NC Guide 2013

weddingscrystal genes photography

2013

THE ULTIMATE GUIDEto planning the perfectphotographyexperience

INCLUDINGwedding day timelineengagement session vendors & your album

Crystal GenesPhotography

contentsspring/summer 2012

in this issue

3 welcome a letter from us

4 from our fans

6 the timeline

7 the process how we do things

8 vendors we love

9 it’s all in the details flowers, cakes & things

11 your first heirloom the wedding album

15 land of OZ

23 engagement session why you need one

25 our pricing

13sabrina & wille

17 personalize your details

where to find us

www.crystalgenes.net

www.crystalgenesblog.net

www.facebook.com/crystalgenesphotography www.pinterest.com/crystalgenes/

www.twitter.com/crystalgenes

contact us today! www.crystalgenes.netcrystal - [email protected] - [email protected], nc & portland, or (serving worldwide)

A bridal session provides a great opportunity to have a test-run with your hair and makeup stylists

welcome letter

photo credit: tracy turpen photography

3

Hello! Thank you so much for your interest in us and our work. We truly LOVE what we do and feel so lucky to be able to share our talent with so many wonderful brides and grooms the world over.

It’s important that you find a photographer whom you love and trust to capture the story of your day. It’s important that you can see yourself in the work that your photographer shows in their portfolio. The story only hap-pens once and it deserves the best coverage.

We know that the planning process can be overwhelming, but we’re here to help! Please contact us if you have any questions at all. We hope that we get the opportunity to be the storytellers for your big day.

warmly, Crystal

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We love the photos from the wed-ding as well as the engagement. You both have such a skill for capturing a moment - we could not have found a

better pair of photographers!

Alyssa & Kyle

You are such an artist! My parents are in awe of your work (as am I!) I am

amazed at how your photos transpose me right back to the sheer bliss that

was Oct. 9th!

xoxo - Laura & Chris

I just had to let you know how much I love the pictures! They are abso-

lutely gorgeous!! I could look at them for days and days! The best decision I have ever made (aside from marrying my best friend) was choosing you as

my photographer!

Christina & Braxton

Letters From Our Couples

See more reviews on

Ben and I have won WeddingWire.com Bride’s Choice award for the past 3 years in a row and couldn’t be more thrilled! To see more reviews from our couples visit the link below or scan the QR Code for direct access.

www.weddingwire.com/crystalgenesphotography

Some places you may have seen our work :

The Knot NCSouthern Weddings Blog

Carolina Bride BlogRuffled

White ThreadBubbly BrideThe Funfetti

Where Charlotte

5

Make a fashionable entrance by keeping your timeline in check

Wedding party portraits outside Poplar Grove Plantation, Wilmington, North Carolina

Getting Your Ducks in a Rowhow to make the most of your wedding day timeline

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1 Hour Before CeremonyYour guests will start to arrive up to 1 hour before the ceremony, so unless we can be well hidden, or you don’t care if they see you, we often finish portraits by this time. Groomsmen are often needed for seating guests and the bride will like to have a bit of time to relax and breathe! This is often a great time for us to scout the ceremony site and/or take photos of your reception space completely deco-rated.

Just After CeremonyIf you aren’t having a first look, we’ll need to start portraits im-mediately after the ceremony, which means a receiving line is often not ideal. It can take up to one full hour for these formal and fun portraits, so be sure everyone you’d like to be there knows that they are needed. Set up a secret lo-cation for everyone to meet right after so that you don’t get caught in the crowd. Since outdoor cer-emonies should be scheduled as closely as possible to sunset, this is often the best time for portraits of the bride and groom alone. Amaz-ing light.

It’s All Cake From HereGenerally, after the formal photos are finished, it’s time to party and enjoy your day! Another reason we recommend a first look and getting portraits done before the ceremony.

3 Hours Before CeremonyGenerally you should be just finishing up with your hair and makeup when we arrive. We’ll get a few shots of your finishing touches and then we’ll be ready to photograph you getting into your dress! One of us will often be with the guys getting ready at the same time.

2 Hours Before CeremonyThis is when you should plan for your first look, if you’re having one. After the first look we will also photograph the whole wed-ding party. If you’d like, it’s also a great time to do as many fam-ily portraits as well. Otherwise, we’ll start with the bride and her bridesmaids and finish with the groom and his groomsmen.

A Note About PlanningIf photography is one of the most im-portant aspects of your wedding day (which we hope it is) then you’ll want to make sure you schedule plenty of time into your day to ensure we can capture your full vision. While we do work in a very unobtrusive style and tend to let the story unfold before us as we capture it, some scheduled time is needed to capture some as-pects that simply can’t be covered in a photojournalistic style. And, even more important is to consider what time of the day you are scheduling portraits to be made. Light to a good photographer is EVERYTHING. How we, specifically, work with light is essential to our style. If you are having an outdoor ceremony, plan-ning it to occur as close to sunset as possible is key. Here is an ideal time-line for a full day’s worth of coverage.

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What to Expectfrom before the big day to after your honeymoon

3-4 weeks before the weddingWe’ll get together a few weeks before the big day to discuss your final timeline, talk about the important aspects of the day, and select your album options.

2 weeks before the weddingFinal balance on your wedding photography col-lection is due 2 weeks before the weeding. We’ll send an email to touch base about any changes to the timeline and make sure everything is set to go!

1 week after the weddingBe on the lookout on our blog and Facebook for a sneak of our wedding favorites. We try to get the sneak peek up as soon as possible to hold you over until the album design is released!

3-4 weeks after the weddingWe’ll get together a few weeks after your wedding to reveal, review, and finalize your album design.

4-8 weeks after the weddingThe previews are posted, the album has been designed and ordered, next we focus on edit-ing the rest of the images that made up your day and host them all on an online proof-ing and ordering gallery for everyone to see!

5-8 weeks after the weddingOnce your album has been ordered and your images edited for the online gallery, we’ll be preparing your digital files on disc and getting those shipped out to you.

10 weeks after the weddingYou should receive all products ordered by this time.

1 year after the weddingYou’re celebrating your first anniversary! We guar-antee storage of your images for one year. Make sure you have backed up your digital files for safe keeping.

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Hire The Best of the BestVendor Spotlight

Cakes & SweetsWHITE ROSE BAKERYPortland, ORwww.whiterosebakery.com(503) 432-6607

BLISS CUPCAKE SHOPPortland, ORwww.blisscupcakeshop.com(503) 645-6000

SUGAR SHAPESPortland, ORFind them on Facebook!

Make-UpPOWDER INC.Portland, ORwww.powderincbeauty.com

FlowersBLOOMSBERRY FLORALPortland, ORwww.bloomsberryfloral.com877-883-4677

CREATIONS BY LYPortland, ORwww.creationsbyly.com(503) 860-2195

Event Design/CoordinatorBASH! WEDDINGS & EVENTS NWPortland, ORwww.basheventsnw.com(503) 593-9990

VideographyBLACK LABEL STUDIOSwww.blacklabeleventfilms.com(503) 799-2944

CateringCRAVE CATERINGwww.cravepdx.com(503) 224-0370

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Will your bouquet be vibrant or soft?Perhaps you’ll consider handmade invites?

How tall will your cake be?Why not have a signature cocktail or two?

...it’s all in the details!

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11

The Storybook of Your DayYour First Family Heirloom

The wedding album is the culmination of months of hard work, planning, excitement, and love. It’s the one tangible piece of the wedding day that you can continue to enjoy for years after the wedding is over. In the blink of an eye the months of prepara-tion and anticipation come together perfectly for one day made up of several hours and all the people you love and then just as quickly it passes and becomes a memory. Hold on to those memories better with a custom created storybook that you can cherish and pass down to your children and grandchildren as a token of your time, style, and love.

Digital images and consumer grade diy photo books are a novelty. Digital files might sound nice to have but they are not practical in the way of your invest-ment. We hear time after time from past brides that they received their digital files, stored them away in a drawer to get around to later, and still haven’t found the time to revisit the images. Years later they still don’t have actual images from their special day. Life gets in the way and before you know it, your disc becomes corrupted or technology has moved on. Diy photo books are printed with low quality inks that fade and smear over time. Pages are thin and can bend and rip. They quickly find a hiding place on the bookshelf because the value is lacking.

We feel it’s our duty and obligation, as the storytellers of your day, to make sure your images get the atten-tion they deserve. Before life moves on and the next thing you know you’re investing in childrens portraits and can’t even remember where your wedding disc is, do yourself a favor and preserve the story of your love now. You won’t regret it. We promise.

4

Be sure to use several images from your wedding day as wall art for your home

13

Sabrina &

WillePuerto Rico * April 21

at Hacienda Siesta Alegre

The Bride Sabrina Goins, 24, a grant writer in Charlotte, NC

The Groom Wille Colon, 25, writer

How They Met They were high school sweet-hearts, split for a while, then reunited

How Long Engaged 14 months

Their Wedding Style Clean and romantic, “Something Like a Fairytale”

the bridal bouquetThe bridal bouquet was made

of purple orchids, white hydrangea,and purple roses.

the locationThe bride always envisioned a

wedding in a magical far away placeand since they both have family on

island, it was a no brainer.

the inspirationThe hacienda, located in the rainforest

in Rio Grande provided fairytale inspira-tion without being too princess like.

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The Programs They’ve been told their love

story reads like a novel, so sincethey are both writers they played on their theme by writing a fairytale of

their love for their programs.

The Bridesmaids The bridesmaids wore Dessy twist

wrap dresses, each wrapped differently.

The Day AfterThe couple were married in the rain-

forest, but loved the colors and mood of Old San Juan, so they woke really

early the day after their wedding for a Day-After sunrise session around the

old town, getting gorgeous images.

3

Quirky Twist

Finding inspiration from unique locations can be all part of the fun in

making the day uniquely you!*

Land of Oz, Beech Mountain, NCGil & Heather Gatch

44

A TABLE FOR TWO

Flowers by Bless Your Heart Blooms,Blowing Rock, NC. Table numbers

by One of a Kind Design by Megan Brusca, Worldwide.

SWEET AND SAUCY

Menu and paper products by One of a Kind Design by Megan Brusca,

Worldwide. Cake by The Looking Glass Bakery, Charlotte, NC.

TALE OF TWO BOUQUETS

Flowers by Bless Your Heart Blooms, Blowing Rock , NC. Dress from

Angolique Bridal, Mooresville, NC. Shoes, vintage.

your engagement session...If either of you are a little camera shy, or don’t like a lot of attention, you may be considering skipping out on an engagement session. We often hear, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to talk my future husband into it, he doesn’t like having his picture taken.” But that’s just another reason why an engagement session is almost a necessity to the wedding experience.

Even if you don’t see yourself doing much with the images from an engagement session, we highly recommend that you take advantage of the complimentary session that comes with every wedding booked with us. And if you are planning from afar, we often schedule the session for the day before the wedding so you don’t miss out.

The engagement session is a great opportunity for us to get to know the two of you and your relationship better. We can see how you interact most comfortably with each other as well as how you best respond to our directions. We can play around with angles to find your best poses, and just generally get comfortable working together. You’ll also get used to our shooting style and know what to expect from us.

Even if your future hubby has a hard time loos-ening up for the engagement session, it’ll make loosening up for the wedding a breeze! We try to make it a fun adventure without a lot of pressure, so just relax and enjoy getting snuggly with your other half! We’ll do the magic.

Rules of Engagement

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The place he proposed What’s more special than revis-iting the place that started you on this journey?

Bring along your pets Why not bring along the four legged members of your fam-ily? Besides, they always ease the nerves!

Show off fun talents Every-one has one. What’s yours?

Incorporate your hobbies Love to tandem bike? Love to cook together? Let’s figure out a way to show it!

Revisit your first date Let’s take it back to the start.

Support your sports team Bring out your favorite sports jerseys or memorabilia or let’s head to the stadium!

Your favorite restaurant We can grab a few shots with your favorite desert.

Your favorite coffee shop Coffee lovers? Spend your weekends reading in their com-fy couches? You get the idea.

Your favorite view Have a favorite view of your city? Let’s show it off!

Take a hike Are you out-doorsy and active? Where’s your favorite trail?

Plan a picnic It’s hard to get more romantic than a private picnic in a scenic location with a bottle of wine and flowers.

Do a theme and dress up Love the 20s? 50s? Go vintage or go glam.

Get comfy in your homeAre you most comfortable in your own space? Perfect.

Theme of your weddingIncorporate images that go with the theme of your wed-ding to display on the big day.

Amusement parks What’s more fun than the teacups?!

Great ideas for a fun engagement session...

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The Wedding Collectionsa quick pricing overview...

The Destination10 Hours Wedding Day Coverage

2 PhotographersOnline Proofing Gallery

Full Disc of Images with Printing Rights$200 Print Credit

$1000 Album Credit4 4x4 Pocket Albums

Best-Of 4x6 Proof Prints in BoxOnline Best-Of Slideshow

150 Event Cards20x30 Gallery Wrap Wall Canvas

Rehearsal Dinner CoverageEngagement Session*

11x14 Wall Print Enlargement from E-SeshDay After or Boudoir Session*

All Wedding Day Travel Included$10,000

The Kitchen Sink9 Hours Wedding Day Coverage




Best-Of 4x6 Proof Prints in BoxOnline Best-Of Slideshow

150 Event Cards16x24 Gallery Wrap Wall Canvas

Rehearsal Dinner CoverageEngagement Session*

11x14 Wall Print Enlargement from E-SeshBridal Session*

$6,895

Little Bit of Everything7 Hours Wedding Day Coverage

Online Proofing GalleryBest-Of Wedding Images with Printing Rights

$100 Print Credit$500 Album Credit

1.5 Hour Engagement Session*$3,395

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With Bells & Whistles9 Hours Wedding Day Coverage




Online Best-Of Slideshow100 Event Cards

Rehearsal Dinner Coverage2 Hour Engagement Session*

11x14 Wall Print Enlargement from E-Sesh$5,395

Little Bit More8 Hours Wedding Day Coverage



$800 Album CreditOnline Best-Of Slideshow

50 Event Cards2 Hour Engagement Session*

$4,395

Our Most Popular Collection!

Just Enough6 Hours Wedding Day Coverage


11x14 Wall Print Enlargement1 Hour Engagement Session*

$2,495

Keep it Simple5 Hours Wedding Day Coverage


Half-Hour Engagement Session*$1,995

Choose from one of seven pre designed collec-tions and keep it as it is, or add on to it! If you’re excited about having us as your wed-ding photographers and one of these collections looks like what you’re looking for, let us know! We also have numerous a-la-carte options avail-able if you need additional hours or extra prod-ucts. Just ask. Love our style but don’t see what you’re looking for here? Let us know and we can create a custom collection for you based on your needs and your budget!

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever. . .

it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything”

- Aaron Sussman

AVAILABLE FOR TRAVEL [email protected] | www.crystalgenes.net

NC Guide 2013

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