For most of us, our wedding will be the stuff dreams are made of. Our every heart’s desire and our every goal in life boils down to this one all-important day. The details of this all-important day typically take lots of time and concentration to iron out. Most of us have already designed this particular picture of what we expect our wedding day to look like, and one of the most important factors that will determine the outcome of that day is the choice of photographer you make.

Unfortunately, far too many people have more than one question about finding a wedding photographer. If you’re among the many thousands of brides and grooms who will marry this year and you’re becoming increasingly concerned about selecting your wedding photographer, read on for some tips and tricks on making the decision as smooth as possible.
One of your very first considerations should be your budget. It’s important that you first determine exactly how much your photographer plans to charge. Some photographers charge by the hour, and others charge a specific flat fee. If your photographer of choice charges by the day as opposed to by the hour, it is a good idea to take into account the number of hours that makes up the standard day. For example, suppose you’ve asked your wedding photographer to cover your rehearsal dinner as well as pre-and post-ceremony activities. If this is the case, you’ve got at least two full days of service ahead of you.
You should also review your photographer’s contract very thoroughly before signing.The contract you have with your photographer can make or break a wedding experience. Be sure that you’re open, clear, and concise with your photographer in order to help avoid problems.
You may also find it beneficial to question your photographer about the timeframe expected to get your proofs and your prints returned. Believe it or not, when it comes to a wedding, time is of the essence. You see, if too much time passes after the event but before the pictures, people tend to lose interest. If you’re paying a substantial sum of money for quality photographs, that fee should also take into account the timeframe you’ll have to wait before getting the pictures returned to you.
Remember, wedding photography will be the highlight of your big day. Your pictures will live on forever — choose wisely

Once you’ve fallen in love there is no limit to where your imagination can take you. Falling in love is like no other feeling in the world and when it happens to you, you begin to see visions of wedding bells and layered cakes. Once you finally reached the point your life or you’re ready to say “I do” to that one special person, a whirlwind of emotions can overtake you. And when you get down to the nitty-gritty of planning your wedding, all of these emotions combined with the pressures of planning a wedding can manifest themselves into stress.

While a certain level of stress is expected when planning a wedding, it’s important that you not allow the stress of the planning to overtake the emotions of the process. Planning your wedding should be one of the most truly is an auspicious occasions of your life. Whenever you find yourself becoming increasingly stressed about the process, take some time out to remember why you’re getting married in the first place. Think about all the emotions of love, you feel every time you lay eyes on your special someone.

One surefire way to avoid some of the stress of planning a wedding is to enlist the help of high quality professionals. One of the most important decisions you make is who to hire as a wedding photographer. Because wedding photography is the one component of your wedding, besides your vows, that will last a lifetime, you should spend some extra time in your selection. Setting aside your major decisions first and then concentrating on the details will help to manage your stress effectively.
The big decisions to which were referring are the dress, the location, the photography, colors, the cake, and the attendants. It seems as though once the bride has selected her dress and the location of her wedding, everything else begins to fall into place. Remember, you can pull off a successful and beautiful wedding without suffering the stress so many people face during this time. In fact, many couples find that they can successfully plan a beautiful wedding and a relatively short period of time if they take it one day at a time and stay organized.
It is our recommendation that you first enlist the services of a wedding photographer and perhaps a caterer, and of course book your venue. Once you’ve made the major decisions, the details will simply be the icing on the cake.

I just noticed this review and thought I would share it with everyone reading this blog. It is one of the best I have seen so far. I wish I could find out which couple it is so that I can post the photos alongside this review.

“Best Holiday of my life !!”
Almond Morgan Bay Beach Resort

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g147343-d589407-r19877627-Almond_Morgan_Bay_Beach_Resort-Castries_St_Lucia.html

My partner and I have just got back from our 2 week Holiday at Almond Morgan Bay in St Lucia. We were in a party of 29 as we were getting married there. You can obviously appreciate the concerns I had but I can assure you it was perfect.
We arrived late afternoon on Fri 16th May and it was a very warm and organized welcome with a delicious Rum Punch. We were able to sit and relax in the lobby which was ideal considering we had been awake nearly 24 hours. I’ve been to Cuba, Mexico and Antigua and no reception has been as organized as this one.
Our room was in Block 6, top floor right next to the beach. The rest of the party were in rooms further away from the beach/pool but they still had beautiful sea views. I believe they were in blocks 3 and 4. The rooms for a couple are very spacious and very clean. The only thing I will say is you don’t get much space to store your clothes, but I didn’t see this as a problem. Tip: Take some Clothes hangers with you if you and your partner have lots of dresses/shirts.
As a group we spent most of our time round the swim-up bar pool (Adults Only). There was only one child in our group, my niece. So my sister and brother-in-law spent the majority of their time by the kids pool (Plum Grill) or the pool next door to the swim-up bar pool, which allowed them to still mix with us. The pools are very nice, yes I can see that work could be done, but there is absolutely nothing to complain about. Some reviews have mentioned the floor being slippery, but there wasn’t 1 from our group that fell over.
The beach is beautiful, yes I’ve been to better beaches but in my opinion you can’t beat a Caribbean beach. We spent many evenings lying on a beach bed with a cocktail watching the sunset, you can’t beat it.
The water sports available were great and the staffs were even better. The first week some from the group were out on the cats twice a day, the second week was very different as it was Half Term in the UK so the resort became extremely fall with Families. But it didn’t have a great effect; we just had to book a time to use the Cats. A few of us also attempted to Water Ski for the first time, the staff were very patient and on my 5th attempt I was up and skiing, and it continued that way for the rest of the holiday. They also had Intermediate and Advanced classes. The Banana Boat was also free of charge along with the normal sports such as windsurfing, snorkeling and kayaking. All were in very good condition.
The restaurants are all very nice; my favorite for food choice was The Morgan Pier and LeJardin. But without a doubt the restaurants with the best setting was Morgan’s Pier and The Bamboo. Not one from our party got food poisoning (although some did get an upset belly but
that’s probably the amount of alcohol we drunk). The food is very rich and I can understand how some people would not like it, but the restaurants are very obliging and will serve you what you like. Some often asked for a main as a starter, and many requested something different to go with their dish i.e. Rice or Chips instead of Mash Potato. We had a few extremely fussy people in the group but even they could see the food was top quality.
The wedding was by far the best day of my life, the wedding coordinator Marilyn was lovely, she was there as I arrived at the location (The wedding Gazebo in the garden) so I can only assume was there making sure all my guests were comfortable. We had our wedding at 3 o’clock; it was still extremely hot so we purchased a Marquee so the guests could sit in the shade. I definitely wouldn’t have done it any later as it would have been a mad rush. We hired an outside photographer Bill Mortley [info@billmortleyphotography.com], I will be honest, I wasn’t sure that I’d done the right thing when we arrived as the hotel photographer was a very pleasant lady and when I called Bill to confirm all was ok, he seemed a little rude. But never judge a book by its cover, on the day he was fantastic. So precise but relaxed too. He was a lovely guy and even though my Husband and I had to crawl around the resort taking photos, it wasn’t a hindrance as he was such a pleasant guy to be around.
He arrived at my room about 2 o’clock to take photos of me getting ready, I did say to him that I would rather have photos outside in the surrounding area when I’m dressed, he said that was fine, but he still carried on snapping some pictures. Which I’m so happy he did, as they are really good and are some of my husband’s favorites. He stayed with us throughout the ceremony and until sunset which was around 6 o’clock snapping continuously. He got some striking model shots and some very beautiful natural shots. We bought all 650 photos in the end as we would never be able to decide on only 150. Without a doubt, I would recommend him as your photographer.
Even if you can get a good deal with a tour operator (i.e. Virgin) avoid it as Bill was by far the best. I was able to compare as we got a free 8×10 photo from the hotel and not 1 photo was as good as Bill’s. For the evening meal we reserved an area in The Bamboo right by the beach (Morgan Pier is closed on Fridays) and it was wonderful. The tables were set perfectly with me, my husband, my dad and the 2 best men as the head table and everyone else coming off on another 2 tables either side. The staff served us like we were the only people in the restaurant; they were extremely organized and very pleasant. After the meal we joined the nightly entertainment and we all continued the night into the Piano Bar till 2 o’clock. I didn’t expect paradise but for me it was.
My group was of mixed ages but there was a fair few in their 20s. For some of these I think the nightly entertainment was a bit placid. Yes they did go into town but this isn’t the easiest of options or the safest and I think they would say there wasn’t much to do there either. It would be ideal if there was a night club on site but you can’t have everything. At the end of the day, you make your own entertainment and that’s what we did. I would definitely recommend the sunset cruise if you’re in a couple, it was picture perfect. My friends from work booked this through Barefoot Holidays as our wedding gift. The other trip that is a must is the Virgin Catamaran Day Trip which covered all the site seeing destinations, we did this as a group and it was fantastic. People suggested going with Joy who was on the beach, he was a lovely guy but because there were so many of us we all wanted to be on the 1 boat which we couldn’t get with Joy so that’s why we went with Virgin.
We all had a fantastic Holiday and Wedding and I would not change one thing. I’m not one to return to a destination that I’ve seen, but without a doubt I will be back visiting AMB one day (hopefully I’ll be celebrating an Anniversary).