Well you’re about to find out!

Jessica from Lemongrass Photography has graciously offered to let us in on what goes on behind the scenes after the pictures have been snapped and the work that happens to make your pictures beautiful!

{All images on this post are credited to Lemongrass Photography}

Jessica says her images are “fresh and bright and happy” and loves natural light to capture truly beautiful photos. “I love to have couples laugh and talk and kiss and hug, just like they would if I wasn’t there. I do this by kinda “setting up” a couple in a great spot, and then just letting them interact. I don’t “pose” them, instead I let their personalities shine through.”

As for a typical wedding day timeline, Jessica says she likes to keep things as simple as possible for the bride & groom. Here are a few Lemongrass “perks” a bride & groom can expect on their wedding day:

• Wedding day – take photos
• Reception – see a sneak peek of photos in a slideshow (Author’s side note: OMG, how does she do this so quickly?!)
• Wedding night/next morning – download all images & post a few faves to the Lemongrass blog!
• Two-five days post-wedding – finish editing pictures, design album & post more pics to the blog; add favorites to Facebook & tag the bride and groom
• One week post-wedding – all images are posted to a gallery for family & friends (and bride & groom when they return from their honeymoon!)

Now most of us know at least a little about Photoshop and what it’s used for (image editing), and most photographers rely on some sort of editing after the picture is taken to maximize crispness & color. This is what gives your pictures that extra sparkle & vibrancy! Although Jessica aims to get the picture taken as close to perfect as possible right off of the camera (minimizing post-shoot editing as much as possible), she does use Photoshop to add some “extra oomph” to her photos. Here’s a progression of Jessica’s image editing:

One last important tip from Jessica about wedding photos:

“Photo editing definitely varies from photographer to photographer. I try to do everything in a very formulated manner, so that every image looks similar and they all have a flow and connection – this is super important when designing albums! I always try to take into account the couple, the day, the light… etc when I am creating photos for a couple, both while taking them, and after, during the editing stages. Wedding photographs are so full of love, and joy… they are just beautiful, and I am so lucky to be able to be a part of that!”

Thanks, Jessica, for educating us all on what happens behind the scenes after the wedding day!

And now for one last picture…

{My husband & me on our wedding day!}

I think this project could be replicated with a couple’s monogram or new last name and be a fabulous addition to the guest book table or head table.

Here’s a picture of my bridal show materials all ready to go the night before the bridal show (I had to put them on the mantle because it’s the only place in my house that Mo can’t jump up to… yet…).

{Source – author’s photo}

Materials:

• Medium/large framed canvas painting (I found an old painting with a decent wood frame at Goodwill for $12)
• Vinyl in the design of your monogram/name/whatever (check your local listings for shops that make custom vinyl)
• White Gesso (you can find it in the painting section at Michael’s or other art supply store)
• Medium-sized paint brushes + small paint brushes for detail work
• Paint for the background of your sign (I took my business card to Wal-Mart’s interior paint section and had them color-match some glossy wall paint to the exact color of my card; I bought the pint-sized can of paint)
• Spray paint for the frame (I chose a satin-finish metallic silver color)
• Glue gun & glue sticks
• Razor blade/sharp, pointy object to separate the vinyl from the canvas after painting

Instructions:

1. Carefully remove the canvas from the frame (NOTE: some canvases are stapled pretty securely to the frame, so you might need pliers or another object to aid you in this step).
2. Set the canvas (painting side up) on a flat surface & use the white Gesso to cover up the existing painting (using a medium-sized paint brush). It doesn’t matter if the texture of the original painting is visible – I think that adds to the charm of the resulting sign! Use 2-3 coats, or until the original painting is completely covered and the front of the canvas is entirely white. Long, sweeping strokes from left-to-right is a good Gesso technique for this purpose.
3. When canvas is completely dry, position the vinyl on top of the canvas wherever you would like your monogram/name/whatever to be. Try to make sure there are no gaps between the vinyl and the canvas (minimizes paint seeping underneath).
4. Paint over the vinyl with the glossy color paint & a medium-sized paint brush. Cover the entire canvas with paint & apply a few even coats.
5. Before the color paint has a chance to dry completely, you need to peel off the vinyl to expose the white Gesso underneath. I used one of those razor-blade paper cutters (looks like a clicky pen, but when you click it, a sharp pointy blade comes out instead of a pen) to carefully peel away the vinyl from the canvas. Don’t worry if some of the color paint seeped under the vinyl – we’ll re-touch it soon!
6. While the canvas is drying, spray paint the frame (use a few coats to ensure even coverage).
7. When the canvas is dry, use the small paintbrushes and the white Gesso to touch up the white areas of the painting (your monogram or name).
8. Allow touched-up areas and spray-painted frame to dry completely.
9. Re-attach the canvas to the frame using a glue gun. I placed the frame face-down and glue-gunned the entire inner-rim of the frame, then placed the canvas face down into the rim. I kept the frame & canvas face-down for a while, to let the glue set.

{Source: author’s photo}

Result: A chic, repurposed, hand-made sign that can be used many ways at your wedding, and can be displayed at your house post-wedding as a keepsake/memento!

You already know the names of the people you invited to your wedding, and if you sent out invitations, you already have their address… Hmm. The guestbook seems a bit superfluous!

More and more couples are opting out of the guestbook tradition, and I completely understand why! Here’s what ends up happening: You order a journal-like book that has 100+ pages and only a few of the pages end up being used. You are left with something that is definitely sentimental, but hardly used! After my wedding, I used some of the extra pages in my guestbook to record gifts that people gave me, but I still have about 75% of my guestbook unused. So why not explore other ideas??

One option I really like is the “wish jar”.

{Source: this image is from MarthaStewart.com, but I grabbed it from BridalBuds.com & can’t find the original Martha link!}