highlight some of the goodies. There are SEVERAL amazing images from the wedding. I don’t envy Gwyn having to diminish the load.

On a side note: LoftNoire is running a pre holiday SPECIAL. Any session booked is eligible for a *FREE* album. You heard me right! Since all he wants for Christmas is YOU! You may as well deliver!

Until next week.

xoxo

I feel the need to tell you about something that makes me smile  —   I have a WONDERFUL collection of koozies thanks to my couples, thank you for allowing our beverages to stay cool.  We prob have about 50 different koozie couples. 

I also don’t know if you know this, but  I keep a small photo collection of my couples, if we do an e sesh (or a bridal) I put one on my fridge… sometimes couples will send me ‘Save the date’ magnet , so I have the majority of my couples greet me at the fridge every morning – I will have to take a pic and show you, a collage of all my friends that just so happened to hire me to take great images for them. All these smiling lovebirds that make me happy b/c I’ve taken photos of them, being in love with each other, ME – doing what I love. Yeah, I adore those pics! There are a couple things that I like to do to get my day started on the right track & you guys being on my fridge, reminding me of what I love every day.. sets that pace for me. 

Well, I got to shoot Robin Wright-Penn and Orlando Bloom recently. Ok, not exactly BUT that’s who Megan and Ian look like to me.  Jim says that Ian looks like Charlie Sheen, but I don’t see that. I think he’s much more Orlando.

What I DO know is how photogenic they are. I spent lots of time with them and felt like I got to know them tremendously. And, as fortunate as I end up…..I’d love to hang out with them again at another time.  They are just that like-able. 

Megan is going to school to get her MD. And I’m so touched by her gentle soft nature and how SWEET she is.  I have a background in medicine, and MOST female dr’s were a little harsh.. So I’m really enamoured that Megan is going to be such a great Dr. with such a FABULOUS bedside manner… her patients will love her.

Ian is finishing up his PhD and they have moved to Lexington, KY.. which is where some of my family is from. I’m jealous they will get to sip mint juleps and go to the Derby. Kentucky really is an undiscovered beauty.. Lexington is actually a pretty nice area.. with BLUEgrasses and rolling hills, and horses that run full speed for miles and miles…….also the fans of UK there are pretty committed to their teams. I have pictures of myself when I was 13 – I have a UK Wildcats tank top on.. with HAIR WINGS, lots of aqua net and pin striped pants. I could also find that for you and you would prob never want to hire me, but my love for UK started long ago.. so guys, don’t forget to invite me sometime.

Ok, pics already…………

I had some really cool lenses and I love how just the sequin part of this dress is focused and the other is soft and dreamy. Love that. 

Her bouquet was bright and brilliant and really stood out.

Orlando’s debut.

Pretty darn photogenic, huh?

Her expression coming down the aisle.

and HIS expression seeing her come down the aisle. This is classic.

Man, I loved this fountain.

We chased them in our car and caught up to the limo!

I’m trying to decide if this my favorite shot of the night. So many ….

Megan with her pops.  I so loved how her dress would just cascade thru the air like that. I don’t always get dresses that have so much movement so I think I really tried to capitalize on how hers moved. 

And this was the ‘vette that Ian was really excited to rush Megan off to the hotel!! I am not sure if he was excited about driving that vette or just getting to the hotel, wink wink

Well, that’s all for tonight. I will catch up with you again next week! xoxo

Couple things first.  I want to tell you about LinkedIn . It’s a networking community to connect and get/give recommendations. I am there so come and link in to me. If I’ve shot your wedding and have been happy w your results, give me a recommendation. If you hated the job I did at your wedding.. well, you can just send me a nastygram instead. OUCH!

You can also find me on facebook.  I have a fan page where I post tips and information daily.   Any advice or recommendations you want to throw my way, you are welcome to add to my wall.  Ideas are communal. You guys are very resourceful so throw whatever you come across my way for another bride to benefit from or spawn another idea. 

And Mark Sanford. Sigh! Come on already!

/end of that rant before it begins.

Now, YAY! Candrea and Todd and some background info. 

I used to work with Candrea a long time ago, back in the day! I was thrilled she asked me to do her wedding.  I really had an advantage with her b/c I knew her so well. I knew what she liked and didn’t, and we could be open with each other about many things. At first she wasn’t sure about her engagement images b/c her nor Todd had really never had photos taken before.. so it was tough for them to see themselves in the images.  Here’s one on flickr .  And, I prob. shocked the stuffing out of her when I had them HORIZONTAL in the sand rolling around. Listen, that’s my goal ALL the time. The words I hear w my work.. Romantic, Sexy, Inspiring… I have a rep to live up to!!

I love how Erica was fanning out her dress and I got the movement. I love movement in photos, whereas some people thing they are flawed.. I actually do it intentionally most of the time. I love the human element of being moving it gives to the images.

If you’ve been on FB lately.. this is all redundant and you’ve seen some of these. But these are some of my favs.  The wedding was held at Dunes West . I had shot there once before but I quickly recalled why it was one of my favorite places to shoot. The sun goes down over the water behind this amazing oak tree with spanish moss being a careful attendant applauding in the wind.. it is really a majestic location….

They have this amazing window there and I just couldn’t get enough of it. I love this one of her…

Candrea’s G’ma and her reaction to seeing her in the dress. How cute is that?

I love Todd’s laugh. He is such a gentle kind BIG HUGE guy! He has a sincere warmth to him and I love that we caught this laugh of his. I couldn’t be happier for Candrea that she finally found the Ball to her Goof. I totally stole that from e harmony.

I had my wonderful second shooter, Virgil Bunao available to help who went to school with Todd so it was kind of fun for him and felt like a reunion of sorts. And Jim is of course sweating like a mad man with me, but there by my side the whole time. Thanks to the both of you. 

And, I just couldn’t get over how Candrea eagerly shared the stage w so many GORGEOUS bridesmaids. Holy SCHNIKES!!! Look how beautiful these girls are… 

I always ask my brides if we run short on time – what images are MOST important to them. Candrea has always had so many friends that I knew her answer would be her bms and gm, which have been good friends of them both for several years. So although they are time consuming, esp with large groups…. they are worth it. These are some of the favorited images.

I just can’t get over the wisp of flying hair on the far left corner of this image. Cracks me up!!

Candrea was telling me over one of our business meetings over margaritas (ahem) that her colors were apple green and yellow. I really wasn’t sure at the time how that would look together, I wasn’t reserving judgement but it just sounded unusual. But lo and behold. The colors were fresh and cheery and I love the girls dresses AND that she let them choose either strapless or straps. I really think she did a great job of visualizing her colors and making it all come together!!

Me and this lighting!! Which is new for me…….so I can’t get enuf of it. I love how dramatic and hollywood it looks. I usually don’t do much glam unless we are doing boudoirs… so this is my homage to glam photos.  What do you guys think? Do you like it?

Todd and his mom. I love how big and happy her smile is.

Candrea and her pops minus the fab lighting. ( you miss it don’t you? ) see.

The END.  

Congrats Todd and Candrea. I love you both. And I will certainly, absolutely take you up on the offer to go boating!! As soon as I get some weekend time.

Don’t forget to come see me on my fb page and LinkedIn. Even better, write a testimonial and let other brides know I do ‘meh, okay work’.  I was shocked to find out how many people check out reviews and testimonials before they hire wedding professionals, but it makes perfect sense and I would do the same.

Well, this blog has taken me a mere 6 hours so I’m outta here for tonight and will be back next Wednesday for another……..

HUMPDATE!!!! MUAH

 First, I will yawn you to death with some boring whatevers about the newest and the latests in the life of…… you guessed it.

I am bringing on an assistant to help my already crazy life. I hope this person will be able to keep up with the quirks that I don’t want to have to keep up with.  I want them to be all around Wonderful, Truthful, Honest, have Integrity and Loyalty to the business I’ve created. That’s primarily important to me.  My work is trainable but I can’t train someone to be a good person and that is a MUST for my business. So, keep sending those vibes my way !!! Can you just keep including me in your prayers constantly? I’m sure there will always be something I can use a talk to the Angels about. Just make yourself a default prayer.. ‘God, I know that Tomme is out there somewhere and she is sure to need something or the other.. do you mind helping her out a little?’ I thank you kindly in advance. 

I also wanted to let you know that most bridal publications won’t accept work submitted BY photographers to publish. They will only accept submissions by brides. Hint, Hint. Free advertising! And would be cool to put magazine postings in all your neighbors mailboxes.. I’m sure they had no ideal how cool you really were. 

Por ejemplo: The Knot, Modern Bride, Charleston Weddings, Offbeat Brides, and the list goes on and on…

And now, today’s post  is brought to you by the ‘Can’t wait to play with more of my lighting photography sensei’…… and let’s showcase Emily and Ben. Who’s wedding was at Folly Beach, SC. 

Once again, Emily and Ben gave me so much time to do photos of them and were so patient, that I have Sooo many photos that are AWESOME, that this isn’t even a small percentage of them… woot, woot. I got to play and use some different lighting to shake things up for myself.. and in the process, I hope they love their story retold through my eyes. xoxo

Shoes !!!!!  Whether it’s rhinestones, or a broach, or just ANY kind of flair. I’ve always thought accessories add such a punch, so don’t forget your shoes!  Emily and Ben’s saying to one another is they love each other to the moon…  How touching is it they have this saying together? Love that. 

These are the details from the day. I was in rush mode and forgot to taste the cake. But it looked good!

We decided to meet beforehand to utilize time.  

The sun was going down and I was running out of time fast!!! … I don’t often get rings that have a shiny surface, most are a brushed metal, so I had to go with this one even tho there was almost zero lighting left. I had to get Emily reflected in the ring. Valiant effort!

Let’s not be naive. Group shots can be tough. They really used to be MY LEAST favorite part of a wedding.. groups can be hard and that’s no secret – people wander off, they aren’t happy about taking pics in the first place, but I made a pact w myself LONG ago that I wouldn’t let it defeat me and I’d  try to make it fun for everyone — I know it’s the least favorite part of the wedding– having to cheese for the cam. Why not make it as fun as we can. So, make sure your family is wanting to have a little fun and if they are stiff and squeeze their buttcheeks together too tight all too often then let me know and we will olan mills them…

Me, playing with light. In the dark. And you thought there were only a few crazy things to do in the dark, you pervert! 

They rented and stayed at the coolest beach house. It really had great lighting. Look how soft and warm it looks.. good job, guys. I’m sure when you were renting beach houses, you were thinking about me and the great lighting and that’s why you chose the house you did. I really appreciate that. 

And this was the last shot I got of the night. I was playing w my remote lights and it was PITCH black – I was trying to set up poses in the complete dark… so until the image was captured I had no idea how this looked. I was amazed. I LOVE this shot. I have SEVERAL, SEVERAL favorites of the night.. but this was a happy accident. 

Love you guys Ben and Emily. I am so glad I got to spend your day with you and our relationship is by far from over… thank goodness, generally I get all choked up when it’s a done deal w my brides. 

As for me… I will see you next week. 

xoxoxo