This time next week we will be setting up the venue, rehearsing + starting the celebration at the rehearsal dinner. crazy! So since the countdown is on, I wanted to reveal a huge detail–our photographer! We are thrilled to be working with Anna May Photography for our big day! Every single one of the gorgeous photos you see in this post were taken by Anna. Wait until you scroll through and see how eye catching they all are!
Nailing down photography was at the very tip top of the list for Ethan and I. We started looking around for someone the week after we got engaged because we know how important it is.
Photography is something we both are passionate about. Ethan and I are visual people and photos are how we remember holidays, vacations + experiences. In our opinion, they are the best souvenir from a trip. The pictures that we take are what we use for art in our house.
So, it’s only fitting that we value the photography aspect of our wedding. We all know, the wedding industry has gotten a little out of hand. And I have been guilty of giving into this myself.. I probably ended up spending too much time and money designing little things like custom napkins. And while I am excited about all those details, I know it is important to stop and think about the event as a whole. The small touches come and go. If we are honest, they could be skipped all together and it would be totally fine. What remains are the photos. What is truly important are the photos. They are what we will have forever. What we will frame to have in our home and what we will show our family + friends years later.
They are how we will keep the love from our wedding night alive. How we will remember the celebration.
But here’s the kicker–if your photos are underwhelming then this whole concept flops. Finding the right photog is crucial.
I can’t tell you how many light, bright and airy wedding photos I have seen. People love them. And that’s great. But that just isn’t what makes our hearts flutter. Ethan and I wanted something different and unique. Something that did not seem like typical wedding photos. Something that had depth, used light in an interesting way, played on a high contrast, wasn’t afraid of shadows and took chances with poses + positioning + angles.
I, of course, took to IG for my search. I sent Ethan several photographers that I found and we both agreed that we were over the moon with Anna May’s work. We knew that if she was available then we would look no further! Thankfully we were able to book with her for November 10th!!
I am sure I will have more to rave about after the wedding but for now here is what I can tell you..
She’s been the perfect mix of professional + kind. That balance is key when working with someone and I am glad to know it will carry on to our big day as well. She got back to me via email so quickly prior to booking and she was able to answer all my questions while making me feel both at ease and excited.
Meet Anna. Isn’t she gorge??
Anna also proved to be so helpful with our timeline which was a huge plus! We booked with her before we nailed anything else down besides the venue and date. So she actually hopped on a phone call with me, discussed details and created a timeline for the day of the wedding for us! I cannot even begin to tell you how relieving this was. I felt like I had hired a wedding planner which was ahh-maze since we do not have one. We started off by looking at what time the sun would set on our wedding day (5:33pm!) and then from there nailed down the time of the ceremony. Once we decided on a 5:30 start time, then Anna worked backwards to lay out time slots for hair/makeup, our first look, our family photos, etc. She worked in time to begin cocktails and when to start eating and from there could determine when we needed to do anything organized (like first dances, toasts, etc). All of this allowed her to plan how many hours total she needed to be at our event shooting in order to capture everything. After our call she shot me a an email with this timeline. Being able to pass this along to all our other vendors and family has made all the other planning aspects of the day possible. It’s also been great to have the peace of mind of having someone who is so experienced on board. It takes all the guessing out of it. I wouldn’t even have known where to start, would have been super overwhelmed and would have spent months second guessing my choices I made on common sense rather than experience. I have confidence that Anna has worked enough weddings to where she has it down to a science! ps, our videographer confirmed this when I passed the timeline along to him. He said something to the effect of, “Oh, I can tell how experienced your photographer is by her wedding day timeline. Everything is going to go smoothly.” so in my book that was a huge value add!
Anna is based out of the Louisville, KY area but traveling for shoots does not scare her off. In fact, she welcomes it! Anna loves to travel and has a passion for it. She’s done work both nationally and internationally. Recently when I was texting her back and forth she was in Australia! Now, first of all–jealous. And, second of all–the way she keeps up correspondence with her clients is impressive, right? She was still responding to me from around the globe! If you have a project in mind reach out to her. She’s so easy to chat with.
Also important to note–she is not strictly a wedding photographer. She shoots all sorts of things. Portraits, engagements shoots, family photos, pregnancy shots, travel scenery.. you name it! And she makes it fab!
I, for one, cannot wait to work with her and it’s a part of our wedding that Ethan is REALLY pumped about too! I will include all of Anna’s contact info below. Let me know if you book with her too! xx
Anna May’s Instagram – @anna_may_photography
Anna May’s Website – annamayphotography.com
Anna May’s Email – annamayphotography@gmail.com
