Weddingbee Blog

We put photography at the top of our wedding-day-vendor priority list. I mean we really splurged on it, waaay more than any sane person with our budget would. Yuppers, we’re dedicating a little over a third of our $15,000 total budget to book our favorite, Tanja Lippert.

Here’s just a glimpse of her talent:

Photo by Tanja Lippert Source

And:

Photographs by Tanja Lippert Source

How in wedding tarnation are we affording said photography, you ask? We did some serious penny pinching in all other areas. Mamma and Papa Paisley bought my dress; we’re having a locally-made, affordable wedding cake; homegrown DIY flowers; and our “venue”? Welps, it’s my beloved grandma’s house, so, it’s free! All these savings meant we could swing having Tanja Lippert capture our day.

Since we want pretty pictures, we want to provide the best backdrops possible for our wedding day poses! As such, we’ve scheduled our afternoon (the ceremony will be at 6PM) at some gorgeous locales.

Our wedding is in my hometown––a rural area north of Napa, called Lake County. The Paisley bridesmaids and I will get our hair and makeup done together in a small beauty salon, which has generously offered to supply mimosas (that should help a little with wedding-day jitters!). Sadly, we couldn’t afford for Tanja to be there these extra hours, but my talented big brother Paisley will be on hand to capture the gussyin’ up and guzzlin’ (of mimosas)!

Then we’ll make the 5 min. drive to The Clear Lake Bed and Breakfast, which we’ve booked for the weekend. We plan to get dressed here while Tanja captures it all:

The Clear Lake Bed & Breakfast Source

But hold on—on our way from the salon to the B&B, we’ll stop at this cute gazebo:

Source

Once at the Clear Lake B&B, we’ll get dressed in its largest suite. This picture looks pretty dark, but the room boasts six french doors and a private balcony facing the lake, which will let plenty of natural light stream in. This room will be Professor Paisley’s and my wedding night suite as well:

Source

Then we’ll mosey on out to the B&B’s veranda. The house is so close to the lake, you can plop a fishing line straight into the water without even leaving the porch:

Source

By the way, I can’t wait to relax on the veranda with my new husband on our wedding night:

Source

I’m sure we’ll take some group shots on the veranda:

Source

Maybe at this angle, to show off all 19 miles of my favorite lake, Clear Lake:

Source

We’ve arranged for an antique Chris Craft boat to pick up our photographers and us and take us across the lake to grandma’s in plenty of time for our evening ceremony.

Antique boats at the Clear Lake Wood & Glory Boat Parade Source

Never fear, the boat’s owner/driver will go about 15-20 MPH to reduce wind damage to my hair. But who am I kidding? I still might chicken out about the wind and splashing lake water ruining my hair, and use the boat just for photographs, rather than as the actual mode of transportation to the ceremony.

If I don’t chicken out, we’ll boat across here:

Photo by Peter Wilson (brother Paisley)

And arrive at grandma’s dock:

Photo by Peter Wilson

Then we’ll hop out and walk over to…

… the field! We’re lucky that instead of across-the-street neighbors, grandma’s house has this enormous meadow! This photo above shows the top of the field looking down toward grandma’s house, which is hidden at the base where the trees and the lake are.

We’ll probably say to hell with the prickly star thistle and run in full regalia all around it:

… Yup, I’m pretty sure Professor Paisley and I will do some prancing, The Sound of Music-style, because in summertime it’s too pretty not to, with its beautiful golden grass (and yes, some star thistle–yikes!):

There’s Mount Konocti, a volcano, in the background.

Hopefully we can squeeze it all in! If we can’t fit all this photographing in before the ceremony, we’ll have to skip our cocktail hour to go picture-taking at sunset. Heck, even if we fit it all in before, we’ll still have to pose during sunset, both in the field and by the lake, for sure!

Are you planning to stop by any special places to take photographs before your ceremony? Tell me about them! How are you scheduling photography into your big day? All before the ceremony, all after, or a mixture of both?