Hi Everyone!

Jeff and I are super excited to announce the newest member of the f7 photography team! His name is F7DX1 and he is a Foto-Robot! Which in Earth terms is a photo booth.

Here is his back story -

His name is F7DX1 and he comes from the planet Foton. He came to Earth on vacation and was on his way to Hollywood to photograph celebrity robots, but instead crash landed in Seattle.  He didn’t know that the wet air in our atmosphere would cause his systems to malfunction. He is trying to make some money to repair his spaceship so he can get back to his home planet.  He found us and we offered to be his hosts here on Earth and when we found out that he is a photographer, we knew exactly how he could earn the money he needs to get home. He can photograph your wedding or party event and capture you, your friends, and family doing silly and funny things using his props from his space container.  He even has cool backgrounds that he uses to make you look like you are in a studio. This will also be a great way for him to get to know our species and how we love to celebrate at weddings and parties!

We are super excited to have him on board as our newest offering of a photo booth! He is an advanced robot and uses a real digital SLR camera to provide high quality images.  He also has a very easy to use interface…a touchscreen to make it easy for your guests.  Also, his lighting is similar to that of our own studio lighting.  Oh and he has some fun custom lighting to accent your reception! He creates a photo strip print for each group he photographs and then also loads the digital files onto a website for viewing later. For full details and pricing, please visit his website – www.foto-robot.com

He also wants to get to know lots of humans and thought that a great way to reach out would be with Facebook and Twitter, so please go check him out in the world of social media -

www.facebook.com/fotorobotF7DX1
https://twitter.com/#!/FotoRobotF7DX1

We hope that you’ll want him at your wedding or event!

Love,

Jenny+Jeff

Vendor Details
Photographer: f7 photography
Ceremony Location: Uncle’s Private Residence in Leavenworth
Reception Location: Uncle’s Private Residence in Leavenworth
Dress Designer and Bridal Salon: Allure at Pearls and Lace
Tux/Suit:The Men’s Wearhouse
Hair Stylist: Emily Ramsey from Gene Juarez
Makeup Artist: Bride did her own make-up
Florist: Bride’s bouquet and guys boutonnieres – Heritage Flowers and Gifts, Bridesmaids – silk flowers from simplyserra on Etsy
Rings: Bride – Fabri, Groom – online
Invitations: Minted
Cake: Kingley’s Dimensional Designs
Caterer: DIY
Entertainment: iPod with family as emcee and DJ
Officiant: Robyn Rice – bride’s father
Honeymoon: Florida and Caribbean Cruise

Michelle and Andrew were married at Andrew’s uncle’s house, a beautiful property nestled in the forest above Leavenworth with an amazing view of the Cascades as a backdrop to their ceremony. It was also one of the hottest days of the year, but with all of the trees it kept some of the heat away for them.

Michelle and Andrew’s wedding has the unique distinction of being the 100^th wedding photographed by us at f7 photography. We are so happy that it was their wedding since we actually met Michelle and Andrew at a wedding we photographed in 2008 before they were even officially dating. Although we took pictures of them that day dancing and flirting and knew that someday we might see them again.

Their wedding was truly a family affair.  Not only did they get married at their uncle’s house, but all of the family helped with the details and day of event items like being DJ and food creators. Michelle’s dad actually had two jobs at their wedding; he walked Michelle down the aisle, and then performed the ceremony! It made the ceremony very special and unique for everyone.

Sometimes iPod weddings don’t work, but it worked well at their wedding because they had someone assigned to run the music and DJ/emcee it, so the dance floor was filled for the party, that is definitely the key to success.

One other really fun and unique thing that occurred at their wedding was to pay homage to Michelle’s maiden name which is Rice. They did this at the end of their reception. When they left, they ran through everyone throwing rice at them. What a great way to bring back an old school tradition!

We were truly honored to photograph Michelle and Andrew’s wedding and it was exciting for it to be the 100th time we shot a wedding! We hope you enjoyed checking out some of our favorite moments from their wedding day. Please let us know what you think.

Love,

Jenny+Jeff

Hi Everyone!

When we ask our clients how they envision their wedding day, they always say they want it to be fun, they want their guests to enjoy themselves, and that there is going to be lots of dancing and partying.  Sound familiar?  You see, any good host of a party is always concerned about whether their guests are enjoying themselves.  Music is always a nice backdrop for dinner and conversation.  But for wedding celebrations, music alone doesn’t make the party…it’s the DJ.

Many brides and grooms feel that an iPod connected to a speaker will be sufficient.  Well, if all you want is music playing in the background that may be fine.  But if you are looking for a well-run reception and party, a professional DJ is trained and experienced to ensure that your guests will have a great time and runs the schedule of all the traditional wedding reception rights of passage like toasts, cake cutting, first dances, and bouquet/garter toss.

We have photographed receptions where iPods were used and where professional wedding DJ’s were hired.  There have been a few cases where an iPod has worked, but we must be honest, most experiences at an iPod wedding reception have not been totally smooth or met the expectations of the bride.  Here are just a few issues that we have found at wedding receptions that only used an iPod:

-Lack of organization
-First dances miscued
-Repetitive music
-Play list not appropriate for all guests
-People leaving early
-Lack of dancing
-Volume and technical glitches

Your guests usually notice all of these issues and since the reception is the last memory of their experience at your wedding, it is what is often remembered.

When you have a wedding DJ, they can read the vibe of the guests and adjust the music style based on what is being enjoyed.  They also keep the party very organized ensuring that all the important wedding reception traditions happen in a well-paced manner. They will work with you to setup the appropriate playlist, take special requests, they worry about all the sound equipment, have a huge library of music and also help with lighting to set a nice mood and accent to your reception.  They make your wedding reception fun and memorable. And it is one less thing you have to worry about since at this point in the day you just want to enjoy the time with your friends and family and PARTAY!

Notice that we keep saying “wedding DJ”. And that is because there is a difference to a professional DJ that works weddings as their main job vs. a “house DJ”. A House DJ knows how to spin records and mix music, but your wedding isn’t a disco, it’s a classy event. Most House DJs do not know how to run a party (specifically a wedding) and aren’t very comfortable announcing the events of the evening. They really just want to play music, so when you are looking at DJs, ensure they have wedding experience and always ask for references!

Now If you still need to plan your reception with a DIY iPod for whatever reason, here are a few things to consider that we’ve seen help make receptions go smoother:

-Rent or borrow AV equipment such as loud speakers, mixing board, and microphone and have a knowledgeable AV person connect and test the audio. You may also be allowed to tap into the house PA system if one exists.
-Assign a friend or family member to be responsible for making sure that the appropriate music is continuously playing.  It always helps that this person is enthusiastic and has a great personality.  If you know folks that have public speaking experience, that is better than not. They also need to know that this is their job for the evening so they don’t disappear and you have no one manning the music.
-Setup different iPod playlists for different parts of the reception party.
-Make sure that your first dance song is easily accessible on the playlist to be played when the big moment happens.
-If you are doing a grand entrance, have a list of all the names of the bridal party and the order you want them introduced.
-Put together a schedule of events with all the times and appropriate introductions/announcements to be made.

We want your party to be a success and something that people are talking about for years to come as THE party of the year! We truly believe a professional wedding DJ can help you achieve this.

We’d love to hear from you on your own experiences about DJs vs iPods at weddings. We are here to help our brides have the best wedding ever and would love to have others provide their feedback too, so please comment away!

We look forward to seeing you on the dance floor this year!

Love,

Jenny+Jeff

Vendor Details

Photographer: f7 photography
Ceremony Location: The Skansonia
Reception Location: The Skansonia
Dress Designer and Bridal Salon:  David’s Bridal
Tux/Suit: Men’s Wearhouse
Hair Stylist: Braeden Blunt at Vain Salon
Makeup Artist: Tiffany at Blackline Beauty
Florist:  Skansonia
Rings:  Bride – Seattle Diamonds, Groom – Amazon
Invitations: 1-2-3 Print
Cake:  Borracchini’s Bakery
Caterer: Skansonia
Transportation: British Motor Coach
Entertainment:  Woodrush
Officiant: Bride’s uncle
Honeymoon:  Whitefish, Montana

Juliana and Brian were married at the Skansonia in Seattle, WA. The Skansonia is a unique location for a wedding with a fantastic view of the Seattle Skyline.

Their wedding day had music throughout the day. When we arrived in the hotel suite for hair and make-up, the 80’s rock was blasting on the iPod. Brian is a musician and the entertainment for their wedding was his former band Woodrush. In fact, he picked up a guitar during the reception and played a few songs for the crowd. It was a very fun and unique thing to be a part of at their wedding.

But before all of the fun of the reception, we had a fun time running all around Gasworks Park in Seattle as Juliana and Brian wanted Seattle as their backdrop since that is the view you have from the Skansonia as you get married on their back deck. We had a lot of fun with their wedding party and being in Seattle we even had a brief rainstorm blow through so we had to hide out in the old gasworks pipes. But then the clouds broke and we got a rainbow over the city, it was beautiful!

The Skansonia itself is a very cool and unique venue. It has a very Seattle feeling to it, what other city would have an antique ferry that you can get married on? It has a very vintage feeling to it, so Juliana’s amazing necklace fit right in with the location. At the end of the night, they wanted to continue their Seattle viewpoint tour, so we followed them for some fun night shots at Kerry Park utilizing the cool car provided by British Motor Coach.

We had an absolute blast at their wedding and hope you enjoyed seeing some of what we captured on their wedding day. Please comment away!

Love,

Jenny+Jeff

Hi Everyone!

We thought it was time to put out there the reasons you hire a professional photographer (hopefully f7!) for your wedding day vs. letting friends and family shoot your wedding. We have heard horror stories about the friends/family scenario and want to save you from the pain because you’ve dreamed all your life about marrying your soulmate and having the perfect wedding day to celebrate this momentous occasion with all your friends and family.

Think about it, you’ve spent close to a year planning all the little details, selecting the perfect dress, having the most beautiful flowers, and will enjoy what you will call the best day of your life.  When it is all done, your day will be a fond and cherished memory that even 40 years from now will be a part of your life that you share with your grandchildren.  The only memories you will have will be your photographs that will help you relive this day forever.

So why take a chance in assigning the most important task you will need to decide on to a friend or family member who is a “hobbyist”, amateur, or even someone who has a nice camera that loves photography, but has never shot a wedding before?

You see, professional wedding photography is more than just capturing moments, many times, it’s creating those moments.  A professional wedding photographer has the added pressure of only getting one chance to get it right. There are no “do-over’s”.  We have to have expert knowledge in lighting, exposure control, styling/posing, creativity, story telling, and comprehensive knowledge of what happens during the entire wedding day.  But most importantly, we have to have a human awareness and understand how people interact and anticipate emotions and moments.

It’s one thing if your friend or family member is a professional wedding photographer, that is, one who calls this their profession and career.  But if they just dabble in photography and have a “great eye”, you are setting yourself up for some serious disappointment.  We have heard so many stories from clients who have friends who decided to have a friend shoot their wedding and were devastated with the results.   There are many reasons, both technical and experience, that causes their issues.  But that beautiful day the bride and groom had will forever be tarnished because when they see their photos, all they will see are poor photos and not that beautiful day they experienced.

As professional wedding photographers, we at f7 photography treat each client and wedding as if it is the only wedding we shoot.  We take a high degree of care to ensure that the wedding photography experience is the best the bride, groom and family will experience because we know (and take very serious) that we are responsible for your memories.  Not just to capture the moments, but to make sure that all those moments are awesome, fun, emotional, beautiful, inspiring, and breathtaking. We do a lot of pre-planning with the bride, we do site visits, look at light conditions, consider weather forecast, scout locations, create a storyline, think about how the images are going to look in an album and do an engagement session all before a single photo is shot on your wedding day.  And after the wedding day, there is postproduction work that we do on your images to prepare your final images and proofs for albums, wall art, etc.  Yes, there is a lot of work that goes into professional wedding photography that is behind the scenes work that you may not have considered in your decision making, but that is what is needed to guarantee that you are going to have the best results and the best memories.

If your friend or uncle Bob is not willing to do all that for you and more, then please hire an experienced professional wedding photographer.  You will thank us 40 years from know…we guarantee it!

Love,

Jenny+Jeff

Hi Everyone!

Okay it is time to toot our own horn today!

We are so excited to announce that we have been rated by local brides and voted The Knot Best of Weddings 2012 Pick!!!

This makes it 3 years in a row that our brides have voted for us! This is a very important honor for us since the way the award is given is based solely on the reviews provided by brides and the quality of those reviews. If you take a peek at all of the Washington photographers on The Knot, you will notice that we have the most 5 star reviews! You will also notice of all of the photographers in the state only 10 of us received this distinction this year. We are very honored to be included in this group and we have our brides to thank! We love you all and are so honored that you love us enough to let the rest of the world know how you feel!

Now it is time to get back to work and make sure that all of our brides this year get the same level of service from us so we can be a Best of 2013 Pick! But let’s go pop some champagne first!!

Love,

Jenny+Jeff

Hi Everyone!

Jeff, Lauren and I have been talking about how to better share our favorite moments, stories, ideas and advice from each of our weddings and decided  the best place to do it would be in a book. So in December, we took on the Herculean effort to put a book together in time for the January wedding shows. It was such a fun and rewarding process that we have decided this will be something we publish annually!

The book is titled “Real Weddings 2011: Stories, Inspiration, Advice and Ideas from 30 Real Weddings”! It contains several chapters. The first featuring all 30 of our wonderful couples from 2011 and their wedding day stories and the vendors they used. The second chapter contains our favorite ideas from last year. Things like decor, hair pieces, cake toppers and you’ll have to check it out for the rest of our favorite ideas. The third chapter is advice from our point of view. Some of it is information that we shared right here on our blog and some new observations we have made.  Then the final chapter, which is my favorite, is the one where some of our 2011 brides have imparted advice to new brides to help them with their planning.

It’s a great book to help you get inspired for your wedding.

Here’s some even cooler news about the book – we have turned it into an eBook that you can download for free for a limited time from our website! Here is how you can download your copy:

If you have an iPhone or iPad -

-In your i-device, open your web browser
-Type in the following URL – http://www.f7photography.com/f7realweddings2011.epub
-After a minute of downloading, it will ask you to open with your iBook app. Say yes and it will appear on your iBook bookshelf.

If you are downloading it to your computer (PC or Mac) -

-Click this link for instructions
-Follow the instructions to download the PDF version

Of course if you would like a physical copy, you can buy one and the link for where you can buy it is on the above link.

We are super excited about this and we hope that everyone will check it out and we hope it helps all brides as they plan for their own big day!

Love,

Jenny+Jeff

Happy New Year Everyone!

This is always a fun time of year as so many couples get engaged over the holidays. Congratulations by the way to all of you newly engaged couples!! January not only marks the start of the year and your fun time to begin planning for your wedding but it is also when most of the wedding shows around our area and the country occur.

Wedding shows are a great way to get the planning started. Where else can you walk around a convention hall and meet potential vendors face to face, see all kinds of amazing ideas for your wedding and eat cake! Oh and you can even go wedding dress shopping at the shows! There is a lot to be said for being able to search and research everything wedding related on the web, but it really is not a replacement for meeting people and touching and feeling the things you are interested in.

We exhibit at several wedding shows each year and have some ideas on how you can make your experience fun, informative and accomplish some great things. Here are our top tips (in no particular order):

1. Don’t get overwhelmed. There could be over 200 vendors at the show all wanting to talk to you. Make a plan for walking the show floor and if there are certain things you don’t need, don’t waste your time in their booth. Collect brochures and put them in 2 separate bags – one bag for the vendors you absolutely want/need to follow up with and those that have interesting ideas but you don’t necessarily want to book with them. If you don’t like a vendor, don’t take their brochure.

2. Be comfy. Go out and have a nice breakfast in the morning that way you have your fuel for the day. There is probably food to taste, but that usually doesn’t make up a whole meal. Wear your most comfortable shoes as there is a lot of walking and standing all day and the floors of most halls are concrete under the carpet (if there is carpet). We suggest layering on your clothes as it can get pretty hot inside a hall, but then of course it is probably cold outside.

3. Bring your crew. Wedding shows can be really fun if you bring your mom, your MOH, sister, bridesmaids and hey how about your fiance? It helps having others there especially if you are making decisions at the show or just want people to be able to hold the bags.

4. Bring a pen and address labels. One of the best things I see brides bring to the shows is a set of address labels. Create these just for the show. Important info to include on the label is yours and your fiance’s name, your wedding date, your email address and your phone number. It can be helpful to create a special email address just for your wedding so you can quickly see what is info on your wedding, then after your wedding you can shut the address down. You definitely want to have a pen and notebook with you so you can take notes. There are a lot of people to meet and ideas to see and if you see something or someone you like write it down! Taking a quick note – even on a brochure you get will help you when you go through all of the info after the show.

5. Buy show tickets in advance. There is usually a coupon or a discount if you buy your tickets on their website before the show. This will also save you time once you get there as you won’t have to wait in line to buy a ticket there, you will  be able to walk right into the show.

6. Be prepared to book vendors. Yes you are going to the show to look for ideas and meet folks, but if you find the perfect vendor, book them at the show! So bring your checkbook, cash or credit card for deposits. Some vendors (like us) can only do one wedding in a day so if you fall in love with them, don’t hesitate. Remember there are over 1000 other brides at the same show also looking for wedding vendors and you would hate to lose your first choice for your wedding. If you aren’t 100% sure a lot of vendors will let you do a “hold the date” deposit so you can then set up a follow up appointment with them, but at least guarantee no one else can book them during the show. We definitely offer this!

7. Get ideas. At the show all of the vendors are putting out their best images, flower designs, cakes, food, linens, dresses, you name it, you’ll see it. They are designing their booths to show off what they do, usually showing the latest colors, etc so this is the perfect place to look for ideas for your own wedding. You might see a fun wedding favor idea, table centerpiece or a color scheme you had not thought of. Take pictures of ideas you like (be sure to ask the vendor first if it is okay to take a picture) so you can add them to your idea file later.

8. Have fun. This is your wedding and everything having to do with it should be fun and that includes attending wedding shows. If you have your crew with you, wear comfortable shoes, come prepared and are open to all of the amazing ideas presented to you, it should be easy to have fun!

Oh and one more bit of advice – make sure to stop by and see f7 photography! We’d love to chat with you about your wedding and show you some of our favorite wedding moments and ideas from weddings we’ve photographed. You can find us at the Bridesclub Wedding Expos in Tacoma and Everett. Details (and a coupon) can be found on their website –
www.bridesclub.com

We look forward to seeing you there!

Love,

Jenny+Jeff

The Details

Photographer: f7 photography
Ceremony Location: Edgewater House
Reception Location: Edgewater House
Dress Designer and Bridal Salon: Bride’s Outlet
Tux/Suit: The Tux Shop
Hair and Make-Up: Tiffany Gunia from Teze Salon
Florist: The Benfers with flowers from aflora
Rings: Bride’s : Fred Meyer, Grooms: TungstenAffinity.com
Invitations: The Benfers with paper from Paper Zone
Cake: Kelli’s Cake Creations
Caterer: Brown’s Catering
Entertainment: Tony Schwartz Weddings
Coordinator: Manette Gracie Weddings and Events
Officiant: Mary McDonald
Honeymoon: Hawaii (Maui)

Miranda and Mike were married at the Edgewater House in Gig Harbor, WA on July 10, 2011. We had the honor of photographing at this amazing venue twice this summer and it is quickly becoming one of our favorite spots to photograph weddings. Miranda and Mike took full advantage of the beach aspect of the venue and created beautiful and fun decor with starfish and seashells. In fact, they had one of our absolute favorite cake designs and toppers this year! Very unique!

We met Miranda at several of the Bridesclub wedding shows and had so much fun with each of our conversations, so we knew we would have a blast with them at their wedding. In fact, our first photo session with them was before their engagement session. They came over to our Holiday Card Party and we created some super fun Christmas cards with them for their last Christmas together before they were married. And knowing them and how much fun they are, when they said they wanted to take pictures on the carousel on the waterfront, we knew we would have an awesome afternoon with them at their engagement session. Then their wedding day came and we had such a blast with everyone, literally, as someone brought a potato gun!

Knowing what a fun and creative couple they are, we just knew their reception would be fun too. They were a little worried of having a reception outside in full daylight that people may not want to dance and get involved in reception activities. But they found a DJ that fit right in with them and their crowd. He helped get the party rolling by playing games during dinner. Even before dinner he made getting up and going to the buffet rewarding by turning it into a game where the first table to answer questions correctly was released to go to the buffet! Then during dinner, they played a super fun trivia game where he worked in advance with Miranda and Mike on answers. Guests competed  to see who knew them best. Everyone was laughing and having a great time. Miranda and Mike gave away gift cards as prizes.  And his way of getting folks dancing was great too. He did a money dance, but turned it into a little competition between Miranda and Mike. Whoever of the two got the most money from the dance got the window seat on the airplane. Mike won, but Jeff tried to help Miranda win by paying for a dance with her. We got her close. Everyone definitely had a great time!

We hope you enjoy viewing some wonderful highlights from their wedding day as much as we enjoyed capturing them!

Just look at that adorable and very creative cake! Love it!

We just love seeing and being a part of the transformation from boy and girl next door to gorgeous bride and handsome groom!

Look at how in love Miranda and Mike are!

We had a great time with their wedding party and spent a lot of time on the beach. It was such a gorgeous day.

Miranda and Mike’s ceremony was a wonderful blend of traditions including having their hands tied and jumping the broom. Check out the unique way of doing a group photo.  Everyone took the shape of a heart.  This made an excellent back to their “thank you” cards we created for them. ♥

Look at the fun that was had. Yes, even Miranda took a try at launching a potato.

We hope you enjoyed seeing some of our favorite moments from Miranda and Mike’s wedding! Please let us know what you think.

Love,

Jenny+Jeff