Conner Family | Cedarock Park | A Burlington, NC Family Photographer

I love that the fall adds lots of sessions to my calendar! I have several sessions coming up that I'm looking forward to! The Conner family has been faithful to have me photograph each of their children at each of the birthdays for over a year now! I have loved getting to know them during each of their sessions. I am SO thankful for all of my repeat clients!

For there session we went to Cedarock Park in Burlingon. This was actually my first time shooting at Cedarock park and I loved it! Here's a few of my favorite shots:

Best of Mother's Day Mini Sessions | Spring Forth Farm

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of working with Spring Forth Farm to provide Mother's Day mini sessions! Spring Forth Farm is a small, family farm in Hurdle Mills, NC that grows flowers. They were hosting an open house event and so we worked together to provide mini sessions in addition to farm tours and bouquets. It was a gorgeous day and a big success and we look forward to hopefully offering mother's mini sessions at their farm again in the future! Also, they just started a wonderful bouquet subscription program and so be sure to check out their website if you're interested in having farm fresh flowers every week! 

Mother's are so special and important and so it was a joy and privilege to capture pictures for several mothers and their families! Here's a few of the highlights from the sessions:

Mother's Day Mini Sessions

I'm so excited to announce that I'll be working with Spring Forth Farm to provide Mother's Day mini sessions during their open house on May 7th! If you are interested in booking a session, please email me at diprimaphotography@gmail.com to reserve your spot (contract and payment required upon booking). Spots are first come first serve and are filling up quickly so please be sure to email me soon!

10 Ways to Save Big on Your Wedding

I totally understand what it's like to be a bride who wants a beautiful wedding that is also affordable! When planning my own wedding, I received some great advice. I was told to pick 2-3 things that I want to prioritize and to spend money in those areas, and to try to cut costs as much as possible in all of the other areas. So I picked my most important priorities: Photographer, catering, and venue. Then I made a budget with those three thing being the priority and then limiting my costs elsewhere. It's really important that you make and budget and that you stick to it! 

1. Order local, in season flowers

You can save a lot of money by ordering flowers that are in season. Look for a farm or a florist who buys seasonal flowers from local famers. For my wedding, I purchased flowers from a farm and my original plan was to arrange them all myself. That got a little too overwhelming and so I ended up paying a little more to have the farm owner put them together for me. If you plan to order local, in season flowers, it is important that you remain somewhat flexible with your colors and types of flowers. Local farms only have so many flowers available and they may not have the exact colors you imagined. However, I always prefer the natural, somewhat wildflower look anyway! Two great options for people in the Raleigh-Durham area are Spring Forth Farm and Pine State Flowers.

2. Rent furniture and decorations

Instead of buying 200 candle holders or multiples of decorations you'll probably never use again, why not rent them? I recommend searching for a vintage rental company. A great option for Raleigh-Durham area weddings is Plume Events!

3. DIY decorations

There are so many great decorations that you can make yourself! I made almost all the decorations for my wedding and I kept things really basic. Pinterest has a lot of great ideas for DIY wedding decorations! You can also find great ideas on Something Turquoise. 

4. Serve a Smaller Cake

Wedding cakes can get really expensive! One way to save a lot of money on your cake is to display a smaller cake and then to have sheet cake in the kitchen that your caterer can cut up and serve to guests. That way, you still have a pretty cake display and your guests will probably never know that the cake they're eating isn't actually part of that display!

5. Buy a sample or secondhand dress

There are a lot of great wedding dress consignments stores out there these days! You can also find many wedding dress options on sites like Tradsey and Preowned Wedding Dresses. Also, you can ask bridal boutiques if they have any sample dresses for sale. Keep in mind that the average wedding dress sample size is a 10 so you may need to be a size 10 or less (if you are a smaller size, you can always get the dress altered).

6. Have a smaller bridal party

This was one that I really had no clue about when I got married! I never thought about the connection between bridal party size and cost and so I had a bridal party with 18 people! Now, I don't regret that at all and I'm so thankful for each person who was in our bridal party. However, if you're trying to cut costs, consider having a smaller party. The reason bigger bridal parties cost more money is because you have to pay for each bridesmaids bouquet (typically $50+/person!), boutonnières, and bridal party gifts. 

7. Invite less guests

When planning my own wedding, I was also pretty unaware of how much each wedding guests costs. If you are serving a full dinner, you're most likely going to spend at least $35/person just on food! One of the things that can most significantly reduce the cost of your wedding is inviting less guests.

8. Borrow or make a veil

I saved $200+ by simply borrowing a veil from a friend. The bride in the picture below on the left had a friend make her veil with tulle and a brooch! You could also consider not having a veil at all.

9. Get married on a Friday/Sunday or during the Off Season

Choosing to have my wedding on a Friday evening was one of the best decisions I made! When you get married on a Friday or Sunday, venues are often less expensive and you typically have a much larger selection of vendors available to you.

10. Skip the favors

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy wedding favors and they're fun to photograph. But if you're trying to cut costs, wedding favors are something you can easily skip and I guarantee that people will not notice. At most weddings I've been to, I've found that over 50% of the guests don't even remember to pick up favors anyway! Hmm...maybe that's why I still have a huge basket of pink matches in my closet 1.5 years after my own wedding?!

I hope you found this post helpful! What are some ways you've found to save money on weddings? 

Pollard Family Pictures | A Durham, NC Family Photographer

I had so much fun taking pictures for the Pollard family! Stephanie found out about me because I photographed her living room for an interior designer a few months ago. The Pollards recently moved into their new home and so they wanted updated family pictures and a few pictures at their new home. We also took pictures in their backyard which backs up to a creek and we had a blast wandering through the woods! Here's a few of my favorites from their session: