Gratituesday: Tave | Virginia Wedding Photographer

Gratituesday is a weekly blog post (that I try to keep up with) I got involved with over here. You should join, too! If you do, be sure to let me know in the comments as I would love to read what you write about. Okay, this week has been incredible! I actually have so much I want to write about this morning, but I am going to reserve my huge list for future Gratituesdays. :) For now... I want to talk to my friends in the photography industry.

My friends in real life know that when I find a product, a routine, a business, or even a food that I love and that works for me, I canNOT stop talking about it. I believe in my heart that what I found would be just as great for EVERYONE else in the world as it is for me. (Trust me, I know this is not always a positive thing.) Luckily my friends know how to appease me with their "uh huh's" and "wow Liz, very cool" statements. :) (Whatever they need to say to get me to hush up, haha.)

But for real... this one I KNOW will be super helpful for other photographers! (Much like Lightroom and Photo Mechanic... do yourself a favor and check them out if you aren't already using them.) If you aren't already using a business management program, please stop what you are doing right now and go sign up for the free trial of Tave.

I found Tave a week ago and have since dumped the entire contents of the business-space of my brain into Tave. It is doing the thinking for me. And finally, finally I am able to offer better customer service and have more free time in the process. I cannot tell you how amazing it feels to let go of the stress of remembering my to-do list! In addition, Tave has a great financial area, a space to keep track of vendors (no more googling addresses over and over again!), and a place to upload files for each job (contract, photo lists, etc). You can plug in your workflow (and due dates and reminders!) so that you never miss a step in the process from inquiry to product delivery.

Okay... that is all I am going to say. I know this is more of a commercial than it is a Gratituesday - but this week I am SO incredibly thankful for Tave. If for nothing other than the fact that I can sleep peacefully at night without waking up to jot things down on my to-do list.

Ahhh... so this week I am grateful for Tave and peaceful nights of sleep. :)

What are you grateful for?

Availability Update | Lynchburg Wedding Photographer

Happy Monday! Just wanted to put up a quick note to let you know that I am opening my 2012 wedding season for booking starting today. I am running a special for any 2012 bride that signs a contract before March 15, 2011, so you will want to send your inquiries in as soon as possible!

As most of you know, I limit the number of weddings I shoot annually to allow the opportunity for more personal service for each couple. That said, as of today I have only four spaces available for the 2011 wedding season. If you are interested in having me shoot your wedding, please do not hesitate to contact me!

I hope you all have a wonderful week! I'm off to finalize a few galleries before heading to Massanutten for a few days. So excited!

Bliss Review | Lynchburg Wedding Photographer

Bliss was a huge success! This was my first time taking part in an official bridal event and it was an absolutely wonderful experience. The intimate environment was perfect for my business brand, giving me ample opportunity to speak with brides throughout the entire day and plant seeds for friendships in the future. It was such a pleasure meeting so many excited and glowing ladies! Sabrena and I presented a session together during the first session time slot. The title of our session was  A Warm Welcome: How to make your guests feel at ease and comfortable throughout your wedding day. We had so much fun sharing ideas with the ladies about ways you can prepare your guests, help them navigate through your day with ease, and activities and foods to offer to make the day more enjoyable for everyone involved. We had such a good time with the session that we plan to offer a similar one again at the next Bliss event.

Here are a few pictures of my booth at Bliss. Since the day was more about educating (and treating!) the brides, the vendor booths were smaller than they are at bigger bridal expos. I loved my booth and had fun passing out cards and sharing goodies with each bride that came to visit me!

The balloons in the picture represented that I was a speaker (blue) and a sponsor (green) of Bliss. I thought it was fun that they matched my booth perfectly. ;)

Jonathan from The Cupcake Guy made the delicious Chocolate Chunk Sliders you see in the last photo. He tinted the vanilla cream to match my brand colors! He was SUCH a pleasure to work with and the cookies were delicious. If you needs sweet treats for an event coming up, definitely get in touch with him.

And... finally... I offered a $650 value prize of an engagement session + a photo guest book to one lucky bride. The winner of the drawing is... Alicia Allen! Congratulations, Alicia! I will be in touch with you soon!

So, yes, Bliss was a huge success and I am so excited about the next one! You know I'll be sharing the details once they are out, but in the meantime definitely visit Hill City Bride for lots of wedding inspiration, DIY projects, and advice from wedding industry professionals.

Bliss, a fine wedding fair | Lynchburg Wedding Photographer

The past few days I have been in planning mode, preparing for Bliss, a Fine Wedding Fair. I am so very excited about the event! It is like no other event we've had in Lynchburg.

Hill City Bride is hosting their very first bridal fair.  Please read: It is not just a bridal show! It is a couple hours dedicated to planning your wedding day with the help of many of the Hill City Bride vendors.  Even if you have picked all your vendors, it will be informational and helpful as a bride.  Think, the in-person, live version of the blog. Main sessions and small breakout sessions allow you to speak one-on-one in a small setting with experts in their field about topics such as getting the most out of your wedding day photography, how to make your guests feel special with little touches, how to entertain with ease after you are married, and more!

There will be Hill City Bride vendor booths set up to visit, but the bulk of the day will be for special learning sessions and a coffee bar, lunch and dessert bar is also included. In addition to the things you will learn, Bliss includes a lot of really cool giveaways including an amazing FREE honeymoon giveaway! The attendance is small scale (less than 100), so you WILL have time to get a lot of good information (not just business cards from booths) and you WILL have great chances to walk away with great prizes.

I hope you will come out to see us tomorrow in downtown Lynchburg! The only thing that could add to my excitement about the whole day is actually seeing a few of my brides there, too!

I will be opening my 2012 calendar for booking starting tomorrow at Bliss, and then here in the office on Monday. I will be running a special for Bliss brides only, so if you are interested in booking Sincerely, Liz: Photography for your 2012 wedding, come out to Bliss and check out the details!

Featured | Hill City Bride

I'm super excited to share with you guys that Mark and Kate's wedding is featured over on the Hill City Bride blog today! Hop over and check out their fun wedding pictures. And when I say fun - I mean we had a TON of FUN at their wedding!! Check back later this week for more pictures of their wedding as I'll be getting a more in depth blog post up about their wedding on Thursday! Woohoo!